Page 70 of Branded

“No. You’re not.” I release her completely, stepping back. “You’re staying in my house, and in my bed. Where you belong.”

“No, I won’t,” she says, lifting her head as she glares at me.

“Yes, you will. Because if you don’t, if you defy me on this, I’ll make the rest of our time together so much worse than it needs to be.” My smile is cold. “You think this morning was rough? You think being fucked against a wall is the worst I can do? You have no idea what I’m capable of when someone I own tries to disobey me.”

“Don’t threaten me.” Her words are tight, through gritted teeth.

“I’m promising you.” I move closer again, crowding her space. “Go ahead. Try to move to the bunkhouse. Try to put distance between us and see what happens. Because I promise you, Lennox, you won’t like the consequences.”

“What are you going to do? Treat me like a whore?” She throws the word like a weapon. “Force me to submit? Because that’s what this is. That’s what it’s always been. You paid for the legal right to use me for two years and call it marriage.”

The accusation hits harder than it should have. Because there’s truth in it, even if I refuse to acknowledge it.

“I’ve never forced you.”

“You bought me at an auction! You married me because I signed papers under duress! Everything about this is forced!” She’s shouting again. “And now you’re standing here threatening me with worse treatment if I don’t obey? That’s abuse. That’s everything you claimed you weren’t when you said you wanted something real.”

“I never claimed I wasn’t a monster.”

“No, you just pretended to be human long enough to make me forget you were one.” Tears stream down her face now, and seeing them makes something twist in my chest. She stops, swallows hard. “I actually thought maybe we could survive this. That maybe by the end of two years, we’d have built something that was based on something real.

“At least now I know the truth. Know exactly what I’m dealing with for the next two years.”

“And what’s that?”

“A man who’ll never see me as anything more than the two million dollars he paid.” She straightens, gathering the shredded remains of her dignity. “Fine. I’ll stay in your house. In your bed. I’ll play the obedient wife. But don’t ever pretend this is anything other than what it is: a transaction where you get everything you want, and I count down days until I get freedom back.”

She turns and walks back toward the house, complying, obeying, submitting to my control.

I’ve won.

So why does it feel like I’ve just lost everything that mattered?

I stand there, watching her retreat, and feel the darkness inside me writhing with satisfaction. I put her in her place, reminded her of her position. Asserted my authority. All the things I was taught a man does when his property tries to escape. But the look on her face, broken, resigned, empty of hope, is going to haunt me. Because I’ve just destroyed whatever fragile thing we’ve been building. Killed it with threats and cruelty and the brutal reminder that she isn’t a partner. She’s property.

And property doesn’t get to leave.

My phone buzzes. Nathaniel.

“Dad wants to know where you are. He’s got some ideas about finding the leak.”

“On my way.” I take one look back at the house, then turn on my heel. I don’t have time to rebuild things with Lennox right now. I have a traitor to find.

* * *

“About time,” Dad says when Caroline and I walk in. “We need to discuss the leak.”

“Agreed.”

“I still think,” he starts to say, and I shake my head.

“It’s not Lennox.” The words come out hard. “Your theory doesn’t hold up, Dad. She had no way to know about the raid plans until they were already in motion. No opportunity to leak anything to Marshall. And everything she’s done since arriving has been helpful.”

“You’re thinking with your cock instead of your brain, boy.”

“I’m thinking logically. Which is a fuck ton more than you’re doing right now.” I move to the bed and lean in. “You’re injured, you’re angry, and you’re looking for someone to blame. But Lennox isn’t it. So, we move on and find who actually betrayed us.”

Dad stares at me for a long moment, then glances at Caroline. “What do you think?”