"You're going to end it," he says flatly. "You're going to end whatever this is with Romeo Ciresa, and you're going to marry me as planned. You're going to smile at the wedding and play the dutiful wife and forget this ever happened."
Panic spreads through me, nausea roiling in my stomach. "I can't?—"
"You can and you will." He takes another step toward me, and I find myself backing up until I hit the wall. "Because if you don't, I will destroy you. I will destroy your father. I will destroy everyone you care about. Do you understand me?"
The threat is so casual, so matter-of-fact, that for a moment I can't process it. "You can't?—"
"I can do whatever I want." He's close now, close enough that I can smell his cologne, and my stomach heaves again. "You have no idea how powerful I am, too, Savannah. My family is older than yours. I can bring you and your father down with a snap of my fingers. Every man has skeletons in his closet. I can find Edgar’s, and if I don’t find any, I can make them up.”
"You wouldn't." But even as I say it, I can see in his eyes that he would, that he absolutely would destroy my father and me and anyone else who got in his way.
"Try me." His hand comes up, and I think for a moment he's going to touch my face, but instead his fingers close around my upper arm, gripping hard enough to make me gasp. "You're mine, Savannah. You've always been mine. And I'm not going to let some criminal take what belongs to me."
I can feel his fingers digging into my flesh hard enough to bruise, hard enough to leave marks that will last for days. But it's not the physical pain that makes something inside me snap—it's the possessiveness in his voice, the casual cruelty, the absolute certainty that he has the right to hurt me because I belong to him.
"Let go of me." My voice is steady now, cold in a way I've never heard it before, not even when I tried to send Romeo away.
"Not until you promise me?—"
"Let. Go." I'm seeing him more clearly than I ever have before—not the family friend, not the suitable match, not the man my father chose for me, but the person he actually is. Someone who would threaten my family. Someone who would have me followed. Someone who would put his hands on me in anger.
"You're going to end it with Ciresa," he says again, his grip tightening. "You're going to tell him it's over?—"
"I'm not going to marry a man who puts his hands on me." The words come out clear and certain, and I watch his expression change, watch surprise and anger flicker across his face.
"I'm not—this isn't—" He looks down at his hand on my arm like he's surprised to find it there. "You made me do this. You made me?—"
"I didn't make you do anything." I'm not backing down now, not letting him twist this into something that's my fault. "You chose to grab me. You chose to threaten me."
"You stupid little girl." Thad's voice is venomous now, all pretense of civility gone. "You stupid, naive little girl playing with fire. Do you have any idea what you've done? What you're throwing away?"
"I haven't thrown anything away." But my voice is shaking, because I know he's right. Loving Romeo means losing everything else—my father's support, my funding, the life I've been scraping to keep little bits of before I’m caged up as Thad’s wife.
"You've thrown away everything!" He's shouting again, his face flushed with rage. "Your future, your family, your reputation. For what? For some criminal who's going to use you and discard you the moment he gets bored? For some obsessive stalker who's been following you around like a lovesick puppy?"
"He's not?—"
"He's exactly that!" Thad's grip on my arm tightens even more, and I can feel tears starting to form in my eyes from the pain. "He's a criminal, Savannah. He's dangerous. He's going to destroy you, and you're too infatuated to see it."
"Let go of me." I'm trying to pull away now, break his grip, but he's stronger than I am, and he's not letting go.
"Not until you promise me?—"
"I said, let go!" I'm shouting now too, and I push at his chest with my free hand, trying to create space between us.
"You're a whore." The word comes out cold and deliberate, designed to hurt me. "A disappointment. A stupid little girl who's going to regret this for the rest of her life."
And that's when I hear it—the sound of my dorm room door crashing open, and the sound of Romeo's voice, so furious that it makes my blood run cold.
"Get your fucking hands off her."
Thad turns, and I see his expression change from anger to fear, the recognition of danger. Romeo is standing a foot away, and he looks like something out of a nightmare, his face pale and his eyes dark, his whole body coiled with barely contained violence. There’s another man behind him, a tall, handsome, dark-haired man I don’t recognize. His jaw is set, his eyes angry too as he takes in the scene in front of him.
"This is a private conversation," Thad says, but his voice is less certain now, and I can feel his grip on my arm loosening slightly.
"I don't give a fuck what it is." Romeo is moving closer. "I told you to get your hands off her."
"She's my fiancée?—"
