"I want to go out. I want to be free to come and go as I please. I'm starting to feel like a prisoner here and I’ve been a prisoner for too long in my life."
His eyebrows jumped up and he took a moment to form his response. "I...can't let you go anywhere alone, my love. It's not safe."
"Why?" I hissed.
"You were kidnapped, darling, and the perpetrator has not been captured. I have my men hunting for them, but until they're caught, I must protect you."
I narrowed my gaze on him, sensing a note of insincerity in his voice that made the back of my neck prickle. "I didn't ask you to do that. It's my life, and if I want to risk it-"
He slammed his hand down on the desk. "No," he barked and my blood chilled. "I am your husband, I swore an oath to protect you and I will do it Sasha."
I practically growled at the use of that name. "Winter."
"Stop that," he tsked. "I'm growing tired of your refusal to even try and fit back into our life."
"That's because I don't want to fit back into it," I clipped. "I want to go home."
"Home?" He rose from his seat, his cheeks turning blotchy with anger. "You are home!"
My voice cracked like an eggshell in my throat. It wanted to hide and disappear at his tone, but I wouldn't let it, holding onto it with sharp fingernails.
"I don't feel safe here," I admitted, my tone slightly strained. "I felt safe with Nicoli and the other Romeros."
"That's ridiculous," he spat. "I have a hundred armed men out there who would die keeping you safe."
"Keeping me chained," I countered angrily. "I don't want to live a life where I can't do what I please. I've lived in a cell for ninety percent of what I remember of my existence. I won't stay here inside another one, no matter how big and shiny it is."
Ramon dropped back into his seat, running a hand over his face as silence pooled between us and filled the air with so much tension that my ears started to ring.
"Look, I didn't want to tell you this, but I've been doing some digging into the Romeros. And..." He rubbed his brow like he was concerned.
"What?" I pushed, my heart skipping.
"It seems Clarissa Romero may be linked to the men who took you. They worked for her...and as upsetting as this may be to hear, I believe she and perhaps even the rest of the Romeros had a hand in your kidnapping."
"I already knew Clarissa was involved," I said, my cheeks flushing hot. "Nicoli knew it, so did his brothers, they were investigating-”
"Then they were most likely lying to you," he cut me off, his expression imploring. "Think about it my darling, they were trying to cover their tracks."
"Nicoli found me up on that mountain after I escaped. He had nothing to do with kidnapping me. He protected me. He hunted down my torturers and made them bleed for what they did to me." My shoulders heaved with my frantic breathing, my skin burning with rage at his insinuation. Whether he was trying to protect me or not, I wasn't going to let him drag their names through the dirt.
He considered that, running his index finger over his lips. "I just don't think I can take the risk of you seeing them until I am sure of their innocence."
"Since when did a wife have to ask permission of her husband to do anything in the twenty first century? Married or not, I don't belong to you," I growled, my fingers curling into fists.
"You need to take a breath," he encouraged and I noted that he hadn't responded to what I'd said. "I'm not trying to cage you."
"Then why can't I go out?!" I shouted, surprised by the ferocity in my voice, but liking it too. I sounded strong.
He pursed his lips, surveying me with a calculating look in his gaze. "Fine," he said eventually. "We'll go out. You and me. Tonight."
My lips parted in surprise. That hadn't been quite what I'd meant, but now he’d suggested it, it sounded like the perfect opportunity to run. I could slip away from him, find Nicoli, return to where my heart longed to be.
"You mean it?" I pushed.
"Yes, darling. Now I need to work for a few more hours. Go and eat some dinner."
I nodded obediently, figuring I needed to play along to make sure he didn't