drawer. It’s where I keep one of my pistols and Elena knows that because she’s seen me stash it there every night before bed. A piece of glass sinks into the sole of her foot, but she doesn’t seem to notice as she offers the gun to me by its barrel.
“Elena,” I whisper, both fear and anger roiling through me at once. The fear isn’t for my own sake. It was clear the night she tried to escape that Elena had never used a gun. If she decides to turn it on me, she’d miss … but my .45 caliber Taurus Judge would kick so hard it would likely injure her delicate wrist. “Put down the gun.”
Tears fall down her cheeks, tanned bronze from her day in the sun. The lighter tones of brown in her eyes are brighter in contrast, glistening like warm honey. “No. Every time I do what you demand in exchange for my life, you change the requirements … you move the goalpost. You’ll keep doing it until there’s nothing left of me, and I can’t live like that. If it means I have to pay for it with my life, then let’s do this. Shoot me Diego. End this right now.”
I clench my jaw, my hands shaking as I try to calculate how fast I can get the pistol out of her hand before she accidentally fires it. “Stop this. I know you don’t want to die. You’re not thinking clearly. Put the gun down, and we’ll get some sleep and discuss this again in the morning.”
She barks a dry laugh, shaking her head in disbelief. “You’re not listening to me.”
“I am listening!” I shout, the last of my patience burning to bits. “You’re not making sense, Elena! You’ve spent two months fighting to stay alive, so I know you’re strong enough to handle this. It’s why I chose you. It’s why this will work. If you weren’t strong enough, you would have begged me to kill you weeks ago.”
“How the fuck would you know what I want? You didn’t ask me when you drugged me, or when you locked me in that room. You didn’t ask me what I wanted when you announced to dozens of strangers that we’re getting married! Now you care about what I want?”
“I know you want to survive. I know you want to get back to your boutique and your friends. Marrying me—”
“Kill me!” she screams, thrusting the gun closer to me. “Fucking do it!”
I strike without thinking or hesitating, clenching my fist around Elena’s wrist and twisting until she drops the gun with a sharp cry. I take hold of her other arm and yank her toward me. She bumps into my chest and tries to backpedal, but I tighten my hold and lean down until we’re nose-to-nose.
“I don’t want to kill you, goddamn it! I want to keep you!”
Elena goes still, staring up at me with confused, unfocused eyes. “You … you what?”
“I want you, Elena. I want you so badly it fucking hurts. I know you want me, too.”
“Wanting your cock doesn’t mean I want to marry you.”
“No, but it gives us something to build on,” I argue, releasing one of her wrists to swipe the tears from her face. “This marriage doesn’t have to make us miserable, gatita. You can have your life back, as much of it as I can give you. You’ll have protection, money, security. I can give you things no other man can. I can fulfill your every desire.”
Elena’s face twists into a sneer. “Everything except for a husband I can like and respect.”
“I don’t require either of those things,” I tell her with a shrug. “Not at first.”
“But you’ll require obedience.”
“Absolutely.”
She snorts. “You’re an arrogant asshole, you know that?”
“Yes. But once we’re married, I’ll be your arrogant asshole. There isn’t a thing I wouldn’t give you, and there isn’t a soul who could touch you without going through me. If you want your freedom back, this is the only way you can have it. Marry me and you can have Belleza, and whatever kind of life you want.”
“As long as I let you keep me here and shadow my every move … oh, and fuck you whenever you want. Did I get that right?”
“Not entirely, but it will do for now.”
This time when she jerks against my grip, I let her go. She sniffles and uses the sleeve of her cover-up to dry the last of her tears.