Page 15 of The Mafia Husband's Loveless Marriage

And since then, her life in college had completely changed. The people who used to ignore her because she was a nobody? They suddenly fawned all over her because to them she was suddenly somebody, and it was just so...strange.

Her whole life, she had existed under the radar, and that was why that thing she told Mykos about having boys lined up around the block? She had lied about that, actually. Butsomehow, when news of her marriage to the billionaire had become public—it was as if she became attractive simply because Mykos had married her. Or maybe, all of them just wanted to see if they could steal a girl from him.

People could be so ill-advised that way. They had no idea how terribly possessive Mykos could be. And how adorably, inexplicably jealous.

But she did.

Because there was that one day when he had surprised her with a visit, intending to have lunch with her. She had been sitting on the bench outside the science building, going over her notes with her lab partner, Kyle. She hadn't thought anything of it. Kyle was nice enough—a little awkward, prone to talking about molecular biology in a way that made her eyes glaze over, but harmless.

They were mid-conversation when a familiar black car pulled up at the curb.

Maika's heart did the thing it always did when she saw her husband, which was try to leap out of her ribcage like it had somewhere important to be. He stepped out of the car in a dark suit, and the entire courtyard seemed to go quiet, because Mykos Ravensworth didn't walk into a space. He commanded it. Heads turned. Conversations died. A girl walking past actually stumbled on the pavement, and Maika couldn't even judge her for it.

Kyle, who had been in the middle of explaining something about cell division, trailed off when he noticed Maika wasn't looking at him anymore.

"Hey, are you—" Kyle turned to follow her gaze, and his face went white.

Because Mykos was already standing in front of them, and he was smiling. It was the kind of smile that had absolutely nothing to do with warmth and everything to do with the fact that another man had been sitting next to his wife.

"I don't believe we've met." Mykos extended his hand. "Mykos Ravensworth. Maika's husband."

Kyle shook his hand once, mumbled something that might have been "nice to meet you," gathered his notes with the speed of a man who had just remembered an urgent appointment on the other side of the planet, and was gone.

Maika opened her mouth. "He's just my lab part—"

But Mykos had already taken her hand and pulled her to her feet, and then he was walking, and she was half-walking, half-stumbling to keep up, and the next thing she knew, they were in an empty classroom, and the door was locked, and his mouth was on her neck, and—

"M-Mykos, we're in aschool—"

He didn't answer. He didn't need to. His answer was his teeth against her skin, and she stopped protesting after that, because honestly, what was the point?

It was only when she saw her reflection in the mirror that night—

It was only then she realized how he had flagrantly branded the side of her neck with his mark.

"M-Mykos!"

He leaned one shoulder against the doorway of their en-suite, barechested and beautiful, as he met her gaze through the mirror. "What is it?"

She was torn between exasperation and amusement. "Don't pretend you don't know." She pointed to the side of her neck. "You just..."

"What?"

"Marked me!"

"So?"

"W-What do you mean 'so'?" she sputtered. "Can't you see it's so...obvious?"

"And what if it is?" he questioned. "Do you not want people to know you're mine?"

"No, of course not—"

"What's the problem then?"

You.

The word popped in her mind out of nowhere.