Chapter 63
Chapter Sixty-Three
Poppy
It was time for the send-off. I was ready, or I thought I was.
I had on a new dress, this one much more scandalous than the wedding gown I’d worn all night.
There was also a knife hidden in the lingerie the grannies had made me for me, as well.
The lingerie added with the loose dress would never hold a knife and they felt like a holster was too bulky so the week before, they dropped off special lingerie that would keep the knife secure but not give it away.
It made me feel confident and skittish, all at once.
Was I strong enough? Was I able to do this?
Hands trembling, I smoothed my palms down the dress again, like that would somehow settle me. Like fabric could armor the fact that a single wrong breath would get me and Jane both killed.
A murmur of voices swelled beyond the doors. Laughter. Music. The clatter of glasses. The scraping of chairs as the last round of champagne was passed before everyone walked outside to send us off like we were the picture-perfect couple.
A soft knock sounded behind me.
“Poppy?” Donovan’s voice slid down my spine like a cold touch. “They’re ready for us.”
I forced a smile as I turned, and he beamed back at me. It was the most I’d ever seen him smile and once again… I wondered if I was making the right decision. Would he truly care for me? Would he truly love me? Treat me right?
My thoughts flashed back to the envelope that had all of the proof in it. It flashed back to the way Ivan looked, being carried out of the buildings by the docks. It reminded me that I would never be free and that he could look happy all he wanted to… but that didn’t mean it would last.
The doors opened, and the people seeing us off cheered. Rose petals floated through the air in a shower of ivory and gold while the photographer clicked away at the end of the tunnel.
Donovan forced our joined hands in the air, and I smiled as if my life depended on it.
Not much longer.
My husband twirled me around, dipped me low, and then planted a deep, sensual kiss on my lips. My stomach bottomed out. We were about to be alone in the car… Would he expect more from me before I was ready? I hadn’t thought about that.
He pulled away from the kiss with a loud smack and began pulling me towards the waiting car. If he wanted more from me in the car… he would find the knife. I couldn’t kill him with his driver present.
Donovan opened the car door with a flourish, grinning like a man about to unwrap a present.
“After you, Mrs. Madden.” My stomach twisted.
Mrs. Madden.
It was the first time he’d said it out loud.
I hesitated—just a second—but it was enough for his hand to find the small of my back and guide me inside. His touch was deceptively gentle. Possessive in a way that made my throat tighten.
The interior of the car smelled like leather and expensive cologne. It felt too small. It felt too intimate.
His eyes slid to me, slow and hungry. “You look terrified,” he murmured, brushing a knuckle along my jaw. “Don’t be. I’ll take good care of you tonight.”
My pulse skittered violently. His touch made my skin crawl, but I forced myself to lean into it.
“Big day,” I whispered. “A lot to take in.”
His hand drifted down my arm, fingertips grazing the edge of my dress. “You were perfect.” He leaned closer. “And you’ll be perfect tonight.”
“Donovan,” I said softly, trying to keep my voice steady as the car began to roll out of the venue’s circlular drive, “maybe we could… talk first? Before anything else.”
He chuckled low. “Talk? You’ve talked plenty today.” His hand slid to my thigh, squeezing through the fabric of the dress. “Now I get to enjoy my wife.”
Ice flooded my veins. “Then we'd better hurry back to your place, right?”
One of his eyebrows inched up. “One day, I’ll break you of these little virgin tendencies. You’ll be mounting me in the car every chance you can get.”
Somehow, I pushed the nausea down and ignored the obvious bulge in his pants.
***
“Would you like it if I carried you over the threshold?” It took practically no time for us to get back to his home when he mentioned to his driver that we were in a bit of a hurry.
I was and yet… I wasn’t. I didn’t want to do this.
I didn’t want to change my life like this, but there was no other choice.
I held my arms open for him to sweep me off of my feet and even let out a little giggle when he did so. “You look so radiant.”
“Thank you,” I said as I laid my head on his chest and he walked us into his home.
It was still hard for me to fight the visceral reaction of being in the same place of when he’d grabbed my face and threatened me.
It was still so hard for me to look around and not vomit all over his shoes.
The penthouse was beautiful, but it was tainted.
He wasted no time and immediately went towards his bedroom. No tour, no theatrics, just want thrumming through him. He nudged the door open to a beautifully furnished bedroom. The walls and ceiling were all a deep navy blue, and in the center of the room was a massive bed with a fabric headboard.
He tossed me, not too gently, onto the bed, and I bounced a second as I looked at him with wild, wide eyes. His grin was feral and possessive. It was nothing like the looks he’d been giving me all night. This was different… it was dangerous.
“I won.”
“Excuse me?” There was no way I’d heard him correctly.
He began yanking his tie off and unbuttoning his shirt, but I couldn’t focus on anything else but the words he’d said.
I could hardly focus on the knife strapped to my body.
He threw his tie into the corner and then his shirt before he answered.
“Ivan might have gotten your virginity… but you are my wife. How pathetic, he didn’t even fight for you. ”
I wanted to scream that Ivan was still injured, but I knew it still didn’t look good. I knew how it all made me feel, but I wouldn’t let it show on my face.
“You think I gave my virginity to him?” I laughed. “He wanted me to. The most he got was hearing me masturbate with a door between us.” I had to be a little honest, or there would be no getting through this.
“You’re lying,” he said flatly.
I gave him a slow, incredulous blink. “You really think I would willingly give him something that was promised to someone else?” I rolled my eyes. “I know my father was getting all of my medical records and charts from my OBGYN. I was left in the dark about most things but not all things.”
His jaw flexed. The shirt slid off his arms and hit the floor. “He touched you.”
“Of course he touched me.” I waved a hand as if it were trivial. “He’s a man. You threatened him. He was curious. But it wasn’t anything more than that.” I tilted my head, letting my lips curl with a cruel sort of humor. “He begged for more, though.”
That feral grin faltered.
I smirked. “But I told him no. I knew you wouldn’t like sloppy seconds.” I needed him to stop talking; I couldn’t keep lying like this. I needed an out, and I needed it fast. I couldn’t start stripping; that was dangerous territory with the knife at my side.
As if he read my thoughts—“Are you going to take your dress off?”
I smirked. “Why don't you come and take it off of me?” He kicked his shoes off next and chuckled.
“Anything else?”
“I’m a bit shy…” I licked my lips and looked him over as if I was enjoying the show he was putting on.
He shook his head, but didn’t look mad at my request. He flicked the lights off, and my shoulders relaxed, but only a little.
“I will help you feel comfortable enough that you’ll turn into a freak before you know it.”
He climbed onto the bed, caging me in with an arm on either side of my hips. His torso hovered above mine, the heat of his skin rolling off him in oppressive waves.
The knife was pinched between my ribs and lingerie, the metal biting into me like a reminder:
You do not leave this room alive unless he dies first.
His lips brushed my jaw, slow and claiming.
“Say it,” he murmured.
My heart hammered so violently I thought he’d hear it. “Say you’re mine.”
I cupped his cheek, letting my thumb trace the sharp edge of his jawline as if mesmerized.
“I’m yours,” I whispered.
His shudder of pleasure skimmed across my skin. “Good girl,” he rasped.
I fought the gag rising and instead pressed my lips to his. His hands fumbled with the material of my dress, but I moved around so he could access anywhere but the weapon. When he pulled back to help me out of it, I quickly wrapped my fingers around the knife and yanked it free.
This was my moment. But he must have seen it coming. He grabbed my wrist in a tight grip and laughed.
“If you think I’m that stupid, you know nothing about me.”
Thanks to all the classes he required me to take, I was stronger than I’d ever been. The knife glinted just inches from his throat—inches—and still impossibly far. His grip was unlike anything I’d ever experienced before. I didn’t know how I was going to get my hand free.
Instead of stressing over that, I drove my knee up into his crotch. He let out a howl of pain, and I was able to roll away from him. I crouched on the floor as I watched him get up from the bed.
My heart slammed into my ribs as a snarl ripped free from his throat and he shook out his limbs. I knew he was a fighter, but I’d never experienced it. I should have prepared better. I should have gone to watch him fight.
“Do you honestly think you’re the first woman to learn just who I am?”
This time, the nerves set in. I wasn’t going to make it out alive. I wasn’t going to survive this. I’d signed up for the impossible. Why did I think I was capable of doing such a thing?