Page 1 of The Marriage Demand

Four years ago, Winnie Moore knew she should have been killed by the man sitting next to her.

Instead, she twirled the ring on her finger like it was any normal Saturday night.

The nightmare of four years ago was long in the past.

It almost felt like it had happened to someone else.

She didn’t even want to think about it.

In fact, she rarely thought about that night, which was a mixture of horror and peace at the same time.

Elias Moore, her husband, slapped his hand on the table and presented the cards.

Even though they had been married four years, and he regularly came to the casino, she never paid attention to how the game actually worked.

She had no idea what he was playing, just that he often won, and not because he cheated.

Her husband was many things, but a cheater was not one of them.

At least, not when it came to cards.

When it came to sex, she didn’t know if he strayed.

She imagined he did.

They’d been married four years, and Elias was not ugly.

He was very handsome, dangerous, scary, and she had seen all of that in action.

Only, he had never harmed her. Never even squeezed her hand too tightly. He had been the perfect gentleman. She wasn’t afraid of him. There was no reason to be.

He never forgot her birthday, or their anniversary, or Christmas.

When it came to the holidays, he was there.

She wanted for nothing, which, considering she had nothing when they met, never failed to surprise her.

Elias taught her how to drive.

He made sure she could go to college.

She had a full wardrobe, even a room to herself.

There were times she even made outlandish requests, like installing a beauty room in his country home, as well as his apartments where they sometimes stayed.

She thought he would deny her request, yet every place they went, there was always a beauty room for her. It had been an off-the-cuff request. Something she had always dreamed of having. It was a stupid dream, but one she still loved.

Growing up in foster care, bouncing from place to place, she never had anything to call her own.

There was never anything for her other than a bed, and she was always told to be grateful for it.

She got used to never asking for anything.

If she got fed, that was a good thing, but not necessarily expected.

“It’s time to go,”

Elias said, and that was the end of their presence.

Like always, he would take hold of her hand, and she stayed silent by his side as they made their way out of the casino.

He had a couple of guards ahead of him, and this was standard, as her husband was not a very nice man.

Actually, that wasn’t quite accurate.

To her, he was the most amazing, kind, caring, and sweetest person she had ever known.

That didn’t change the fact that the first time she ever met him, he killed all the other people in the room.

Yes, she witnessed him murder.

But she was so glad he did.

On the night she first met her husband, there had been a party she didn’t want to go to.

However, her friend Eve claimed it was going to be one hell of a party to celebrate turning eighteen.

She had known Eve for six months.

During her last six months i.

“the system,”

she’d been sent to a small family on a farm in the middle of nowhere.

For a little fun, Eve wanted to go to one of the parties in town, and seeing as she was her friend, she went.

What actually happened that night was that Eve had been playing her.

For six months, she had been acting the part of friend, because it turned out Eve was a party supplier.

It didn’t mean she supplied alcohol.

No, she supplied entertainment.

Winnie didn’t know how many other foster kids had been used for Eve and her friends’ entertainment.

Just that Winnie herself was the last.

They had gone to an abandoned warehouse, and according to Eve that was where all the cool parties were.

Eve didn’t know that Winnie never drank the cocktail Eve had given her.

When Winnie first arrived at Eve’s family house, she found a small diary, and within it were warnings.

The first, to never trust Eve.

Not to take any food or drink from her, no matter what.

Never to leave her bedroom after dark, because the father liked to take payment.

The only person who was not badly written about was the mother.

Winnie tried to stay close to the mother, or keep her own space. There was also a note stating that when asked if she had plans, to always state that she planned to leave at eighteen. So, when it came to the party, she was more than prepared.

Eve was not a friend.

She sent the foster girls into the devil’s den, where all her real friends wanted to play.

“Play” meant a bunch of male friends liked to intimidate, rape, and sometimes beat some of the girls.

Eve was supposed to drug them—not enough to knock them out, but enough to stop them from fighting back.

Winnie hadn’t drunk anything.

She was not drugged.

So, that party had quickly turned into a nightmare where she was fighting for her life.

Salvation had come in the form of Elias.

At the time, neither she, nor Eve, nor Eve’s friends had known that breaking into Elias’s warehouse had been detected.

He’d been standing by, waiting, and what he found had caused a lot of death.

Elias killed the five boys that had attempted to rape and beat Winnie, along with Eve, who had been yelling for them to shut her the fuck up.

In the carnage, she had been covered in blood, looked up at Elias, thanked him, and then asked if he was going to kill her.

He answered by asking her what had happened.

When she told him, she believed her life had changed forever.

His bargain was, he would allow her to live, but she had to agree to be his wife.

In less than twenty-four hours, she had been nearly raped, beaten, seen murder, and married.

She didn’t know what he did to Eve’s family, if he even did anything.

All she knew was she never had to go back to that farm, and since then, her life had changed forever.

Anyone else might be afraid of Elias.

She wasn’t afraid of him.

That had all happened four years ago.

When it came to her husband, she was loyal to him.

He earned it.

The truth was, he could have killed her that night, but he didn’t.

Instead, he married her, and in a way, turned her into a fucking princess.

Which was why she followed him to the back of the car, like so many times before, and moved toward the opposite side as Elias climbed in beside her.

She always gave him his space.

So far, it had been a marriage of … peace and tranquility.

Winnie was happy, there was no reason not to be, but she couldn’t help wanting more.

And she knew it was wrong to hope, to want, to even expect.

Elias didn’t owe her a damn thing.

She couldn’t stand the thought of him being with another woman.

She had never been jealous of anyone in her life.

Sometimes, she might have been a little envious, but that made sense.

She had watched many women and girls experience life, and she had been curious of the what ifs.

What if she hadn’t been put into foster care? What if she had parents that loved her? So many what ifs.

The thought of Elias with another woman churned in her stomach.

In the early years of their marriage, she didn’t care.

If he wanted to have sex, he could have it with someone else.

Now, she didn’t quite feel that way.

She felt … irritated. She wanted to be the woman he turned to. Was that crazy?

****

Business was thriving. Business was always thriving.

Hitting the casino was part of his regular routine when it came to taking Winnie out.

It was easier staring at the cards than wondering what she was thinking half the time.

Four years ago, Elias knew if he had killed her, his life would have been so much easier.

He wouldn’t have married her, nor would he have to deal with thinking about her.

Women had come and gone throughout his life.

All the women he fucked knew the score.

He was not the kind of man to stick around.

The only reason he was there, was to have fun. Women were there for a purpose—to please him, then fuck off. It had worked for a long time.

Until he met an eighteen-year-old in one of the most fucked-up situations that had even surprised him.

He had set cameras up in his warehouse because he had known some punk-ass kids had been invading his space, and he wanted to get shit moved along.

What he had seen had sickened him.

Winnie had been the intended victim.

He sat and listened for thirty minutes before she arrived, to what the guys wanted to do to her.

They were sick fucks, and it angered him.

He put a stop to it.

Yes, he knew that shit existed.

He also knew there were people that did far worse.

Anyone who attempted to approach him with that kind of shit ended up dead.

He didn’t deal in rape, human trafficking, or the perversion of children. He didn’t agree with it, and made sure it didn’t happen in his city.

It was why some of the local cops didn’t have a problem with him.

For the most part, he ran a tight ship, and nothing affected civilians.

There were times shit got out of hand, but he dealt with it swiftly.

No one messed with Elias Moore.

He looked at Winnie that night, her nose dripping blood from where she had been punched.

One of her eyes was already swollen shut, her clothes torn and disarrayed.

She had asked if he was going to kill her.

The answer should have been yes. Instead, he gave her an ultimatum. She could live, but she was going to have to marry him.

He expected her to refuse.

Winnie had looked at him, and then said yes.

She agreed to marry him.

Her life had been fucked up, and in an odd way, he’d been her savior. Now, he gave her everything.

Four years had passed, and she was the perfect wife.

She never questioned him.

Never complained.

She asked for things, but they were never outlandish. He treated her like the princess she was.

Elias made up for Winnie’s years of being tossed aside, treated like trash, and forgotten within the system.

Now, as he looked at her, she had blossomed into a beautiful woman he couldn’t stop thinking about.

Her brown hair, short when he met her, was now long, thick, and curly.

He made sure she had regular appointments at the salon.

He had many beauty rooms built for her, and she spent hours learning how to apply makeup.

He also watched this process.

He watched her hesitate.

For many weeks after they were married, Winnie struggled to be free.

She kept expecting someone to come in and take it all away from her. This is what he witnessed and he hated it.

It was hard to stand back and wait for her to flourish, but eventually she did.

She shone brighter than he ever anticipated.

However, he was starting to get the sense she wasn’t happy.

She didn’t talk to him about it, but he knew something was starting to bother her, and he didn’t quite know what to do.

They arrived at their apartment, and he stepped out, waiting for his wife to take his hand.

His men knew not to interfere.

Winnie was to be taken care of, but if he caught anyone looking at her with a lingering eye, there would be hell to pay.

Walking into the building, he placed a hand at her back, and then proceeded to climb onto the elevator.

In the reflection of the elevator doors, he saw her staring off into the corner.

She was the only woman he knew that never gave him a fucking clue as to what she was thinking.

It drove him crazy.

“You look beautiful tonight,” he said.

This caught her attention.

She glanced over at him and then looked down at herself, before looking at him again.

She wore a dress that curved around her breasts and flared out, but it hinted at the shape beneath.

He noticed she rarely wore clothes that emphasized her hips, and she had more than a generous handful.

“Thank you.”

“I have a few days, what would you like to do?” he asked.

“What?”

“I’m not needed for the next couple of days, so if there is anything you would like to do, let me know.”

The elevator doors opened up.

“You’re … staying home?”

“Yes,”

Elias said.

“And you want to do something together?”

“Yes, so if you have anything in mind, let me know.”

It was the first time he had given her any kind of opening. Usually, he was the person to make plans, not her.

“What would you like to do?” he asked.

“Uh … I have no idea,”

Winnie said.

“What do you like to do?”

They entered their apartment, and the truth was, Elias did everything he wanted to do. He ruled the fucking city, and he kept people in line. This was what he did every day. He made money, and he killed people that dared betray him.

“This is not about what I want to do. What would you like to do?”

He expected her to want to go shopping, or to the beach.

“Well, there’s this … artisan marketplace that opens every few months. I’ve been wanting to go for the past year, but something always comes up. They’re here this weekend, there are stalls where farmers and artisans showcase their food, their produce, but this has also extended into crafts. There’s always food available, and games and stuff. It’s a family event.”

It sounded like a nightmare. Something he would do everything to avoid.

“This is what you want to do?”

“Yes, I mean, only if you would like to go, but there is a catch. It’s a family event, so your guards might need to blend in.”

She nibbled her lip and she looked so cute. He saw how animated she looked at the possibility of going, to what he considered a nightmare. He couldn’t say no. He didn’t want to say no.

“Then that is what we’re doing tomorrow.”

Her eyes lit up. She had intense dark brown eyes, and she always looked so beautiful to him. Now, they were full of hope and happiness. There was no way he was going to take that away from her. When it came to his wife, it would seem there was nothing he wouldn’t do for her.

In all his forty years, nothing had made him weak. He didn’t have a weakness. He was a deadly killer. Fierce.

No one could ever know his wife was becoming his weakness.