“If you waited,” I whisper in the dark, “then why all those other women?”
His breath is warm in my neck, his tone amused. “Did you do a search on me?”
“What do you think?”
He chuckles. “It was a strategy.”
“To be voted playboy of the year?”
He kisses my nape. “To stop the families from shoving their daughters at me.”
I still. “They did that?”
“They were hoping for a deal.”
“A marriage contract?”
He tightens his arm around me. “At some stage, even Sav thought it was a good idea to make an alliance.”
“Saverio De Luca?”
“It was just business.”
“So you asked a different woman out every night?”
“As long as I had a woman on my arm, I could say I was dating. But I didn’t want to give any of them ideas by seeing them more than once.”
“So you never dated the same woman twice. That’s horrible. You used them.”
“They used me too, some of them for money, others for status.”
I turn around to face him. “But you never touched them.”
“The only woman I kissed or fucked in six years is you, darling.”
The relief that constricts my heart is so intense that it’s painful. “Is that why they were all blond?”
He pulls my thigh over his and splays his palm over the back. “None of them were you.”
My question is hesitant. “Did you try to replace me?”
His words are as brutal as his voice is harsh. “You can’t be replaced, Tatiana.” And then he delivers the blow. “And I’ll never let you get away again, even if it means locking you up.” He grips my face in his free hand, digging his fingers into my cheeks. “No matter what happens, no matter what I do or if you hate me for it, you’ll stay. With me. Where you belong.” His fierce gaze penetrates mine. “Understand?”
My heart starts pounding in my chest. This is the cruel side of him, a side he rarely shows me. But he’s reminding me with stark clarity that no one is exempt from the monster, not even me. And as fear mingles with my regret and relief, I can only nod in his iron grip.
Chapter
Thirty-Four
Dante
* * *
The following day, I take the morning off to spend with Noah. In the afternoon, I tell Tatiana we have an appointment at the office. I’ve set up the meeting for today to give Emily time to prepare the surprise we’re planning.
Tatiana is tense during the drive to the building that now belongs to me, but after I made my intentions concerning her so clear last night, she doesn’t ask what I’m doing. She only speaks when we park in front of Teszner Agglomerate.
“I thought we were going to your office.”
