I drag a hand down my face, groaning. “Tell me that in the morning, and I will give you everything you ask for.”
She mumbles something unintelligible and huffs. My refusal is unusual, but we’re both navigating the new reality of our relationship—even more intense and combustible, with a dash of recklessness fueling the obsession.
“Fine, then I want to accompany you.”
“Zara, that’s not a good idea.”
She waves me off, unimpressed. “I want to see you in your element.”
What if that triggers her? She hated violence, but now it’s like she craves it. To test me, to test herself—I don’t know.
“It’s not my element; it’s part of being the Boss.”
My men need to know their places. That’s why I am the one dealing with traitors. Fear is better than love when ruling the underworld.
“I’m interested in your methods.”
“Do you think I would let anything happen to you? I would kill anyone who even looked at you with ill intentions.”
She shrugs. “If someone wants to get to you, they will find a way.”
The flippant way in which she says it unsettles me.
“Danger is an occupational hazard of our jobs, Vian. We’re not immortal.”
Bending over the table, I grip the back of her neck and bring her face an inch from mine. “You will stay alive even if I have to destroy the world.”
“Why?” she whispers, her eyes turning glassy.
Because you are my fucking world, my entire life and sole reason. I don’t say any of that because she’s still at the beginning of our relationship while I’ve already lived the end once. “I don’t like losing what’s mine.”
Disappointment pulls at her features, but it’s her silence that guts me.
After finishing dessert, I guide her back to the car, undecided whether to bring her with me or take her home.
I glance at her and find a resolute expression staring back at me.
In the underground garage, I swipe my key card, and the elevator descends to a basement floor that is not mentioned anywhere in the building’s blueprints.
She stares wide-eyed at the stainless-steel room inside. The three men are in cages, rattling the bars, but they won’t yield. They could never find their way out. Once the cages open at their backs, they will crawl farther into my lair—a designated space where the walls move, creating a labyrinth. And they will be trapped inside with me.
My enforcers emerge from the shadows, bowing their heads to my wife, knowing she is an extension of me and must not only be respected but protected at any cost.
“Good job.”
They nod and leave us with them.
One of them sees her and bares his teeth at her. “It will be so fun to break your cunt as he watches how I spunk all over you, bitch.”
Silence speaks louder than any threat, and I will take my sweet time with him. From experience, the biggest talkers are usually the biggest cowards.
“With that tiny dick? I’m used to so much more,” she says, inspecting her manicure in a show of insolence that enrages him further.
“You bitch. I’ll show you tiny dick.”
“Please,” she says with a smile, reaching out in one quick move. Gripping his hair, she bashes his face against the bars, splitting his lip. “Let me see what my husband will start chopping off first.”
It happens so fast that he looks shell-shocked when she releases him. He stumbles back, blood trickling down his chin. She’s magnificent—elegant like a panther and just as lethal.
