Slap!

I’m sobbing by the end of his words, my voice hoarse, my heart hammering so loud, I’m scared it’ll spill on the mattress and leave me vacant once and for all.

“Is that clear, Lia?”

“Yes…yes…” I’m telling him what he wants to hear so he’ll end the torture. It’s not only about the welts. It’s about the frightening friction in my core that heightens with each of his merciless lashes.

“Good.”

I release a breath when his large palm touches my assaulted skin and he slowly kneads my ass. That usually means he’s done torturing me—or close to it.

His hand slowly parts my thighs as far as they can go with the cast, and I can’t help the moan that escapes as his fingers brush against my soaked folds.

“I see you’ve missed your punishments, Lia.”

I burrow my face into the pillow to muffle my voice. I don’t want him to hear me so wanton like this, and most of all, I don’t want him to know he has this hold on me.

“Deny it all you like, but your body belongs to me.” He cups me harshly. “This cunt belongs to me.” He slaps my burning skin and I whimper. “This ass also belongs to me. But if there’s still any doubt in your mind, by all means, say it, and I’ll punish it out of you.”

My breathing is chopped and fractured, and it’s not only because of the pain. It’s his words. Damn them and damn me for letting them have this effect on me.

“Shouldn’t I continue punishing you, Lenochka?”

“No…”

“Then do you belong to me?”

I purse my lips.

He raises his hand and brings it down on my ass. I shriek as my burning skin explodes with pain.

“Do you fucking belong to me?”

“No…never…”

“Lia…don’t make me break you.”

“You’ll break me more if I say those words,” I sob, all of my pain receptors pulsing at the same time.

He slaps me again and I wail, my body wiggling sideways, but he holds me down by the hair. “Say you’re mine.”

“No.”

Slap. “Say. It.”

My tears soak the pillow and I feel like I might pass out. Like his next strikes will knock me out cold. But they don’t. All they manage to do is torture my ass and core. He’s using his hand now, but my skin is so tender and stimulated that even the merest hit reverberates through my whole body.

“Stop it…Adrian…please…”

“Not until you say you’re mine.” His voice is harsh, non-negotiable.

“I can’t…” I sob.

“Yes, you can.”

“No! You’ve taken so much from me already. I will not hand you my last pieces. So if you want to whip me to death, do it. I will not say those words, even with my last breath.”

I expect him to do what I suggested just to prove a point, but Adrian releases a long exhale and throws the belt away. The sound it makes as it hits the floor sends a small jolt through my chest.

A rustling of clothes comes from behind me and I can imagine him getting rid of his shirt and pants.

He wraps a hand around my jaw and lifts me up using it. The utter possession and the haunting darkness in the gesture leaves me panting. “I’m going to fuck you as my wife and you’re going to scream for me.”

Adrian plants his knee between my legs and holds me by the hip as his cock forces its way inside, his chest covering my back at the same time so that his head is mere inches away from mine. Despite being wet and more than ready, his entrance into my body always hurts like it’s the first time. My backside burns when his groin slaps against it.

“Ahhh…that hurts…”

“Not more than your fucking stubbornness, apparently.”

“Adrian…”

“What?”

“Do something.”

“Like this?” He reaches underneath me and twists my swollen clit.

“Ohhh…”

“Or this?” He thrusts inside me, and even though his groin still hits against my tortured skin, it adds friction and a carnal type of pleasure.

“Yes…ohhh…yes…”

“That’s it,” he murmurs against my mouth, his eyes hooded. “Moan for me. Let me hear that throaty sound that’s made only for me.”

That’s when it clicks.

Adrian has always loved it when I release sounds during sex. It seems to get him harder and his pace builds up to a maddening level, like right now. The slap of flesh against flesh and my own arousal echoes in the air as he holds my eyes and everything in me hostage.

But even as he confiscates my body, as he steals it from me, there’s just one thing I can steal from him in return.

I’m breathing harshly when he moves at a pace that he knows will get me off. But when the orgasm hits with wrecking force, I bite my lower lip so hard, metal explodes on my tongue.

Adrian’s monstrously beautiful face contorts and I hold his gaze as I mute the sounds he loves to hear so much.

He took away my freedom. I’m taking away his pleasure.

Adrian might have started as the only one with power, but I’m slowly finding mine. I might not have guns or an army of guards, but I’ll kill him with silence.

His hold tightens on my jaw as he stills at my back and warm liquid fills my walls.

He pulls out of me, but just so he can slam back in with renewed energy.

Oh, God. How could he get hard again this soon? Usually, he gets hard fast, but not this fast.

“We’ll have a redo, and this time, you’ll fucking scream, Lia.”

“Never,” I mutter.

“Then we’ll go at this all night until you do. You’ll bow to me, wife.”

Not in this life, husband.

28

Lia

A month later, the cast has been removed and Adrian and I are at Dr. Kim’s office to start my rehabilitation so that I can walk again.

I don’t bother asking the doctor if the verdict about the impossibility of a full recovery is still the same. He’s looking at me as if I were a kicked puppy, relaying the words without having to utter them. I’m going to move beyond it, though, because I have another life to worry about now.