and strained with fury, his bulky frame seeming to eclipse the light and take up all the space in the room. His eyes are black and glittering as he glares at Viktor, then sets his sights on me.
“What’s this?” he says, his voice giving no hint to the rage I see sparking in his eyes. “Here I was worried that my fiancée wasn’t feeling well, and when I come to check on her this is what I find.”
Viktor is oblivious to the danger we’re both in, striding forward to scoop up his phone. “Relax, moy drug. Your lady only asked to use my phone. Nothing happened.”
Diego is staring at me now, ignoring Viktor and choosing to pin me to the spot instead. I’m trembling, fear smothering the confidence I started the evening with. There’s no way out of this for me, and we both know it. It might have been better for Diego to find me naked and straddling Viktor rather than catching me with a phone in my hands.
“Elena has her own phone, and she can use mine if she needs to make a call,” Diego says without taking his eyes off me. “Get the fuck out of my house. I don’t want to see your face again for the rest of the night.”
Viktor scoffs and rolls his eyes but obeys without argument. He’s smarter than me, knowing not to rattle a pissed-off tiger’s cage.
“Elena has a headache and needs to go lie down,” Diego says to his men. “Escort her to our room and make sure she stays there.”
Even with no one else around to witness this, he’s talking as if everything that’s happening here is normal. As if he’s really sending his sick fiancée off to bed. I can’t stand it.
“Diego.”
“Be quiet,” he growls. “Don’t say a word right now, or you’ll make this worse on yourself. Go upstairs and wait for me. I’ll deal with you when I’m ready.”
A quick flash of defiance shoots through me, but I smother it. I’ve never seen Diego like this, not even the night I tried to shoot him. He’s at his most frightening when containing the monster behind the thinnest veil.
Without a word, I follow the men into the hallway. The music and laughter of the ballroom fades away as we walk toward another door that leads into the main part of the house. Being out of Diego’s sight offers me no relief. If anything, it spikes my anxiety higher not knowing what’s coming and when to expect it. For all I know, Diego plans to finish out the party, passing around the lie of my headache.
Once I’m inside the room, Diego’s men leave and lock the door behind them from the outside. Turning in a slow circle, I take in the proof that there is now no way out. The windows are boarded over so well I’ll hurt my hands trying to get out that way. Diego chose new hiding places for his guns after I pulled the pistol from his nightstand. Even if I found one, I can’t use it well enough to get myself out of here. There’s nothing left to do but wait.
One of the maids has been here, making the bed, tidying up, and placing the jeweler’s box on the nightstand on my side of the bed. I slip out of my heels and unclasp the necklace, carefully returning it to the box.
By the time I take down my hair and remove my makeup, Diego arrives. I find him sitting on the bed when I emerge from the bathroom, still wearing my gown.
He rests his hands on the mattress, his finger tattoos prominent as he squeezes as if hanging on for dear life. Diego stares at me through the strands of hair falling into his eyes, his mouth a grim line. His voice resounds through the room like a shotgun blast when he finally speaks.
“Take off your clothes.”
20
Diego
Elena trembles while slipping the straps of her dress over her shoulders, looking at me like she’s expecting a fit of rage at any moment. Interestingly, I’m in complete control right now—calm and resolved. The moment I followed Elena’s voice into that storage room and found her holding Viktor’s phone, I knew where I had gone wrong. I knew what I needed to do to end any notions she might have of getting away from me. Before now, I had told myself extreme measures weren’t necessary; Elena would adjust to the idea of belonging to me and