Chapter 66
because I was starting to forget what it felt like to resist.
His hand moved slowly, tracing by circles against my thigh, like he was calming me–like I was some pet needing in be soothed sher my stomach bisi, but I didn’t Finch. Didn’t moer, þat sat there on his lap, letting him on the moment like he owned everything i
“You’re learning,” he murmured, tilting his head so his mouth brushed against my jaw, “t’s not about winning with
A soft laugh left him, low and cold. “But you already ligued that out, didn’t you!
I didn’t ass. My hands were clenched in my lap, still hembling,
He pulled back slightly to look at me, his dark eyes scanning my face like he was trying for read my thought though I suspected he didn’t really care what was thinking, only whether still obeyed.
“You don’t need to like what I do,” he said, almest kindly. “You just need to accept it.”
I swallowed hand, throat burning
Alessandro’s hand came up to cradle the side of my face, thumb stroking my cheekbone with something that almost felt like tenderness. “Yes will, eventually.”
Then he leaned in and kissed me.
Not rough, not angry–just slow. Deliberate. Like a man sealing a deal. His lips were warm, coaxing mine open with practiced ease, and for a second, I let him. Not because I wanted to. Because fighting him now felt like trying to stop a storm with my bare hands.
“When he pulled back, his Lips were still close, his breath brushing mine
(“Finish your wine,” he said softly. “Then we’ll go home.”
Home.
The word hit differently now. It wasn’t comfort. It wasn’t safety. It was a gilded cage with invisible bass and velvet chains. A place where I existed, not lived.
But I nodded anyway.
Because that’s what you do when you belong to a man like Alessandre.
You nod
You obey.
And you hope, silently, that one day, he’ll let you go.
Even if you already know he never will.
The ride back was silent.
Alessandro kept one hand on my knee the entire dive, his thumb idly stroking circles against the fabric of my slacks like it was some unconscious habit. But 1 knew better. Nothing Alessandro did was unconscious.
The city lights passed in a blur beyond the tinted windows, but I couldn’t focus on any of the. My mind kept replaying the moment his lips touched i The warmth. The restraint. The quiet, suffocating claim in it.
By the time we pulled into the estate gates I felt like Td shed my skin and stepped into something else entirely–saneone else entirely. Someone more quel More agreeable. More… his
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Chapter 66
The SUV rolled to a stop, and his hand left my knee just long enough to exit the car. A moment later, he spened my done for offering bức were still in the middle of some twisted fairytale.
I took it
Inside, the house was dimly lit, silent. Ton silent. The kind of silence that hummed with the memory of violence. My eyes flicked toward the to the basement, where Legan had been. Was? I didn’t know.
Alessandre’s lingers curled around mine, drawing me gently toward the stairs. “Come,”
1 followed, climbing step after step behind him, the weight of exhaustion pressing on my shoulders like stone. The moment we stepped into the bedenes, her let go of my hand.
“I have a few calls to make,” he said, pulling off his jacket. “Get ready for bed.”
“In my room“.
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