Chapter 23
SEBASTIAN
I watch her walk away from our home, toward the bunkhouse, her bag over her shoulder, spine straight despite everything. Pride and hurt radiating off her in waves.
And something dark inside me snaps.
The version of myself that had kissed her gently during a morning ride screams at me. The husband who rode with her in comfortable silence, recovering cattle, is replaced by the man who paid two million dollars for a woman at an auction and expected absolute obedience in return.
That Sebastian looks at Lennox walking away and sees a possession trying to escape its owner.
I catch up to her halfway across the grounds, my hand closing hard around her wrist.
“Lennox. Stop.”
She freezes but doesn’t turn around. “Let go of me.”
“No.” I yank her around to face me. “You don’t get to just walk away.”
“Watch me.” She tries to pull free, but I tighten my grip.
“You seem to have forgotten something important.” My voice goes cold, dangerous. “You can’t leave without my permission. That’s the contract. That’s the agreement you signed.”
Her eyes widen, then narrow with fury. “Seriously?”
“You don’t go anywhere unless I say so. You don’t move into the bunkhouse unless I approve it.
You don’t make decisions about where you sleep, where you live, or what you do with your time.
” I pull her closer, getting in her face.
“You’re mine, Lennox. For two years. That means you do what I tell you, when I tell you, or there are consequences. ”
“Consequences?” She laughs, bitter and sharp. “What are you going to do, Sebastian? Lock me in the house and fuck me into submission?”
“If that’s what it takes.”
The words come out before I can stop them, brutal and honest. And I see the hurt flash across her face before rage replaces it.
“There it is.” Her voice shakes with venom. “This is the real you. Not the man who showed me the ranch. Not the husband who kissed me like he actually gave a shit. The monster who bought me at an auction and thinks he owns every part of me.”
“I do own you.”
“No, you don’t!” She shoves at my chest with her free hand. “You own my time for two years. You own my body because I signed those fucking papers. But you don’t own me, Sebastian. You never will.”
“Then why are you still here?” I grab her other wrist, holding both now, forcing her to face me.
“If I don’t own you, if this is such torture, why haven’t you run?
Why haven’t you violated the contract and disappeared?
Surely your family has connections to get you out.
But you can’t go to them, can you? Because you still haven’t told them about us. ”
“There is no us. And I’m here because I keep my word even if it’s going to kill me. Because”—her voice breaks—“some stupid part of me thought maybe you could change. That maybe underneath the brutality and the ownership, there was actually a decent man who might—”
“Might what? Love you?” I laugh, cruel and mocking. “Is that what you thought this was? That I’d fall in love with the woman I bought like livestock? That this would turn into some fairy tale where the monster becomes a prince?”
“Fuck you.”
“You do. Regularly. And you love it even when you hate yourself for loving it.” I pull her against me, my grip unforgiving. “Your body wants me even when your mind knows you should run. You get wet the second I touch you. You come screaming my name. You can’t help yourself.”
“That’s just biology.”
“Keep telling yourself that.”
She goes still in my grip. “You’re a bastard.”
“Yes. I am. I’m the bastard who bought you, who owns you, who will use you however I want for the next seven hundred and nine days.
” I release one wrist to grip her jaw, forcing her to meet my eyes.
“And you can hate me for it. You can cry, rage and fantasize about the day you’re free.
But until then, you’re mine. And that means you don’t walk away from me. Ever.”
“I’m moving out of your house.”
“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?”
“I think Sebastian’s right. Lennox isn’t the leak.
Dad, think about it clearly for just a minute.
Sebastian bought her just over two weeks ago.
She didn’t even really know who he was; she’d never set foot in Texas before that.
” Caroline looks over at me. “I ran her background,” she says with a shrug.
“There’s also nothing to tie her to Marshall.
Hell, her father hasn’t even sold him a bull. ”
She pulls out her tablet. “I’ve been going through security footage, phone records, everything I can access. If someone called or texted the Marshalls about the raid, there should be evidence.”
“And?”
“Still looking. But I’ve narrowed it down to ten people who had access to the raid details and means to communicate them. Lennox isn’t on that list; she didn’t have her phone with her during the planning stages, and she was with Mom or Sebastian the entire time.”
“She could have passed information another way.”
“Dad.” Nathaniel finally speaks up from the corner. “Let it go. She’s not the leak. We need to focus on finding who actually is before they cause more damage.”
“Fine.” Dad doesn’t look convinced. Just outvoted. “But I’m watching her. Any suspicious behavior, any sign she’s working against us, and I’ll deal with her immediately.”
“Understood,” I say, though my stomach churns. Because Dad isn’t the only one watching Lennox now.
I’m watching her too. Watching to see if I’ve just destroyed the only real thing I’ve had in years.
All because I can’t admit, even to myself, that she’s stopped being property and started to become something I actually need.
Something I’m terrified of losing.
So, I hurt her and controlled her first. Made sure she knew her place before she could gain enough power to leave me.
And in doing so, I’ve proven I’m exactly the monster she’s feared I am from the beginning.