Eden felt a piece of herself wither further when she finally slipped into the cream colored dress he’d purchased for her.
It was designer, delicately embroidered lace that hugged her curves and stopped about mid-thigh. Stepping in front of the mirror, Eden was faced with the reflection of her old self; the expensive, well bought girl who’d feared destitution like the plague and had willingly sold her soul to the devil for a life that had turned out to be less than ideal. It was difficult looking at the girl, looking at exactly what sort of person she’d been a little more than a year ago.
For just a moment, that shallow girl, along with her insecurities and fears, threatened to overshadow the self-reliant, courageous woman Eden had worked so tirelessly to become. But Eden was quick in nipping it in the bud. She would be damned if she allowed that snake to strip away her self-worth. God, she couldn’t believe it had come down to this! All that planning and all that saving just to end up back at square one! Right under Dominic’s thumb. Despite the direness of her current predicament, Eden refused to concede defeat. There was still fight left in her. Self-preservation thrived at her core, made her carefully evaluate the situation and strategize accordingly.
Eden made sure to remain in the suite for as long as she possibly could before James’s persistent knocking had her walking to the door. By the time they made it to the restaurant, it was well past the allotted hour, but Eden was beyond caring. If she had to endure him back into her life, she sure as hell wasn’t going to make it easy. Once was she safely ensconced inside the cossetting interior of the sleek, black Rolls Royce he’d sent for her, they were off. The ride was surprisingly brief, but it afforded Eden enough time to gather herself and try not to act like a complete moron when she finally faced him. She scrounged up some much needed bravado and fueled it with renewed ire. She was however taken slightly aback when she alighted from the vehicle and found herself facing a high-rise rather than the restaurant she had been expecting. Puzzled she turned to James who silently stood at her side.
“Where are we?”
“There’s been a slight change of plans, Mrs. Armstrong.”
“I can see that, but why?”
“Please, ma’am, Mr. Armstrong has waited long enough for your arrival.” With a steady hand on her lower back and an arm indicating that she should walk forward, James urged her towards the entrance of the building. Blood rushed to her head, her heart was beating too fast now, and sweat began to pearl against her skin. Everything was a blur to her, even the elevator ride to the very top floor of the high rise didn’t seem to register in Eden’s current state. She hadn’t anticipated this. She could’ve handled the restaurant—the buffer of the patrons would’ve made it easier for her to fend him off—but it was just them now. Eden’s heart lurched painfully in her chest, warning of an incoming panic attack. She told herself to breathe, even as they drew nearer to the place where she least wanted to be. Turning back however was no longer an option when the door flew open before James had the opportunity to knock.
He stood there like the devil incarnate, the tautness of his features and the barely restrained hold he had on his fury put the fear of that devil at Eden’s core. He looked murderous.
“That will be all, James,” came the terse dismissal, and he failed to give his bodyguard anymore mind as he wrapped a hand around Eden’s wrist and brusquely tugged her inside, closing the door soundly in James’s face.
Eden struggled to free herself from his unyielding hold as he dragged her behind his unforgiving frame. When he finally stopped it was to shove her onto the leather couch that thankfully broke her fall. His unnecessary brutality sparked Eden’s rage again, and she shot to her feet facing him with a glare of her own. “How dare you—”
“Sit down.”
“Like hell…”
“Sit. The. Fuck. Down.” His naked fury was terrifying; his dark green eyes gleamed and his mouth compressed in a hard line. The aggression radiating off of him smacked into Eden instantly, pushing her back down on the couch. He loomed over her, a great big shadow of a man with a snarling face. “Listen to me very carefully,” he breathed, barely containing himself, “do not mistake my tolerance for patience. I can only be pushed so far.”
“And how far are you going to push me?” she fired back, hands balling into fists at her side, refusing to stand down. “What is it going to take for you to leave me the hell alone?”
“You are my wife!” he roared as though that was the answer to everything.
Eden laughed without humor. “Do you honestly think that’s what I am? Do you honestly believe this joke of marriage is anything other than a well-dressed act of prostitution? I wasn’t your wife, Dominic, I was a very well paid sex toy, and you were the sad and pathetic asshole who paid for it.”
“Well then,” he bit out, tearing his shirt out of his trousers and raising a hand to undo the remaining buttons, “seeing as I am still paying for it, I might as well get my money’s worth.” With the shirt hanging open, he was exposed to her now from throat to navel and a little further down, a point where she absolutely refused to look.
The implication of what he was about to do hit Eden squarely in the face, and she regarded him with a mixture of disbelief and resentment. “I hope you’re prepared to rape me, Dominic, because that’s the only way you’re going to touch me,” Eden said gravely, feeling completely unhinged by the situation and Dominic’s menacing form.
He took a staggering step back from her the instant she uttered those words, and then another as if suddenly faced with a two headed monster. Shock turned his face noticeably pale, and Eden was glad to see that she’d finally struck that boundless ego. “I wouldn’t…” he trailed off, abandoning whatever he had been about to say, and lanced Eden with his narrowed stare instead. “You are not to leave here until I return,” he ground out. Turning away from her, he marched out of his penthouse without a second glance.
Chapter Seven
Dominic heard a noise, one that made his heart jump and had him out of his bed in record time. He hastened to the door but stopped instantly, his hand outstretched towards the knob. He knew he shouldn’t. He was told to stay in his room; she hated when he disobeyed, and the last time he’d failed to do as he was told, she’d gotten incredibly angry and had locked him in that dark place. He’d been good since then, doing everything she asked without complaint. But the noise…he heard it again. Louder this time. Was someone in the house? Was she in trouble? Pressing his ear to the door, he listened carefully. There it was again! The loud thud had him blowing caution to the wind and yanking the door open. The hallway that led from his bedroom to hers was a long one, blanketed by darkness.
He hesitated again, this time standing at the threshold and staring into the gaping nothingness in front of him that frightened him like nothing else. It reminded him of that place. Dominic shuddered at the thought of having to walk through the darkness. But what if she needed him? What if she was in trouble again? The man from last time had hurt her very badly because Dominic had been too much of a coward to do anything about it. He’d hated seeing her in pain days after, even when she’d taken her anger out on him. The innate need to see that she was alright jostled him forward and before he knew it he was running down the stretch of foyer that seemed so infinite, but couldn’t have ended soon enough.
“Mom…” He was at her door, hand on the doorknob, turning it even as he heard the muffled voices inside. “Mom,” he called again, with his heart racing he heard the pained moans and entered her bedroom. “Mom, are you okay?”
“Fuck.” He heard the expletive in his search for her and found movement coming from her bed. There was some rustling of sheets before Dominic was faced with her scowling visage and that of a man he did not recognize. The man had been the one who’d whispered the obscenity. “You didn’t tell me you had a kid.” He stumbled out of the bed, nude except for the chain he wore around his neck as he frantically searched for his clothes. He found his jeans strewn on the floor a few feet away from where Dominic was currently standing. While he slipped them on, giving a small hop to get them over his hips, he looked at Dominic, who bemusedly retuned his stare.
“No, baby, don’t worry about him…” his mother tried to soothe, and with little regards to her own nudity, she chased after him.
“Jesus, Sheila, I’m not fucking you while you’re kid’s in the next room. Look, I’ll hook you up with this stash, but have my money by next week.” Having found his shirt seconds prior, he rustled a hand through Dominic’s hair on his way out.
“Come on, Randy, don’t leave. He’s a stupid little kid; he doesn’t even know what’s going on. He’s a little slow. Let me just put him in his room and we’ll party.”
“I think you’ve partied enough for the night, and I’m getting pretty tired of fucking you as payment. Free ride ends tonight. Don’t call me unless you have money to pay for it.” Dominic jumped again as the front door slammed shut behind the man who’d been in his mother’s bed.