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He placed a finger below my chin and tilted my face so that I could look into his eyes. "There's not anything you can do that will make me leave you. I want you to understand that, Tory. I may get angry when you mess up, but one day you will get it right. You will be my wife someday, I promise you that."

It had taken ages for me to realize what Benson was doing wasn't right. When I finally walked away from him, it seemed like everything came crashing in. I'd felt like an idiot. What sort of person allows someone to tear them down so bad. My mother had insisted on me seeing a therapist for a time to sort through the feelings. It had helped, even though I'd stopped going the day she died. I'd regained enough of myself from it that when the guys came bursting into my life, insisting on controlling everything I did, I fought back. No man was ever going to reign over me like that again.

"Hey, you alright, Sweetheart?" Joey asked, his voice finally pulling me from my thoughts.

"That depends on what sort of trouble I'm in when we get back to the manor." I said with a chuckle that turned into a grimace at the pain of my split and swollen lip.

He offered a small smile, but the following sigh said my quip didn't land like I wanted it to. "You probably will get an earful from Rich, but he'll mean well. I'm sorry you had to deal with what happened back there… but I do wish you'd stop running from us."

I couldn't help the flash of anger that lit up in my chest at his statement. There might have been some part of me that knew he didn't mean it the way I took it, but I couldn't hear that part ofmy mind. Joey pulled the car into its spot and looked at me with his brows drawn together.

"Sweetheart–"

"Don't. I didn'taskfor any of this. All I did was leave a conversation where I was being talked over. Donotsit there and act like I did anything wrong." I said as I got out of the car. I had to keep myself from yelling it at him, punctuating my sentence by slamming the door and storming toward the house.

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

Rich

My head snapped up from my reading as the front door flew open with enough force that it banged against the wall. Victoria stormed through it like she was on the warpath, her jaw tight and eyes narrow as she entered the foyer. I slid my bookmark in place and set my book down. The downtime had been nice while it'd lasted.

I stood and moved into her path, no doubt heading for her room with that look on her face. "Woah, hey, where's the fire?"

She glared at me as she got closer. Then I noticed her swollen lip, a clear split, and bits of dried blood around it. My eyes widened as I took the rest of her in. Her eyes were slightly puffy, and there was something underneath her angry expression I couldn't put my finger on.

"What the fuck, Princess?" I grabbed her chin to get a better look at her. "What happened?"

She yanked her face out of my grasp and sneered at me. "Don't start with me, Rich. Nothing fucking happened! I'm fine."

I raised a brow, not buying a single word from her mouth.

"Except that there was another attempted kidnapping after she ran out of the boutique while I was dealing with that shitty ex of hers," Joey said, coming in behind her. I momentarily focused on him, silently acknowledging his words, and then back to her.

"Nothing happened, huh?" I crossed my arms and stared down at her. She looked like she wanted to throw something at Joey as he passed. I wasn't surprised by her rash actions at this point, but anger and disappointment whirled in my chest. "Wanna back up and try it again, Princess?"

"Fuck you, Rich. I don't have to sit there and be talked about like I'm not in the fucking room, so I left. I wasn't going to go far. And it's not like I wastryingto get grabbed!" She spat, her voice raising as she spoke until she nearly screamed at me.

"Donotraise your voice at me, little girl. We made an agreement, and you went back on it. And you nearly paid the consequences for it! Do you not understand that there isactualdanger to you out there?!" I snarled back at her, stepping forward into her space. I would give anything for her to understand that the measures were for her safety. Why did she have to be so stubborn?

"I didn'taskfor this! It's not my fault!" She screeched. I sighed and shook my head, my patience thinning for this conversation.

"That's irrelevant, Princess. It's happening anyway. You need to figure it the fuck out before these gambles you're making end up costing a price thatnoneof us want to pay." I said, trying to keep my voice measured so at least one of us wasn't screaming at the other. My hands itched with the need to shake her. She sidestepped and started to move past me, flipping her hair over her shoulder.

"I'm not going to stand here and argue with you. It's over; Joey handled it. What are you going to do about it now? Spank me for breaking your fucking rules?" Her tone dripped with sarcasm.

"That seems to be exactly what you fucking need." I grabbed her arm, pulled her back toward me, and moved toward the chair I'd been sitting in when she burst in.

She struggled slightly, trying to pull away as I crossed the space to the chair. "You're not fucking–Rich!"

I pulled her down into my lap, ignoring her yelling at me. I raised my arm, paused for a breath, and swung down. My palm connected with her yoga-pant-covered ass hard enough for the pop to resound through the large room. She yelped and stilled, shock painting her pretty features.

"This is for ignoring our agreement," I said, keeping my voice carefully measured despite my heart slamming in my chest. I delivered another loud slap to her ass to punctuate the sentence.

"Fuck. You." She panted through gritted teeth.

"And for putting yourself in danger," I said. I heard the drop in my tone, but I couldn't stop it as my palm connected with her firm bottom for the third time.

The deep moan that escaped her stopped my hand as I raised it for a fourth blow. She squirmed in my lap slightly, pushing her ass up as if silently requesting the next one. I froze, not expecting that response.