I laughed bitterly. “I’m leaving. By myself.”
“Fine.”
The word felt like a slap, jolting me out of my rage and reminding me of Roman’s words in the dining room.
Every sub falls in love with their first Dom.
My next breath was shaky. Wes’s features were back to that unreadable, icy mask he wore around The Circle, as if nothing had changed.
As if I’d never mattered to him at all.
Poor girl.
“I’m done with The Circle. And I’m done withus.”
Wes didn’t move. Didn’t speak. Before any tears could form in front of him, I turned away and opened the bedroom door.
“I never want to hear from any of you ever again.”
42
NOVA
Iused the bathroom downstairs as Wes called his driver. The moment I realized the past thirty minutes had occurred while I was wearing cutesy lamb ears, I yanked the headband off with a roll of my eyes. I stared at myself in the mirror. My skin was already blotchy and slightly puffy, my tense shoulders bracing for a complete meltdown as soon as I was alone with poor Marty on the way back to the city.
It was pathetic how easy it had been for Wes to break my heart. Iknewwho dominant men were. Iknewnot to trust people like him.
He’d feltso different. Different than anyone I’d ever met.
But he wasn’t. He was the same as all the rest. He’d lied to me about who he was, and he’d clearly lied to me about his connection to The Circle. He made me look like a complete idiot, clueless about it all.
I angrily swiped a tear from my cheek. Fuck Wes, and fuck Lorelei too. Neither of them loved me, and I never wanted to give any piece of myself to people like them ever again.
I nodded to myself, watching as my lips dug into a deep frown and my eyes became sharp and fiery.
When I slipped back out into the hall, more voices floated through the enormous home.
“Tie her to the chair,” I heard someone say. “She’ll eat what we feed her.”
I slowly walked back toward the foyer. As I moved through the dimly lit estate, I saw bound and gagged prey carried in by hunters. I saw a woman crawling on the floor as men trailed after her. The sugar baby twink was kissing an old banker’s leather shoes. I heard whips cracking through the air and flesh slapping against flesh—everyone in this place indulging in what could never be mine.
“Please! Help me!” a woman screamed from far away, likely from the woods, where the hunt was still in full swing.
“Nova.”
I halted.
Roman stood in front of me, eclipsing my view of the foyer beyond him. “Stay. Feast with us. There’s no need for anyone to leave.”
I laughed humorously,incredulously. “You’re all insane.” I straightened, lifting my chin as my nostrils flared.“No.”
Roman’s gaze narrowed to a sharpened point. “You will be mine, Nova.”
I gaped. Before I could speak, he covered my mouth with his hand and dragged me back into a hall. He pressed me up against the nearest wall as I fought him.
His lips were inches from my ear, his breath tickling me. “You’re going to get everything you’ve ever wanted. Your dream publisher is going to launch your career, making you an instant household name. You won’t have to have roommates or roaches in the walls or ramen for dinner ever again. You won’t even have to take the disgusting, abhorrent subway. The only struggle you will experience as my sub will be the ordealsIdesign for you—the pain and control you have longed for your entire life. I havebeen studying you, Nova. Not because of my unworthy brother, but because I wantyou.I have wanted you from the start. And I get everything I want.”
“Let me go,” I yelled into his palm, the words muffled against his skin.
