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“Quiet, Ophelia.”

Her lips press together softly when she obeys me. The rest of her face—furrowed brow, scrunched nose—tells a different story. I’ve upset her. She’d better get used to it.

“I see you’re choosing not to listen, so I’ll tell you again. I’m a bad man. Rotten down to the core.” I flatten my hand on her navel, tracing it up her body. Curling it around her throat. “This monster owns you. Every part of you. I took your sweet little cunt when you said no. Sure, deep down, you were desperate for it. Didn’t change the fact that Itookfrom you.”

I’m being vile. Degrading. She arches toward me regardless, pure and sweet and so fucking feral. Taming her would be hot. Watching her roam free is even hotter.

I’m about to have both.

After she learns this lesson, where I show her just what a motherfucker I am.

Then we can move forward.

“Your fear, I’m going to have more of that by the end of the night.”

“Yours.” Her hooded eyes glimmer. Challenging me. “Yours.”

Can’t take it anymore. I give in to the need that presses into my ribs. Crash my lips to her swollen ones and kiss her. Even that feels like warfare between us. Tongues and teeth and grunts.

I yank myself from her, and she growls at me. Grabs the sides of my face, her slender fingers digging into me.

“You’ll regret this.” And I won’t give a fuck. Possessing her isn’t a question ofifanymore. It isn’t a question at all. It’s a fact. “Once I claim your last virgin hole. Your flesh. Your life.”

“Do it.” Ophelia, brave and slightly unhinged, pulls me to her again.

I refuse her. Stay right where I am, snuffing out the need to fuck the attitude out of her.

She has no idea what she’s asking for.

I have no idea what we’re doing here. Not really.

Keep her, keep her, keep her.

Despite everything, I will.

Her defiance is maddening. She lights up parts of me I never knew existed. My head throbs, this onslaught of desire growing intolerable by the second.

They make no sense.

Lies. One of them does. One of them is familiar.

“You don’t get to demand anything, property.” Her nails dig into my skin, and I welcome the pain. It helps clear my head.Unfortunate for Ophelia, since I’m at my worst like this. “You can only obey.”

With my hand around her throat, I drag her out of the bed.

The days she spent in the cell have left their mark on Ophelia, the same as they have on me. I wasn’t supposed to have her here, in my room.

She wasn’t supposed to say, “Yes,” then release her grip on me and kneel just because I pushed her to her knees.

Yet here we are. Large dark eyes stare at me from the floor. At my cock, that’s hard again.

“You’ll start by cleaning this mess.” I point at the blood on my length.

Her cheeks flush, but her hand comes up, regardless.

“No,” I quip.

She flinches the moment I grab her wrist. “What did I do?”