Page 104 of Ruthless God

His frown deepened. “I’ve touched you, baby.”

I shook my head. He wasn’t getting it. “Not like how you used to. We haven’t had sex in over a week!”

He pulled back, shocked. I’d shocked myself as well. And I couldn’t believe I’d said that. But it was like a word vomit. I couldn’t seem to make myself stop.

“Don’t you like me anymore? Don’t you find me attractive? Or do you not want to touch me because you think I’m dirty? Because of what Marco did. He didn’t…”

I looked away, unable to finish the sentence. Of course Massimo knew Marco didn’t rape me, but there was just something so… cautious about the way he’d been, I couldn’t help but question.

“Baby, no,” he said, sounding just as heartbroken as I felt. “I would never think that.”

But could I believe him? I didn’t know. I didn’t know anything.

I moved away from him, careful not to knock the bowl of soup on the bed, and climbed off it. He tried to grab me, but I saw him coming and dodged away.

I was sure he could have caught me had he really been trying, but there was still something controlling about the way he was treating me, and he missed.

“Where are you going?” he asked.

“Away from you,” I answered sullenly. The last thing I saw was his green eyes widening in surprise. I turned away from the bedroom door, taking him away from my sight. I rushed down the stairs and headed for the back door, which led to an enormous landscape.

I hadn’t explored the area thoroughly, so I was just turning blindly around, trying to remember some of the places I had visited in my brief times here, but my mind was nothing more than a jumbled mess.

My heart pounded in my chest as I ran, the cool evening air whipping against my face. The grass was damp beneath my bare feet. I didn’t dare look back, afraid I’d see him following me.

The landscape stretched out before me, a patchwork of uneven terrain and clusters of trees that looked like scary shadows coming at me. It was getting too dark to see, but I knew there was metal fencing around the property to keep people from wandering in andout.

Not that I had planned on going anywhere. I just wanted to get some fresh air and think better. I wanted to get my tumultuous emotions under control.

And as if God was laughing at me, lightning struck from a distance in the sky, and the scent in the air changed. I could smell rain coming.

In the fading light, everything took on an ethereal quality, as if I had stepped into another world entirely. I veered off to the left on instinct, though I wasn’t sure what my plan was.

As I reached the edge of the small grove, I finally allowed myself to slow down and catch my breath. My lungs burned, and I realized I was shaking—whether from exertion or fear, I couldn’t tell. I leaned against a sturdy oak tree, its rough bark grounding me in reality.

“What am I doing?” I whispered to myself.

“Running away from me,” a dark, familiar voice sounded out to my left. I jumped about a foot off the ground. I turned toward the sound to see a heaving Massimo standing there.

He had always looked big, but somehow, like this, there was something almost grotesque, almost predatory about his form.

I gulped and took a small step back. He watched the movement with the same finesse a wolf would have at its meal.

Hell.

“I-I want to be alone.”

“Tough,” he responded, taking a step toward me and closing whatever gap I had been able to put between us. “I don’t want you to be alone.”

The first splattering of rain hit my forehead. I flinched from it and looked up at the sky. We were going to find ourselves drenched soon if we didn’t leave.

“Let’s just go back inside,” I said, not wanting to be out here any longer.

He shook his head.

I frowned. “No? Why not?”

He didn’t answer me.

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