Solberg Records was in the heart of Los Angeles. It was a tall building shaped like a cylinder made almost entirely of windows. The very top of the building boasted the family name in massive illuminated letters.

Rolland Solberg liked to make his presence known. And so did his son.

After the black SUV with excessively tinted windows stopped near the entrance, I was escorted into the building by my bodyguards. The press was staked outside, likely hoping for a glimpse of me. Or my darling husband Will.

It was almost enough to keep me away. Giving these vultures anything they salivated for was pretty much worse than death these days. At least in death, I’d be away from all their dramatic lies.

Actually, wait.

There was something worse than death—remaining married to Will.

I know. I know. I married him. Before that, I dated him. For too long.

I have an explanation. One I never gave. People would just call it an excuse.

Anyhow, that was why I was here, keeping my head down, avoiding the paparazzi and taking comfort in the fact my bodyguards were trying to shield me. .

We whisked through the building, securing an empty elevator, and as soon as the doors slid closed, I hunched in on myself just a little. The reprieve lasted all of two seconds, and then I was back to wearing my armor and holding my chin high.

Here, all the high-powered execs had their own receptionist, not just one for the entire floor. To me, it was just another way Rolland Solberg liked to show superiority. I had to hand it to him on the business side, though. Presenting the allusion his execs were all so busy they needed their own assistant sure made his business look booming.

Will had a corner office (like that surprises you), and the second his assistant (who was no more than twenty-one, with a boob job, lip injections, and head full of fake hair) saw me, she lurched to her feet.

“Mrs. Solberg!” she said, and my stomach literally lurched. “Will didn’t tell me you were stopping by.”

I gave her a glare out of the corners of my eyes as I swept by. “I wasn’t aware I needed an appointment to see my husband.” I enunciated the word, reminding her I was the one in charge here. I didn’t bother telling her what I thought of the fact she was calling him by his first name.

Wasn’t that cozy?

“I’ll just tell him—” She began, as if she had the power to stop me.

I hesitated long enough that the clipping of my heels over the polished floor paused and silence fell around me like snow. The dark strands of my sleekly blown-out hair whipped around like a satin curtain as I turned my head, saying nothing, just lifting one perfectly sculpted dark brow.

The assistant’s mouth clapped shut and her throat worked.

With a small sound, I spun around as my bodyguard pulled open the door.

Will glanced up in surprise, his expression morphing even more when our eyes collided. He was lounged back in his posh leather chair, feet propped on top of his glass desktop, ruby-red tie tossed over his shoulder, a crystal tumbler of dark liquid at his elbow, and a phone mashed to his ear.

Was this work or drinks at the club?

Upon seeing me, he jolted up. His feet hit the floor, and the tie slithered back over his chest. “I’m gonna have to call you back,” he told the person on the line, then promptly disconnected the call.

“Babe!” he said, flashing a smile that used to fool me into thinking he really was happy to see me. “I had no idea you were coming by!”

“Really?” I muttered darkly and pointedly stared at him.

He cleared his throat as both hands slid into the pockets of his very black, very tailored designer dress pants. The action drew attention to the strength of his thighs, and I knew if I looked in the windows behind him, I would be able to see the reflection of the material pulled taut over his well-defined ass.

I didn’t look. I held his stare instead.

“Mind if I have a moment alone with my wife, gentlemen?” Will said, glancing at my two bodyguards who were just inside the room.

I could tell by the look on his face that they didn’t do his bidding immediately. Anger flared in his eyes. He despised being challenged in any way.

What a tell that was. If only I had realized it months ago.

My stomach coiled a little at the countenance brewing in his blue stare, so I turned around to meet the eyes of my guards. “I’ll be fine.”

Both of them hesitated until I nodded.

“We’ll be just outside.” Mac assured me, but he glanced at Will when he spoke.

“Thank you,” I said as they shut the door softly behind them. The latching noise was very definitive. It almost made me wince.

Hold it together, Aerie.

“You’re holding up the annulment,” I said, not mincing words.

He plastered what I was sure he thought of as a charming smile on the lower half of his face. “No. I’m just giving you some time to realize what you’re doing is a mistake.”

Folding my arms across my chest, I regarded him. “Getting married was the mistake, Will.”

He smirked. “Funny, you were all for it the night we said I do.”

“I don’t even remember that night,” I snapped. “And there is no way I would have agreed to marry you.”

Annoyance flashed in his eyes but then disappeared. Turning, he walked around his bulky, glass-topped desk, pulled open a drawer, and withdrew a file folder. Coming back to stand in front of me, he made a show of opening the folder and turning it around so I could see the single sheet of paper inside.

The room tilted a little when I realized what it was. Our marriage license. Right there as undeniable proof. “But you did agree,” he quipped and clapped the folder shut quickly.

“Why?” I asked, abrupt.

He frowned, his stupid smile—the one that made him look like he belonged in a wax museum—falling away. “Excuse me?”

“Why did I marry you?”

“I’m insulted you’re asking me.”

My voice was dry. “More insulted than when I filed for an annulment?”

That look, the kind that pulled back the curtain on all the anger he banked behind the mask that was his face, appeared again. The urge to take a step back was so strong I literally rocked on my feet.

I resisted, however, refusing to back down. If I retreated now, if I gave in at all, he’d win. Like all the other times he’d won before.

And then?

And then my life would no longer be mine.

Despite the urge to flee, I stood my ground.

Will stepped forward, almost as if he knew his presence was more than I could tolerate. He loved intimidating people. It was a sport to him.

He reached out, caught a strand of my hair, and slid his fingers down it, letting go to caress the side of my chin. My stomach clenched. I didn’t breathe.

“You’ve embarrassed me quite a lot over the past few weeks.” His voice was calm, almost amused.

Chilling.

“Then sign the papers. I’ll go away quietly and never embarrass you again.”

“No,” he said much more forcefully and turned his back to me.

I let out the breath I’d been holding, deflating like a balloon with a gigantic hole. “I saw the headline.”

His chuckle filled the room. Goose bumps broke out over my skin. “Is that why you’re here?”

“You leaked that rumor to the press, didn’t you?”

“You joining me and Dad here at Solberg? That’s not a rumor. That’s inevitable.”

“My lawyer says you’re trying to say there isn’t even any case for an annulment.”

He stopped at the corner of his desk and turned back. He had authority about him. The kind that pulled in a girl, that made her drunk and stupid. By the time the hangover was over and she smartened up, she was in far, far too deep.

Claw your way out, Aerie. Do it.

“Might as well drop this now, babe. We both know I always get what I want. No point in making me any more pissed than I already am.”

I’d have asked him if he was so pissed, why even bother fighting me on this, but I knew the answer.

It wasn’t love.

He didn’t know what that was. Another lesson I learned far too late.

“Even if, by some divine act of God, we stayed married, I still wouldn’t sign with Solberg Records.”

He chuckled again—the sound I’d hear in my nightmares for years to come. “Now how would that look? A wife not joining the family business?”

“It’s not my family.”

Impatience flashed across his features, and within seconds, he was back in front of me. He was bigger, broader. He loomed over me in a way that was not protective or desirable.

His breath was hot on my face when he leaned in to speak low. “You’re my wife. That makes us family.”

“I don’t know what you did, how you managed to get me to sign that marriage certificate, but I know it’s not something I did with a clear head. Annulment or not, Will, we are not staying married.”

His hand shot out, wrapping around my upper arm, and he yanked me into his personal space. His fingers bit into my flesh, squeezing so hard I felt them grind against bone. Blinking back the tears, I forced myself to stare up at him, refusing to look away.

“If you try and divorce me, I will take half your bank account and make you waste what’s left on legal fees. You’re mine, Aerie, and I never give up what’s mine.”

“Let go,” I ground out.

He squeezed tighter. I bit the inside of my lip to keep from flinching.

His eyes flared and so did his nostrils. “I don’t know where this sudden… defiant streak is coming from, but I suggest you drop it before you really piss me off.”

I ripped my arm free, nearly falling back on my ass. Straightening, I glared at him, putting some distance between us. My chest was heaving, my breaths coming in short gasps.

Will advanced, and I moved back instinctively until my back hit the wall and he was caging me in with both arms. “Let me tell you how it’s going to be from here on out,” he intoned. “You’re going to drop this silly lawsuit and move to my house in Beverly Hills. We’re going to attend events and walk red carpets together and become the music industry’s newest king and queen. You will walk away from your current label and sign with Solberg, and by this time next year, we’re all going to be much, much richer. Solberg Records will no longer be number two in music. We’ll rule at the very top.”

He should just add world domination to his plans, because he sure was sounding like some kind of maniacal tyrant.

I stood there, completely numb, for long moments. Fear coursed through my veins so thickly it robbed me of my own thoughts.

Then something happened.

Clarity.

Clarity so strong I swear I grew a pair of golden balls right then and there.

Yes, my knees were quivering. My hands were clammy and my stomach felt as though I had day-two cramps, even though I wasn’t on my period. (Seriously, day two is the worst!) I knew Will wasn’t bluffing, and I knew I was walking the edge of the anger I’d always managed to not instill in him before…

But how dare he?

How dare he try and rule me like I was less than? Like I was nothing but a piece of arm candy. A piece of property to be bought, sold, and traded. A business transaction with boobs.

No.

Oh, hell no.

All that fear coursing through me morphed to rage. White-hot, self-serving fury.

I lifted my hands between us, planting them firmly on his chest, and shoved. He moved back enough that I was able to slip out from beneath him.

Squaring my shoulders, I spun on him. “I don’t know who you think you’re talking to, but I am not one of your daddy’s minions. I might have let you do this to me in the past, but never again. The only reason you’re so desperate to keep me is because I have what you want. Power.” I took a step forward, lifting my chin. “You can’t have it and you can’t have me.”

My balls shriveled up just as fast as they grew because the look on his face was emasculating.

“Mac,” I yelled out the second Will took a menacing lunge forward.

I fell back, the door burst open, and Will teetered in his designer shoes the second his payback was cut short.

“Ms. Boone,” Mac implored, rushing to my side as my other guard filled the doorway. “What happened?”

I glanced quickly at Will, who was trying really, super hard to conceal the sheer vileness of his true face. The thing that seemed most shocking was how convincing he was. One would never have realized the violence with which he was about to come at me if they hadn’t personally witnessed it.

But I’d seen. More than once. Enough that it was almost all I saw when I looked at him now. Ever since that morning I woke up shackled to him.

His eyes narrowed, Will’s stare became beady and hawk-like. I heard the threat, though none was voiced.

My balls were still shriveled, my brain going numb. I’d had just about all I could take. These last few months, which bled into these last few weeks, had nearly drained me.

I wasn’t kidding when I told myself to claw my way out. There was no way in hell I was going to walk. My balance was too unsteady.

“Ms. Boone,” Mac said again, moving so his large frame was between me and Will, blocking him from sight. It didn’t matter, though. I still saw him. I still felt the air around me vibrating with threat. “What happened? Why are you on the floor?”

Mac carefully helped me up. Even after I was on my feet, I held on to his wrist just a little longer than was really necessary.

“Did he strike you?” Mac asked, his voice low and serious.

His eyes implored me to tell the truth.

Unfortunately, at this moment, the fear in this room outweighed the rest.

“Oh, no!” I said, feigning shock and surprise. I released his wrist instantly. “It’s these damn heels. They might be designer, but it doesn’t make them any easier to walk in.”

Mac frowned.

I smiled, dazzling him with my professionally whitened teeth. “I’m fine, really.”

Will laughed. “I gotta admit she looks gorgeous in those heels, but she never could walk in them.” He appeared over Mac’s shoulder, warning and approval ripe in his gaze.

I cleared my throat, averting my eyes. “I called for you to ask you to please call downstairs and have them bring my car around. I’m sure the press is still lurking out there, and I’m tired.”

“Of course.” He inclined his head and gestured to my other guard in the door. Once that was done, his eyes searched mine again, and I smiled.

He stepped aside, but didn’t leave the room. Thankfully.

“I have places to be,” I told Will.

“Of course. Everyone wants a piece of my wife.” Will held out his arms for a hug.

My stomach clenched so hard I nearly doubled over. I stepped forward because it was easier than making a scene and let him wrap his arms around me. He lifted me off my feet and twirled me. I made the dutiful sound of a happy squeal and let my fingers bite into his arms a little too hard.

When he stopped, he made sure he was facing away from the door, his back to my guards. Then he put me down and squeezed tight, wrapping himself around me. “The harder you fight, the worse it’s going to be for you, babe.”

It was as though he didn’t even know my name. Or he thought he was above using it.

“When I’m done with you, all you’ll have left is me.”

I yanked away from him and brushed past. “Good-bye, Will.”

“See you later,” he said, satisfaction in his tone.

I exited without looking back. The second we were in the elevator, I let out a shaky breath.

“Are you okay, Ms. Boone?” Mac asked.

“Never better.” I lied.

Truth was Will scared me.