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I cry out when I’m slammed onto the bed, stiff fingers digging into my neck as he fits himself between my legs and hikes one high on his hip. Without further warning, he drives himself inside of me until there’s nothing left of him to give.

“Say it again,” he demands. “I want you to look me in my fucking eyes and say it again.”

He slams into me once more, wringing a sob from my throat.

My throat dries, the words coming up like dry bread. But I stare into his wild eyes, finding an entire universe within, and say, “I love you. And you’ve taken everything from me.”

His head drops low between his shoulders, gliding his stare down my body all the way to where he stretches me, contemplating my words. And then he looks up at me beneath thick brows, a wicked glint in his stare. As if taking everything from me is all he’s ever wanted.

He looks… God, he looks fucking terrifying. Like a man starved for revenge, and he’s finally getting it.

A shuddering breath trickles from my throat as he plunges deep inside me again, a direct threat to destroy all that’s left of me.

“You’ve taken my entire heart and soul and my ability to love another. Sometimes I hate you for that,” I tell him, my voice quaking. He tips his chin up, now staring down his nose at me, a grin stretching across his face, crinkling the scar on his cheek.

I forge on, heart pounding as he grinds against me, enjoying watching me struggle to get the words out. “Sometimes, I wish I’d never met you. Because now that I have, now that I’m in love with you, I’ll never be able to carve you out. You said I’d bleed out before that’d ever happen, and you were right. And I hate you for that.”

Zade hums, licking his lips as if he ate something delicious. His hand drifts up to my cheek, swiping my bottom lip with his thumb.

“I’ll never get tired of hearing you say you love me, and if you ever stop, I’ll put strings in your fucking lips and make you say it.”

Then, he leans down closer until his breath fans across my cheeks, and whispers, “But I don’t believe you.”

My mouth drops, and my brows furrow. “Are you fuck—”

He shuts me up with his cock, driving into me again with one thrust of his hips. “I’ve lost sight of my faith. I need to see it.”

I thin my eyes, contemplating what more he could possibly want from me.

He rubs my lip harder. “You say so many things you don’t mean, baby. The truth lies in your fingertips and in the soft curves of your body. In the tears you cry so pretty for me, and how hard you come for me. Show me the truth.”

For several beats, I’m at a loss of how to do that. Then, it dawns on me, and he must see the realization in my eyes because he grins again, staring down at me with amusement.

The look angers me as if he thinks I’m going to merely get on my knees for him and recite poetry or some shit. The challenge burns in my chest as my eyes drift over to my nightstand.

Following my stare, he cocks a brow and turns back to me, picking up on my thoughts without having to say anything.

I’ve bled for Zade, but only to replace the marks of another man.

Soon after I

was taken, he carved a rose over his heart. And now… I want him to do the same to me.

He leans over and grabs the knife from the nightstand.

“This what you want?” he asks, twirling the knife until the light glints off of it.

“Yes,” I say, though I don’t sound the least bit confident.

“And what do you want me to do with this? Slice you open again?”

I shake my head, reaching up to brush the pads of my fingers across the jagged rose on his chest.

“I want this,” I admit. Grabbing his wrist, I guide his hand, holding the knife right above my breast. The previous amusement shutters from his eyes, replaced by something dark and treacherous.

“I want one just like yours,” I say, rolling my hips to remind him that this is real.

He tenses, the veins roping up his arm and neck pulsating. He’s studying me closely, and I’m beginning to lose my nerve.