What… what just happened?
Then I felt it: something sharp against my throat, and my eyes widened.
“Let go!” The sharp bite of the glass stole my breath, momentarily freezing me in place.
“You’re braver than I thought,” he mused. “Dolcezza.”
I tried to shake my head, to speak.
“You want to kill me?” He leaned closer as his breath brushed against my ear. “Go ahead. Try again.”
My lips trembled as terror took hold. I had underestimated him. Whatever he was, whoever he was, he was far more dangerous than I could have imagined.
“Next time, don’t miss.”
CHAPTER FIVE
Fear and Flesh
The moment his hands left me, I collapsed into the chair like a rag doll, my limbs trembling and my breathing uneven. He stood tall and unbothered beside me.
How do you name a reality that feels wrong in its existence?
I heard him exhaling sharply. I dared to sneak a glance at him as his jaw tightened and his gaze burned into me. The faint scar slashing across his cheek twitched when his lips curled into a sneer. My heartbeat thundered in my ears as he bent down, his hand gripping the armrest of my chair.
A single sob escaped me.
“Get up,” he whispered through clenched teeth. When I didn’t move fast enough, he grabbed my wrist in a bruising grip andyanked me to my feet like I weighed nothing. My legs buckled, but he forced me upright.
“I don’t repeat myself, Dolcezza,” he growled, shaking me as if I were just a toy. “You don’t want to test my patience. Trust me on that.”
My lips parted, but no sound came out—not an apology, not a protest, not even a plea.
His eyes dropped to my mouth, lingering there for a moment. He slowly lifted his hand to my face and brushed his thumb over my trembling bottom lip making panic course through me, my body tensing.
“Stop shaking.” His brows narrowed as if he couldn’t understand my reaction to him. “What are you so afraid of?”
I wanted to disappear, and never face the smirk tugging at his scarred mouth. My knees threatened to give out again, but his body forced me to stay up.
I felt like glass under his touch.
Breathe. Just breathe.
His hand on my arm was fire and ice. Burning. Freezing. Both. Neither.
I stared at the floor, desperate for it to swallow me whole. Vanish. Disappear. Cease to exist.
“Look at me,” he grumbled.
I couldn’t.
“I won’t ask again,” he repeated. Deadly this time.
Tears wouldn’t stop falling. I was pathetic. Weak. A rag doll in his hands.
If only I could numb myself.
I flinched, feeling his fingers brushing my jaw, and forced my face up. “There it is,” he murmured, his piercing grey eyes locking onto mine.
