Page 54 of Until Retribution Burns (Beauty in Lies 3)

The betrayal.

“I knew you were an asshole. I just didn’t realize how much. At least telling me I wouldn’t be on birth control was honest, but I guess you just aren’t capable of telling the truth, are you?” I asked, hurrying past him to get downstairs. I was under no illusion that any of Rafael’s men would intervene if he crossed a line, a fact that continued to drive a wedge between the brothers and me, but I couldn’t stand to be in his bedroom any longer.

I couldn’t stand to look at him.

He wrapped harsh fingers around my bicep, refusing to let me get to that door at the other side. He used it to hold me steady until he could wrap the other hand around the back of my neck and squeeze. I winced, a ragged groan leaving my lips as I stumbled and he guided me back to face him.

“When do the lies stop?” I whispered, trying to shove back the angry tears that made my eyes burn. The first stung as it dropped and trailed down my cheek, and Rafael’s eyes narrowed in on it as his own breath caught.

His anger surged in response, whether it was hatred for himself or for me I didn’t know. He used his hands on my body to maneuver me toward the bed, seeking the one place where I deferred to him in all things. Where his dominance was not only accepted but encouraged.

“No,” I said, pushing back against his hand at my nape as I tried to get free. “I can’t believe you did this. Will I ever be your equal?”

“Have I not given you everything you could possibly want?” he asked, his voice rising as I squirmed in his grip as we got closer to the bed. I stomped my heel on his foot, taking pleasure in his pained grunt. When he pushed me toward the bed and I fell onto the mattress, I spun to my back and panted as he stalked toward me.

“Do not fucking touch me,” I warned. “I mean it, Rafael.Do not touch me.”

He froze, tilting his head to the side as that cruel smirk claimed his face. “If you would like to be my captive in truth, that can be arranged,Princesa,” he said, his tone mocking. As if by fighting him on something so insignificant reduced me back to the naive girl who’d fallen in love with her phantom, no longer worthy of being his queen. “Say the fucking words, and I’ll send you back toEl Infiernowhere you can live out the rest of your days barefoot and pregnant and protected from all the realities of the life you clearly aren’t capable of handling.”

I swallowed back my fury, my face paling at the threat and the menace on his face that told me he would follow through. He would make me disappear again, and I’d go back to the island where freedom didn’t exist and his will was law.

“You wouldn’t dare,” I challenged, flinching away from his touch on my thigh as he dropped a hand to trace the scar there.

“Try me, Isa. Did you think that I would become your lap dog just because I told you I love you? That you could wrap me around your finger and I’d suddenly be docile?”

“There is a difference between expecting you to be docile and expecting the decency of honesty,” I hissed. “I can’t be yourmi reinaif you’re keeping secrets from me.”

He pressed me to my back on the bed, sitting on the edge beside me and touching his hand to the spot where my stomach would swell soon enough. He trailed his hand over the swell of my breasts, my body freezing solid with fear of what would come.

He could take whatever he wanted. He might even be able to make me like it.

But I would hate him.

He leaned over me, touching his lips to mine in a soft mockery of the connection I’d thought we shared. When he retreated from my space, he shifted down to press a soft kiss to my stomach that would have been sweet under any other circumstances.

He had what he’d wanted, and I’d been stupid enough to make it so fucking easy.

“Consider what type of marriage you would like to have, Isa,” he said, reaching up a hand to wipe away the tears staining my cheeks. There was no trace of the gentleness he’d shown my stomach as his hard eyes met mine. “You can be my pet and the mother of my children, or you can bemi reina. The choice is yours.” He stood from the bed, his steps retreating from the room as he gave me the distance I’d so desperately wanted.

I pulled myself further into the bed, curling my knees to my chest and staring at the door as he slammed it closed behind him. A lock I hadn’t even known existed clicked on the other side, drawing a strangled sob from me as I pressed my face into my knees and cried.

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