“And what about you?” I ask tersely.
Wyatt leans closer, just enough to seem intentionally intrusive. “I don’t exist.”
The certainty with which he speaks makes my skin crawl, and I do my best to school my expression. Any reaction from me is a win for him.
“They don’t know I have you,” he continues, standing up straight again, crossing his own arms. “Not yet, anyway.”
Staring at him, I try to ignore the way my heart pounds still. “And you really think you can hide me from my family?”
Wyatt shrugs annoyingly. “I don’t need to hide you forever. Just long enough.”
“For what?”
His jaw tightens like I’ve struck a nerve. “You don’t need to know that.”
The more he dodges and deflects, the more anger flares inside my chest, hot and immediate. “You don’t get to decide what I need.”
“Right now, I do.”
Even if I should be watching what I’m saying, it doesn’t stop me from stepping even closer, encroaching on his space just like he did to me last night. “You’re delusional if you think this ends well for you.”
Wyatt doesn’t flinch. Instead, he holds my gaze and doesn’t even show an ounce of doubt, even if he should. “This ends with me getting what I want.”
“And what’s that?” I ask, feeling something aggravated and ugly churning in my chest. “Power? Money?”
His gaze sharpens, giving me that dangerous look again. “You don’t know my motives.”
“Then tell me. Because from where I’m standing, you kidnapped me, forced me to marry you without even telling me, and now I’m locked in your place. It sounds pretty cut and dry to me.”
“You were already kidnapped. I took yououtof it,” he counters, as if that negates the rest of the harm he has caused.
“You replaced one cage with another.”
“This cage has food and security. It could be a lot worse,” he mutters, looking at me pointedly.
I grit my teeth. “And bars.”
At this, Wyatt doesn’t say anything for a long moment. He just stares at me, and the tension between us is thick enough to feel stifling. He seems more irritated now, given how I’m not backing down when he likely assumes I should.
“Call it what you want, but we both know what this is,Vic,” I return with a touch of sarcasm.
He pauses, brows furrowing. “What?”
“That’s what your lawyer called you, isn’t it? That’s the man I’m supposedly married to. You seem good at creating false things.”
Then, he exhales, like he’s moments away from truly losing his patience. “Don’t, Elena.”
I still don’t back down. “Why? I thought you didn’t care what you’re called.”
“That’s how everyone else addresses me,” he says, a bit firmer than before. “But not you. Call me Wyatt.”
The correction catches me by surprise, but only because it somehow feels more personal. Like he’s trying to share this one thing with me.
Blinking back at him, I pull myself together and sigh. “Fine. Wyatt...what’s your plan?”
His expression shifts into something unreadable until he wrangles it in again. “That’s none of your concern.”
“Like hell it isn’t,” I snap back, surprising even myself by how tightly wound I’m being. “You forced me into this. Whatever you’re doing, I’m involved now, whether you like it or not.”
