She exhaled shakily.
“Because I broke the rules.”
“Which ones?”
She paused, swallowing hard.
“The ones about… about the staff. About your groundskeeper. Henry said when I arrived that there was to be no fraternization with the staff.”
“And yet you were discovered this morning with my groundskeeper in your goddamned bed.”
Her breath stuttered.
“Please don’t punish Jacob for that. It was all my idea, not his. I could have sent him away, and I didn’t?—”
She cut herself off and I let her squirm for a painfully long moment before I spoke.
“Tell me exactly what you did,” I murmured, coming to stand in front of her. “Let me hear it from your own lips.”
Her cheeks flushed crimson beneath the blindfold.
“I kissed him, which breaks another rule. And more than that, if I’m being a hundred percent honest with you, sir.”
“You kissed my employee… and more,” I repeated, letting ice drip from every syllable. “In my house. During my selection process. And you thought there would be no consequences?”
“No,” she whispered. “I knew there would be. I’m not asking to be forgiven for what I’ve done. I’m asking you not to hurthimfor a choice I made.”
My jaw locked, and I had to resist the urge to put my fist through the wall.
I would burn the world to nothing but cinders before I truly hurt her, but she didn’t know that. She didn’t know she was kneeling in front of the man she wanted to protect.
“Tell me,” I said softly. “Why shouldn’t I fire him for touching what’s mine? Tell me why I shouldn’t cut off every single fucking piece of him that had the audacity to touch what belongs to me. Tell me why I shouldn’t fucking bury him for touching you, little doll.”
Her breath hitched. Hard.
“I… I asked him to,” she said. “And it wasn’t fair to him. I shouldn’t have taken advantage of him. Please… punish me, not him. I’ll take whatever punishment you give. I’ll take all of it if you just spare Jacob… please.”
God.
She had no fucking idea what that did to me.
“And if I told you,” I said quietly, crouching down so my mouth brushed her ear, “to choose his punishment?”
“No.” The word broke out of her like a sob. “I won’t condemn him. I won’t. Do whatever you want to me, but don’t make me choose something cruel for someone innocent who doesn’t deserve it.”
I closed my eyes.
Innocent. She thought I was innocent. She thought Jacob was the one she needed to protect, rather than herself.
“You protect him with such devotion,” I murmured, letting my jealousy seep through. “If I allow you to remain in the game, how do I know you won’t leave me the first chance you get? For him? Or someone like him?”
She lifted her chin, blindfold still on, but her spine straightening like she was looking me dead in the eye.
“Because I gave you my word,” she said. “And my integrity is all I have. I made a mistake, a stupid, reckless, selfish mistake. But if you choose me — if I win this game — I give you my word that I will be loyal to you. I won’t betray you. Not ever.”
Something in me snapped completely.
“Then you’ll accept your punishment,” I growled, pulling her to her feet, voice shaking with everything I would not, and could not, say.
