“So you’re going toimprisonme here? Is that the plan? For how long, Cal?”
“Until Iownyou,” he said, so harshly that she jolted in surprise. “When I’ve claimed you as my sparrow—that’s when you’ll be safe, Nadine. And then you’ll fuck me, just like all the other Cullraven brides fucked their husbands. I’ll hand you the knife, but we both know you’ll decline it, and darling,” he said menacingly, “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t looking forward to it.”
She took a step back from him, even though a hot bolt of desire cracked through her, creating a pulsating burst of heat she felt to her very core. “Give me my phone,” she said weakly.
“Tell me, what do you think will happen if you leave here? Do you think you’ll be free—from me? Fromthis? You’re not the first sparrow to want to fly from here.”
“What do you mean?”
“Our grand-uncle’s wife—she tried to run. She didn’t care much for his vicious appetites. So he chased her across two continents and six countries to punish her for her hubris before he fed her ashes to the sea. His name was Benjamin Alexander Cullraven. Ben’s namesake. Seems rather fitting, wouldn’t you say?”
“Oh my god,” she groaned, gripping the back of his desk chair.
He fed her ashes to the sea.
“We both come from a long line of vindictive, draconian men, Ben and I. Maybe we’re both doomed to hurt the ones we love. Two scorpions,” he said. “Forged in blood. I might even be moved to pity him, if I weren’t cursed with the same affliction.”
“You said that like you think you don’t have a choice.”
“There’s always a choice. But sometimes the consequences are still the same.” He turned another page. “I thought we could go to the woods today. The weather is perfect for what I have planned. We can stop by the town on the way and show your friend no harm has come to you.”
For what I have planned.
She swallowed hard. “Before the woods, you mean.”
“Before the woods,” he agreed.
The air in the room thinned. “Can I talk to my aunt at least? Just for a few minutes?”
She could tell he was listening because of how still he had gotten. Another one of his tells, Nadine thought; the less he moved, the more he was paying attention.
“Please. She’ll get too suspicious. She knows me too well. I don’t want her to come here.” She looked around the room desperately before sinking down on the space he’d cleared. His weight caused her hip to sink into the divot, pressing her against his side. “Please let me talk to her. You can hold the phone. I’ll even let you—” she choked “—tie me up, if you don’t trust me.”
“Nadine,” he said, and it sounded less like a warning and more like a sigh.
She put her hand on his arm. She saw him glance at it, and then at her face. She rarely touched him, unless he made her, and the feral attentiveness in his expression now was a good reminder why touching was a bad idea.
“Please, Daddy?”
Cal froze, the highlighter poised in his fingers. When she leaned closer, pressing herself against him, he turned his face away before their lips could touch. Then he capped his marker and set it aside before leaning over to open his bedside drawer.
He’s going to tie me up, she thought fearfully.
But instead, he pulled out her phone.
“So you can beg,” he said, in a carefully neutral tone.
Nadine said nothing when he took her hand and used it to unlock it, watching him scroll through her contacts with her mouth pressed into a thin line.
“Five minutes.”
She fisted her hands in her lap as the phone rang.What if she’s not there?thought Nadine, but then there was a click and her aunt’s lovely, distracted voice was piping through.
“Nadine? Is that you? Oh, thank god. I’ve been calling and calling, and you weren’t answering. It wasn’t like you. I was starting to get worried.”
She glanced at Cal, as if to say,See, dick?
“Are you all right, honey? Do you need me to come and get you?”
