Page 35 of Vicious Games

I swallowed. Part of me wanted to lie and say yes, but I knew that would cause even more problems. Despite the palpable danger, I couldn’t lie to him. Nor could I form the words to tell him no. All I could do was slowly shake my head as the tears rolled down my cheeks.

Roman snatched me around the waist and violently swung away from the wall. He tossed me onto the empty end of the massive dining hall table as if I were no more than a rag doll. Sobbing, I braced my palms against the polished wood surface and shifted onto my knees in an attempt to climb off the table.

Roman stretched his arm out to me, pointed, and growled, “Don’t you fucking move.”

I stayed on my hands and knees, watching him prowl back and forth.

He rubbed his hand over his unshaven jaw. “What do you think is going to happen here, Aurora?”

“I… I… don’t know.”

“You think I’m just going to let you go? You think I’ll let you just walk out of my life so you can go and fuck some other man?”

I shook my head. “Oh, God, Roman, I would never do that. I don’t want any other man. I only want you.”

He stopped pacing and stormed toward me. He pounded his fist on the table. “You’re lying. I already caught you trying to run into another man’s arms. Turning to another man for protection.”

“That was a misunderstanding. Please, Roman.”

I watched as his chest rose and fell with his heavy breathing. The tense silence stretched as he flexed his hands open before curling them into fists several times. When he finally spoke again, my whole body jumped in reaction.

“Take off your clothes.”

I frowned, confused by the sudden change in his demeanor.

He flung the two chairs that separated us away, sending them crashing against the wall. “Take. Off. Your. Clothes.”

I clutched at the open shreds of my silk blouse, unwilling to obey his terrifying command.

Roman forced my hands away and tore at what remained of the blouse, tossing it aside. I was left in my cream lace bra, panties, short plaid skirt, and black leather knee-high boots.

I crouched low, feeling exposed and on display on the table.

“Take off the rest.”

“Why are you doing this?”

Roman reached for the buckle of his belt. “If you won’t be my wife, then you’ll be my whore.”

CHAPTER 15

ROMAN

The monster inside of me rose up.

I didn’t want to treat her this way. She’d forced my hand.

If she had said yes, we would be celebrating this very moment in our future marriage bed. I would have lavished her with gifts of diamonds and furs as I made love to her and hoped she conceived our son in that glorious moment. If I closed my eyes, I could almost see her beautiful blue eyes staring up at me, her silky hair fanning out in waves over the pillow. I would reach for her hand and kiss her delicate fingers as I relished the sight of my ring on her finger.

But she hadn’t said yes. I had given her another chance, and she had rejected me again.

Now she would pay.

I unbuckled my belt and ripped it through the loops of my trousers. I folded it in half and snapped the leather over my palm. “I gave you an order.”

She stayed crouched on the table like a wet kitten, shuddering and afraid.

She should be afraid. Never in my life could I remember being angrier at a human being than I was with her at this very moment.

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