BY THE TIME THE RED-HEADED secretary announced that I was permitted to go inside Lucian’s office—as if I needed her permission for anything—I was fuming. After giving her the once-over and noting how attractive she was, I figured she was banging Lucian. I bet she serviced him whenever he asked. But if that was the case, then why did he need me?
“Stay put,” I instructed Birdie before my gaze swung to Ace. “And if you touch her, I’ll murder you right here.”
He smirked, and I walked into Lucian’s office, slamming the door behind me.
“There’s no need for dramatics.” He sighed. “We can get through this without you being a brat, or we won’t get through it at all.”
“Whatever.” I crossed my arms like a petulant child. “You need me for something, or else I wouldn’t be here. As much as you might threaten to turn me in, you don’t want to.”
Lucian looked up from his desk with eyes devoid of emotion. He seemed empty and cold, but for some reason, the only thing I felt when I looked at him was profound sadness.
“Take a seat.” He gestured to the chair across from him.
Standing by my declaration, I remained rooted to the spot. This was a war of wills, and I was determined to win. It was better that he figured out now that everything he asked of me would be difficult. He wanted a wife on a silver platter, but I never promised I would be obedient.
He closed the lid of his laptop, then shoved it aside as he pushed back from his desk. When he circled around, I tried to stay brave. But he was taller than I was, and stronger than I was, and it was hard to deny those things when we were face to face.
His face was impassive, but frustration swirled in his inky eyes. Without warning, his hand shot out behind me and gripped me by the hair, tightening until I was forced to tilt my head up in his direction.
“Sit down,” he said again. “This will be the only time I ask you nicely, Gypsy.”
“This isn’t asking nicely,” I shot back.
He yanked his fist in a downward motion, and I squeaked as my head and the handful of hair he was holding followed. More than anything, it caught me by surprise, and before I could find a way to compose myself, he had me on my knees in front of him. My face was inches from his cock, and I was humiliated. With burning cheeks, I looked up at him.
“Let me go.”
“I think you are still struggling to comprehend how this works.” Lucian forced my gaze up to his face, exerting his dominance. “I know it must be difficult to relinquish control when you love it so much, but that is what you’ll be signing up for. So, you better get used to it.”
I was tempted to junk punch him, but I knew better than to resort to physical violence. A wounded man was a far more dangerous contender.
“What do you want from me?” I asked.
“Are you ready to behave and do as you’re told?”
“I’ll never behave.” I clawed my fingernails into the carpet. “So you might as well get used to that.”
“Suit yourself,” he answered in a low voice. “I will enjoy punishing you.”
My fingers trembled, but I didn’t let him see it. Whatever he was planning to put me through couldn’t be any worse than the hell I’d left behind me.
“I will sit in the chair.” I forced the words between my teeth. “If you’ll let me up.”
To my surprise, he released me immediately. I was left to the humiliating task of getting off the floor in my red dress without exposing myself, but in the end, he granted me a shred of privacy by removing his watchful gaze. I brushed the wrinkles out of the material and sat down, rubbing the redness from my knees that had been left from the carpet. Lucian walked back around to the other side of his desk and took a seat, resting his elbows on the solid wood as he studied me.
“Now that we’ve established that, let me clear up your earlier point. I don’t need you, Gypsy. There is no ulterior motive for me doing this beside the fact that I want to. Turning you in would mean nothing to me, and I won’t hesitate to do it in a heartbeat if you become more trouble than what it’s worth.”
His words plowed through my mind and had the immediate effect of dousing my anxiety in kerosene. He was only doing this because he wanted to. Translation? He wanted me. Obviously, it had occurred to me. I wasn’t naïve. Men liked to get their dicks wet, and I knew it better than anyone. But I hadn’t shared my body with a man in four years.
I looked over his workspace. Tidy and clean. Minimalistic. These were the guys who scared me the most. The psychopaths. I could tell a lot from a man based on the way he kept his surroundings. Lucian’s life was orderly, and he would want his wife to be the same.
I squeezed my thighs together beneath the privacy of the desk. “There is nothing about a sexual relationship written in the pre-nup.”
“It wasn’t necessary to include it,” Lucian stated. “As I said before, there is only one rule to this arrangement. You do what I say, when I say it. It’s very simple, Gypsy.”
Arguing that it wasn’t fair would be a wasted breath. Nothing about this was fair, and he knew it. He didn’t care. He was exploiting my vulnerability the same way I had exploited men when I conned them. Karma really was a bitch.
“What if I don’t want to do something?”
He shuffled some papers around and plucked a pen from the holder, his attention more distant by the second. “Then we will discuss it like adults and come to a compromise.”
At this point, I wasn’t sure we were even talking about the same thing. If he was talking about sex, it didn’t show on his face. There was no excitement. No hint of impropriety. Nothing. But I couldn’t trust that.
“So, what if I say I don’t want to have sex at all?”
His lips tightened, and he turned his attention back to me. “How long has it been since you’ve let a man inside you?”
I squirmed, despite my resolve to appear brave. “That’s none of your business.”
“Every aspect of your life is my business.” Lucian clicked the end of the pen beneath his thumb, a steady drum beat. “Because I’ve made it so. When you’re my wife, you’ll be in my bed. For now, that’s all you need to know.”
I snapped the rubber band around my wrist to give my fingers something to do. The truth was that it didn’t matter what Lucian wanted me to do. He had me.
I knew last night that there was no escaping him when Ace cuffed the three of us together to sleep. Even if we were somehow able to run, I doubted we would get far. Lucian had been watching me for a long time if his evidence had anything to say about it. He’d prepared for this. He’d thought of every angle. And he knew that deep down, a life of running from the police was not what I wanted for my sister. I would do anything to give her a better life, and that was my weakness.
“I have a few conditions,” I murmured.
Lucian’s face was absent of the victory I expected. Instead, he was all business. “Such as?”
“Birdie goes free. And by free, I mean that you destroy every shred of evidence you’ve collected on her and call off your dogs, whoever they are. You won’t have anything else to do with her life.”
He cocked his head to the side and shrugged. “I have zero interest in what your sister does with her life after you say your vows.”
The word vows made me shudder, but I kept my focus. “I will have contact with her as much as I’d like by phone or email, and monthly visits.”
“She can visit you here,” he conceded. “As much as she’d like. Phone calls or emails are at your discretion.”
“Fine,” I agreed.
“What else?” He scribbled a signature down on a piece of paper, filing it away into a folder.
“The paperwork you showed me at the restaurant said we had to be married for two years before I could divorce you and receive a settlement. Is that correct?”
“Yes.” He squinted down at a message that had been left from his secretary. “Two years or my untimely passing. Whichever comes first.”
“Let’s hope for the second option,” I muttered under my breath.
When he looked up, his eyes were full of venom. “I’m a busy man. Do you have any other questions or are we done here?”
“Just one. What are the rules?”
His brows pinched together, displaying a level of impatience characteristic of someone who scoffed at the idea of ever needing to explain themselves at all. “I already told you. Whatever I decide.”
“That’s pretty vague.” I bobbed my heel up and down like I had all the time in the world. “I’d like to know what my life will be like. What boundaries will be in place. These things are important to discuss.”
Lucian leaned back in his chair and toyed with the ballpoint pen between his fingers. “Your job is to be my wife. That means your nights and weekends will be spent with me. Apart from that, I will have some scheduled activities for you to pursue. There will be downtime when you are free to do as you wish within the parameters of my rules. But I suggest you find a new hobby to keep you occupied if you don’t want to see what you look like in prison orange because your scheming days are over.”
“Obviously.” I rolled my eyes.
“You will have an allowance for clothing and other necessities. During our marriage, you are not to have extracurricular sexual relationships, and you will be required to wear a tracking device at all times.”
“You do realize that there are websites for this kind of thing,” I pointed out. “There are actual women who would love to do this without a fight.”
“I don’t see you putting up a fight now,” Lucian noted.
My heel stopped moving, and I gathered up my purse. “Whatever. Is there anything else I need to know?”
He got up again and walked around the desk, invading my space as he leaned down to grip my chin in his fingers. “Only this, princess. I know you tend to believe you’re always the smartest person in the room but know this. If you fuck with me, I will ruin you.”
I glared at him. He didn’t take his hand off me, so I pried it off myself. “Where do I sign?”
“You can sign our marriage certificate tomorrow. Here at noon.”
“Just like that?”
He nodded. “Just like that.”
Christ, I was going to be married to this asshole tomorrow. I stood and prepared to leave, but he stopped me at the door.
“Oh, and Gypsy?”
“Yes?”
“Don’t expect a honeymoon after that little stunt you pulled in here today. You’ll be cleaning my house for the next week instead.”