Page 95 of King of Rage

“Why did you behave like that in the past?” she asked. “You didn’t treat me like you wanted a girlfriend. You treated me like you wanted to pay me off for giving you sex.”

Lucius’s brows pulled together.

“What are you talking about?”

“You randomly sent money to my account every time we slept together,” she said. “And I knew you were sending many of the businesses you worked with to purchase things from my café for their business meetings and events.”

Lucius stared at her for a moment, clearly confused.

“Because you were my girlfriend,” he said, as though the answer were obvious. “And I loved giving you everything I could. Is that wrong?”

His arms tightened slightly around her waist.

“You’re telling me that giving money to my girlfriend and recommending her business to the people I worked with was wrong?” His voice remained calm, but genuine confusion flickered across his face. “I wanted to see you happy. I wanted to help with your business. I wanted you to shop with my money. Was that wrong?”

Stella stared at him, caught off guard by his answer.

All this time, she had believed he was giving her money to make up for what he expected from her, as though he were paying her to sleep with him.

But that wasn’t what Lucius had meant at all.

“Then why didn’t you congratulate me when I won that prize?” she asked. “Instead, you pushed me away when my business won an award. It felt like it didn’t even matter to you, as if none of what I accomplished in my life mattered to you at all.”

Lucius’s eyebrows rose.

“Don’t you remember kissing me out of the blue?” he asked. “You did it so many times.”

Stella stared at him, waiting for him to continue.

Lucius pressed his lips together, looking almost reluctant to admit what had been going through his mind.

“I got turned on,” he finally said.

Stella’s eyes widened.

“I didn’t want you to see what you were doing to me,” he admitted. “Every time you kissed me, I wanted you more. I was already losing control, and I didn’t want you to know. It was fucking embarrassing. You’d barely kissed me, and I was already hard because of you.”

Heat crept into Stella’s cheeks.

She straightened, embarrassment quickly giving way to frustration.

“You were always so cold and dismissive toward me,” she said. “You’d call me to your office several times a month just to have me bring you files, like I was your maid or something. Then you’d make me stay on that office couch until you were finished before letting me leave. You treated me like I was beneath you.”

Lucius leaned closer and pressed a kiss against her cheek.

“Because I wanted to see you,” he said.

Stella turned toward him, her brows drawing together.

“You were so busy all the time with your work that you forgot about me the moment you left my house. I wanted to see you. I liked seeing you around me. I liked having you in my office.”

His voice softened, and his hand moved slowly along her waist.

“Back then, it was my fault for not making our relationship clear and not telling you everything. I was bad at understanding my emotions, and I was even worse at showing them.”

He paused, his eyes holding hers.

“It was all my fault. I know that now.”