Page 80 of The Ruin I Chose

“Don’t fuck with me,” he growled.

I took out my phone and tossed it on the table.

“Go ahead. Check it.”

He stared at me, eyes gleaming.

“I like feisty bitches. The thrill in taming them is better.”

I felt my skin crawl. Like something vile had slithered under it.

“So you won’t mind me destroying him?”

I didn’t answer. I didn’t know how. How do I answer something like that? When the question itself was a threat.

Of course, I didn’t want him to destroy what Marcello had built or ruin him. Of course, I cared for him. I still had unresolved feelings for him. And maybe he did too.

He stepped closer, voice low and venomous—grazing his filthy cigar hands across my jaw, then lips. Like he was branding me. Like he wanted to leave a mark.

“You know what I’d enjoy more than watching him bleed?”

He leaned in—licking his lips as his eyes locked on mine.

“Watching you beg. Watching those pretty lips tremble around my cock while you ask to be ruined.”

I stepped back, gasping, heart hammering, throat dry. Anger surged through my veins, and I gave him a hard slap across his scarred face. He barely flinched an inch. He pulled me closer, grabbing my ass, squeezing it hard with possession. My body froze—locked in place by disgust and fury.

“I’ll let that pass. You’ve got the kind of body that begs to be owned,” he said. “And I always take what I want.”

I shoved his hand away, turning back like I’d touched fire.

“You’re sick.”

He smiled. “I’m real.”

I felt his eyes on my back. Felt the heat of humiliation crawl up my neck. My palms were clammy. My stomach churned. I wanted to scream, to cry. To disappear. But I didn’t.

I walked out of that office like I’d been stripped bare. My heels clicking like gunshots on the marble. I didn’t wait for Sahil. I had to get out of there as fast as I could.

I reached Studio Rasa and exhaled a breath I hadn’t realised I was holding. I sat at my desk and stared into nothingness. But my mind wasn’t blank—it was loud.

Lorenzo’s voice.

Marcello’s silence.

My own shame.

It echoed in my bones. In my breath. I didn’t know what was coming. But I knew one thing—I was ready to brace for the storm.

CHAPTER 32

ROXANNE

Sahil stormed into the cabin.

“What the fuck, Roxy? You just left without telling me.”

“I just started feeling sick,” I answered, too quickly.