“Meaning, if you stay, I’ll have to kill them.”
The room stills.
My heart thumps in my chest.
His father.
His brother.
The people who raised him, who made him intothis.
“There has to be another way,” I reply softly. “You can’t?—”
“I can and will,” he says simply. “They won’t stop until I’m in the ground, and if they come after me again, they’ll come for you, too.”
“You can’t fix everything with blood.”
“That’s the only language they understand.”
He steps closer, and I see the way his eyes flick from my mouth to my neck as if contemplating.
“Why are you fighting me on this?” he asks.
“My grandmother is here.”
“I can fix that.”
“This isn’t your decision.”
“The hell it isn’t.”
Something snaps inside me. “You don’t own me, Ben!”
His hand shoots out, gripping the dresser behind me and caging me in. “No, but Iprotectyou. There’s a difference.”
“Protection isn’t control.”
He leans closer. “Sometimes it is. Sometimes, violenceisthe answer, princess. Sometimes, I have to force things to happen. But, in the end, I make sure to right my wrongs for those who deserve it.”
I stare back at him and lift my chin because I willnotbudge on this. “You think this is normal? That you decided to marry a woman you barely know for some stupid kingdom. This isn’t the 17th century. I’m not leaving with you, but you’re more than welcome to go.
“I think it’s necessary.”
The tension between us crackles, and I feel it again, that stupid, magnetic pull that makes me forget every reason I should be angry.
I don’t know what it is, but he rolls into a space with me and says things that piss me off, but I stillfeelsomething.
Something that’s not a slap to the face.
Something that isn’t grounded in blackmail and persuasion.
“I’ll give you everything, princess,” Ben continues. “A new life. A new bakery. A new house. Whatever you want. You’ll love it there.”
Still no.
“I’m good here,” I shoot right back.
“Why do you insist on making my life harder?”
