Page 49 of The Sweetest Revenge

I shifted my weight to step around him, but he stepped in front of me. His large frame blocked my way, and he swung his foot behind him, shoving his bedroom door shut, covering us in darkness. "Zaiden." I reached out for him.

His voice dropped to a whisper, each word dripping with menace. "You want to go to bed?" The question slithered through the darkness, and a beat of silence followed, heavy with anticipation. My heartbeat thundered in my ears, feeling the weight of his gaze even in the pitch black. "Then get in the bed." The words hung between us, a challenge, a threat, and something else I didn't dare name.

My eyes strained against the inky blackness, searching for any hint of movement, any sign of where he was. The silence pressed in, broken only by our ragged breathing. I took a hesitant step forward, then another, my hands outstretched.

The darkness seemed alive, pulsing with unspoken tensions and buried emotions. Each second stretched into an eternity as I waited for his touch, his voice, anything to break this unbearable suspense. "Zaiden—Turn on the light."

I instantly regretted following him, for thinking something had changed between us because he was about to make me wish I'd locked myself in my room.

CHAPTER24

ARIELLA

The room was a void, darker than pitch. My pulse quickened as my eyes strained, every nerve on high alert. "Zaiden."

The walls seemed to press in, my chest constricting as if trapped in a vise. Each shallow breath felt like a struggle against the weight of anticipation and fear.

I sucked in a sharp breath when his large hands curled around my hips, jerking me into him—my back to his front. For a split second, I was transported back to the first time he kissed me, his soft, full lips, the heat of his body against mine, the gentleness in his touch. Those days were long gone.

Burying his nose in my hair, he inhaled deeply. "You don't want to be alone tonight, Ariella." His hot breath tickled my ear, sending chills rippling over my skin. His hands tightened on my hips as he turned us. My chest tightened, each breath a struggle as panic and desire stirred within me. He brushed his lips over my ear, his teeth grazing my earlobe. "Then get in the bed." He shoved my hips forward, and I stumbled forward into the bed, my body bending over the bed.

"What the—" My words were cut off when his fingers curled into the thin material of my black leggings covering my hips and hoisting the bottom half of me onto the bed. "Zaiden." I pushed to my hands and knees, scrambling to get across the bed. It was my only chance to escape, but he was faster than me.

His hand wrapped around my ankle, jerking hard enough to pull my hands and knees out from under me. My breath came in short, ragged gasps, each inhale a struggle against the tightness in my chest.

The bed sank in as he crawled over me, and I flipped to my back. I couldn't see him, but I could feel him.

Part of me wanted to give in, to let Zaiden take control. It would be easier than fighting. "What do you want, Zaiden?"

The heat of his breath fanned my face, his lips mere inches from mine. "I want you naked and cuffed to my bed."

A lump formed in my throat, choking off my words. My mouth went dry, my tongue sticking to the roof as I struggled to form coherent thoughts, let alone speak to them.

If he cuffed me to this bed, I would lose any chance of control, even though I doubted he was going to give it to me willingly anyway.

"No cuffs," I mumbled. "But I'll take off my clothes." I shifted my hips, trying to push him off me.

He huffed out a menacing laugh as his thighs tightened, holding me in place. "That's not how this works." His lips brushed across mine as they trailed over my jaw and down to my throat. My heart pounded against my ribcage, its frantic rhythm drowning out all other sounds in the room as I lost all rational thinking at the feeling of his mouth on me. His hands raked up my side, brushing his knuckles over my skin as he dragged the hem of my shirt with it, sending goosebumps racing over my skin. I arched my body into him as he tugged my shirt over my head and tossed it to the floor.

"Zaiden, what are we doing?" I whispered, a hint of fear mixed with excitement laced in my tone.

"Don't worry," he breathed against my skin as his large hands wrapped around my wrists, forcing them above my head. "You don't have to worry about my sister finding out anymore." The spell I was under evaporated, and I jerked against his grip. "Because she's dead."

I thrashed against his grip, disoriented in the darkness. "Zaiden. Let me go."

"Where would be the fun in that?" Cool metal slapped around one of my wrists, and panic set in. I thrashed my body around underneath him, bucking my hips and jerking my uncuffed arm, but it was no use. His chest dropped to mine as all of his body weight pressed me hard into the mattress, suffocating me. The metal slapped around my other wrist before the sound of metal hitting metal echoed through the quiet room.

Fuck.

I was cuffed to the bed.

And then his weight was gone. "Zaiden." I sucked in a deep breath holding it as fear and panic wrapped around me, making it hard to breathe. It was dark, and I realized he was the only thing keeping me from losing it, which was completely irrational. I knew he'd protect me from whatever was lurking in the darkness, but the problem was that there was no one to protect me from him.

The soft glow of a nightlight kicked on, and I released my breath in a whoosh. Zaiden stood beside the bed wearing nothing but a pair of low-hanging black joggers. The light was only bright enough to see him. My gaze raked over every curve of his tanned and toned chest down to his perfect abs, and my heart rate spiked. His dark tattoos scrolled across his broad shoulders and down his arms, covering his chest and back. His body was the perfect canvas, and yet I couldn't understand how someone so beautiful could be such a massive dick.

His lips curled into a cocky smirk. "Like what you see, princess?"

Busted—

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