CHAPTER 52 - RED
CHAPTER
Red
“ W HAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?” Arianna bursts into my office and slams a newspaper on my desk.
I mask my surprise that she thinks she can come in here whenever she likes and speak to me in this tone of voice. She’s furious - look at her eyes! They’re almost completely purple, rather than that beguiling mixture of blue and violet.
Even though she’s grossly misjudged this situation by assuming she has the right to demand anything, let alone pull me up about God knows what in front of people, I still want to take her to my bed.
And more to the point, I want to do it now because she’s even more ravishing when she’s angry.
I glance at Del, not needing to give him the nod to leave because he’s already out of his seat and halfway to the door. I’m glad Oscar and Liam aren’t here. They’d love this. And had Keith not left with them, it wouldn’t give a great impression of how tight a control I keep on everyone around me.
Arianna swings around as the office door closes behind Del. “You think I give a shit if someone else is here? It’s hardly like your lot don’t know what you’ve done!” She prods the front-page article. “Are you mad?”
Ah, so they’ve identified Harry Taylor?
But I won’t have this - this insolence .
I grab Arianna’s wrist, the rest of me following before she gets chance to blink. I pull her towards me so her face is inches from mine. “You dare to question me?” I hiss. “You think you can take liberties now you’ve taken my name?”
“I’ll never take your name! Not here!” Her hand slaps against her chest.
I pull my eyes away from Arianna’s breasts heaving beneath her top. She’s already derailed me enough these past few days, but this latest show of defiance cements my resolve. “Bateman is your name now and best you don’t forget that!”
She tries to pull out of my grip, but it only makes me tighten it.
I hate the obsessional hold she has over me.
It isn’t happening any longer. “I think you must be confused again, princess,” I drawl, smiling coldly, knowing I’m actually enjoying this.
“You do not get special treatment, even though, such is your spoiled nature, you believe you’re owed everything. ”
“Spoiled?” Arianna shrieks. “You call being forced to marry one violent lunatic and then another, ‘spoiled’?”
Her eyes spark with defiance that roars the blood in my veins. God, she’s beautiful.
“I’m ‘spoiled’ because I’m upset that you’ve purposely estranged me from my family?
I’m ‘spoiled’ because it bothers me that you hacked someone to death on our wedding night?
I’m ‘spoiled’ for being unimpressed with you for not being content with killing only one woman because of your pathetic need to control everyone around you, that you’re determined to chalk up another on your scorecard!
” She pushes her face closer to mine. “Well, listen up, Redmond Bateman - you might have driven your first fiancée to death, but your second will not be me! Look at you! Are you not even going to attempt to explain why you did such an awful thing to that reporter? Jesus Christ, you disgust me!”
Reeling from Arianna’s words, once again saying that I was responsible for Lorna’s suicide, I don’t see her hand until the stinging slap connects with my cheek.
It is now that I lose my temper.
So, Arianna thinks I killed Lorna and believes my wish is to control her too? Maybe it is... I don’t care, but I’ll give her what she expects. By the time I’ve finished, she’ll beg for me.
And that happens, I’ll enjoy walking the fuck away, leaving her to the sharks.