Page 60 of His Forced Bride

"Visiting hospitals makes you a target."

"I'm already a target. My warehouses prove that."

The urge to snap is extreme, but I control myself because I know fighting him will only make this harder.

"Your warehouses aren't the target. You are."

"Because your enemies think I'm fair game now. If you'd have left me the fuck alone, I wouldn't be suffering these attacks."

I'm seething now, unable to contain my rage anymore.

"Or is this your doing? To keep me under control?"

"You think I orchestrated attacks on your property?"

He chuckles a dark, morbid sound that I hate, and I want to slap him.

I stomp around the end of his desk because I'm not going to just stand here and have him disrespect me and not do something about it.

"I think you'd do whatever serves your interests. And a wife with her own empire is harder to control than one who has nothing left but you."

My hands hang loose at my sides, and he stands slowly, his full height towering over me.

The temperature in the room drops, and I realize I may have pushed too far.

"You believe I would burn down buildings and hospitalize innocent people to make you more compliant?"

The incremental way he leans toward me and the tiny, measured step he takes make me shudder.

"I believe you'd sacrifice anyone if it meant consolidating your power."

"Including you?"

His hands brace on either side of me, trapping me against the edge of his desk.

"If I wanted you destroyed, you would be ash by now."

The sweet scent of whiskey dusts my cheeks as he speaks.

"Maybe you want me broken instead. Easier to handle."

I'm uncomfortable here, feeling the heat of his gaze radiating across my skin.

It makes me feel things I don't want to.

I should not be attracted to or aroused by this man.

But here I am with my body nearly trembling for him again.

"I want you alive."

His eyes bear down on me, and I turn my head to the side so I don't have to look into their dark depths.

"Why? So you can parade me around as proof of your successful alliance? So you can point to your obedient wife and show the world how completely you've tamed the Mirova empire?"

"Because the alternative is watching you die."

His voice carries an edge I haven't heard before—something raw beneath the usual control.