CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
ADRIAN
The violence etched onto her flesh had vanished, leaving only faint amber shadows that my eyes alone could discern, marks that I had obsessively recorded in my memory.
The swelling in her hands had receded completely.
Even the delicate cut on her lip, born from her own desperate teeth during that brutal struggle, had closed into a whisper of a pale scar.
She was healed. Whole. Alive.
And it was time for my wife to come home.
“The time has come, Serafina” I declared softly, fully knowing that she would put up a fight, and preparing for that fact.
Serafina remained facing away. “Time for what?”
“To return home.”
The words landed between us like a stone dropped into still water. I watched the tremor ripple across her body, the subtle tension in her shoulders and the slight stiffening of her spine in a defensive arch.
“No.”
One word. That was all she said. A simple refusal.
“Serafina.” I closed the distance between, hovering directly behind her. Close enough to inhale the sweet vanilla fragrance of her hair, yet exercising restraint, denying myself the satisfaction of touching her skin. “Your wounds are healed.”
She whipped around, her hazel eyes blazing with a dangerous fury that had been smoldering beneath the surface for weeks. “Healed? Is that how your twisted mind sees it? Now that I’m healed, I can seamlessly resume playing the role of your dutiful little wife?”
“An assassin nearly took your life two weeks ago. A bounty hangs over your head. You are exposed out here or any other city you flee to. The only place where you are truly safe is—”
“Let me guess, the only place I will be protected is back to your estate.”A sharp, mocking laugh escaped her lips, hollow and devoid of warmth. “How poetic, Adrian. Truly. The very man who dragged me into this hell now claims his gilded cage is my only salvation.”
“I never claimed—”
“You didn’t need to say it aloud.” Her tone was razor-sharp, and it frustrated me how low she thought of me.
Fuck, have I not proven myself enough? That I would never fucking hurt her.
“That has always been your objective, hasn’t it?
Ensuring your property remains undamaged before locking it back away. ”
The venom in her words sliced through me, exposing a raw, ugly truth I had desperately tried to bury. Darkness pulsed violently beneath my ribs. “You are not a property.”
“Don’t lie to me.” She raised her hand, her fierce gaze locking onto mine. “Don’t offer me false promises. You’ve deceived me enough since the day we met.”
I stepped closer, my patience fraying. “I’m not deceiving you. I don’t see you as less than a person. You’re not a commodity though the men in our world like to believe that women like you are… but you’re not. But you’re my wife. You belong at my side.”
“I belong to no one!” The scream erupted from her chest, raw and drenched in absolute fury. “Not to you, not to my father, and certainly not to this damn marriage that destroyed my life!”
“Your life was ruined long before you ever walked down the aisle to me, Serafina.” The words tore from my throat before I could stop them, and she physically flinched from them, as if I had actually struck her.
All color drained from her face before a flush of pure rage consumed her, her chest heaving as she dragged a breath through her lungs.
“You know nothing of my life,” she rasped, her voice trembling under the weight of her fury.
“I know enough.” I crowded into her space, towering over her. “I know you’re running from a ghost that has nothing to do with me. I know you’re terrified of the dark secrets you carry.”
“Back away from me.” She bared her teeth at me, like a kitten would. Cute, very fucking cute. But as much as I liked her defiance, now was not the time for it.
“Give me the truth. Tell me the real reason you pulled that trigger.”
Her eyes widened, and for a moment I wondered if I had pushed too far, too soon. A momentary flicker of vulnerability broke through her mask before I saw something physically inside her snap. A complete, absolute fracture of her composure.
“You want the truth?” She lunged at me, shoving forcefully against my chest. “The truth is: I despise you. I loathe every shadow of your existence, your family, your goddamn bloodied empire and your suffocating control.” Her words, unhinged and laced with every once of her fury slammed through me, each one a painful lash through my body.
“I will never return to being your wife. Never.”
Her declaration struck like a lethal blow. Instinct took over; my hands clamped around her wrists, trapping them firmly at her sides as I push her back against the wall. Her body collided with the plaster with a heavy thud, and the sound ignited a dark, primal pulse through my veins.
“Never is a long time, Princess.” Never was indeed a dangerous word to speak to a dangerous man because we always saw it as a challenge.
“Do you want to know what I think?” she spat out softly, her voice dropping into a deadly, intimate cadence.
“I see a man who cares nothing for my survival, only his bruised ego. I think you care more about your pride. About the fact that someone tried to kill your wife and that makes you look weak, vulnerable. It hurts your pride that you couldn’t prevent it, and that eats at you, because Adrian Salvatore doesn’t fail. ”
She was inches away, so close I could catch the golden flecks in her hazel gaze, close enough that her sweet vanilla scent enveloped my senses completely.
“Is that the pathetic narrative you chose to believe in?” I murmured, my voice deadly quiet, though a storm raged beneath the surface.
My jaw clenched as anger fired through my blood.
“You truly believe I hunted you across almost four continents and slaughtered men merely because my pride was wounded?”
“I put a bullet in your chest. I know your ego bleeds.” Her eyes flared with pure defiance, her quickened breaths fanning hot against my skin and I could feel the hammering of her heart, like a trapped bird against her ribs.
“Quite the opposite, my sweet wife,” I drawled. “Your murderous attempts are very…entertaining. It turns me on, and I’m starting to think it turns you on too. Verbally sparring with me. Provoking me. Testing my restraint. You enjoy getting on my nerves, wife.”
Her jaw tightened, her lips thinning. Ah, she didn’t like being called out.
“You crave chaos,” I continued. “It makes you wet, knowing how much I want you. Knowing how much I lack control when it comes to you, how unhinge you make me. You like the idea that I still get so painfully fucking hard for you even when I’m aware that you wouldn’t hesitate to put another bullet in me. ”
“Let me go,” she hissed between her teeth.
“Never.”
Her eyes flared at my refusal, at the same word she had spoken to me before. I released one of her wrists only to slide my hand down the length of her thigh, hoisting her leg up and locking it securely around my waist before she could process my voice.
The friction pressed her softness flush against all the hard ridges of me, and a sharp gasp caught in her throat as anger instantly dissolved into a thick, heavy tension.
“Adrian…” Her voice cracked, half protest and half what I liked to believe was surrender.
Damn it all to fucking hell, I couldn’t hold myself back any longer.
I was no fucking gentleman.
I kissed her. Hard.
My mouth claimed her, brutally, smothering her protest beneath one long possessive, punishing kiss. Every drop of restraint I’d maintained shattered completely.
Her resistance lasted only seconds before her lips parted, yielding to the savage hunger of my tongue. The sound that escaped her throat, a broken, desperate moan, undid something inside me, shattering my remaining fragile sanity.
I gripped her second leg, lifting it up so she was anchored entirely against the wall as her arms locked around my neck, her fingers tangling frantically in my hair. Maybe to push me away or maybe to draw me deeper. I wasn’t too sure anymore.
I didn’t know where she began and where I ended.
I didn’t know if she was fighting to push me away or fighting to control the kiss.
It turned ravenous—a clash of teeth and tongue, the taste of her consuming me like a dark addiction.
My hand snaked beneath the hem of her shirt, palm gliding over the warm skin of her abdomen.
She arched against my touch, her hips rolling into mine, and the teasing friction almost drove me to the edge of madness.
“God, Serafina,” I growled into her mouth.
Her response was vicious, her teeth sinking into my lower lip, breaking the skin. The sharp tang of metallic copper filled my mouth, igniting a dark, feral possessiveness in my veins.
I shoved her panties aside, my fingers impatient. She matched my desperation, clawing at my pants, her fingers clumsy against the belt until her hand finally cupped my aching length.
“Take me,” she demanded, her voice ruined and breathless. “Now.”
I positioned myself at her slick entrance, feeling the heat of her, finding my wife completely soaked for me despite her spoken hatred.
The dark necessity to claim what was mine was sickenly overwhelming.
I drove inside her in one deep, punishing stroke. Merciless.
A sharp cry tore from her throat, a mixture of pain and exquisite pleasure, her nails digging deeply into my shoulders as the wall behind her creaked under our weight.
I set a punishing, brutal rhythm, driving into her wet heat again and again, slamming her body against the wall. Her legs tightened around me, her inner walls clamping around my dick with every ruthless thrust.
The hotel room echoed with the primal rhythm of our collision, the slapping of skin, her broken whimpers, my heavy breathing, the obscene, wet sound of our bodies joining together.
“Open your eyes,” I commanded, my voice gravelly. “Look at me when you come.”
Her hazel eyes snapped open, dark and glazed with passion.
Her orgasm seized her violently, her body tightening like a vise around me.
I felt every pulse of her pleasure on my cock. The intense contractions shattered my final thread of control; I buried myself deep inside her, my release pouring into her as a dark groan tore from my chest. “Serafina.”
For several heartbeats, we stayed like that—pressed together, breathing hard, the aftershocks still rippling through us both.
Then the reality of what we’d done crashed back upon us.
Serafina’s gaze cleared, the hazy pleasure hardening instantly into frigid disdain. She planted both hands against my chest and shoved with all her strength.
“Get off me,” she demanded.
I let her legs slide down until her feet met the floor. The second she found her footing, she struck out again, pushing me backward with enough force to make me stumble.
Her hand came up, and I saw the slap coming before it did. I caught her wrist an inch from my face, her palm still open, fingers trembling with pure rage.
But her other hand moved faster. Her fingers caught the collar of my shirt and yanked—hard, with feral strength.
The fabric tore with a loud rip, buttons scattering across the floor.
And there it was… exposed.
She saw it immediately, her eyes snapping to my neck.
The silver chain resting against my collarbone. Her eyes widened in sheer disbelief, her lips parting in shock. The furious fire drained from her face, replaced by a stunned, fragile confusion.
Her eyes remained locked on it. A metal bullet hung from the silver chain—the very same bullet she had buried inside my chest.
“You kept it,” she whispered softly. It wasn’t a question.
I remained silent. There was nothing to say. The evidence hung between us, cold and metallic and undeniable.
Her trembling fingers reached out, hovering before brushing against the cold metal, tentatively, as if touching something sacred. “Why?” she asked, her question barely audible.
I captured her hand, pressing her open palm flat over the raised scar beneath the chain. “Because it is the only piece of you that belonged to me after you fled.”
“I tried to kill you,” she said, breathing shakily. “And you wear the instrument of your death like a trophy.”
“It is my most prized possession,” I drawled.
Her defense crumbled entirely under the confession. “I don’t understand you.”
“Why did you truly pull that trigger, Serafina?” I demanded, closing the remaining distance between us. “What drove you to such hatred? I know the hate you carry isn’t because I tricked you into this marriage, so don’t lie to me. No more deceptions, Serafina. I’m done. I need the truth.”
She locked her jaw, refusing to speak.
“Tell me why.” I took a step forward, forcing her back.
Her hazel eyes flared with dark agony.
“Start talking.” Another step toward her, this one crowding her against the wall again.
I was done playing this game with her. The truth would come out today, one way or another, even if I had to physically force it out of her.
“Your lies are getting exhausting, wife. I had promised to always be honest with you no matter how ugly it is, how bitter it is. Now, it’s your turn. Why?”
“Stop!”
“TELL ME WHY!” I bellowed, my patience finally snapping.
“Because you murdered my family!”
Air locked in my lungs. My world came to a sudden, screeching halt.
My heart stopped. “What?”
Silence descended, thick and suffocating.
“You burned them alive,” she whispered brokenly, a single tear sliding down her cheek. I had never seen such agony on someone’s face before. “You are a monster.