Page 74 of The Brutal Arrangement

“It’s actually an assisted living place,” I replied.

“She was mad, though?”

I nodded. “She said I’d done it so she would have to stay married to me. To control her.”

Frowning more, she seemed pensive. “Is that true?”

“No, it’s not fucking true,” I growled.

“Okay. Let me weigh in as a woman, as an outsider still fitting in around here.” She held her hand up. “You guysarecontrolling. I’m not complaining. I’m not judging. It’s just a fact. You are the same as Maxim in that regard, and I bet Saul and Nik are too. Since she’s come here, youhavecontrolled her, right? You’ve decided where she could go, whom she could talk to, and what she could do.”

“I didn’t kidnap her,” I bit out. “She chose to come here. I didn’t keep her locked up like Maxim did with you.”

She nodded. “I’ll get back to the fact that she chose to come here. But she’s not out of line to point out that youarecontrolling her.”

“She never complained.”

She opened and closed her mouth, then huffed. “Did you give her a chance to complain?”

“I don’t keep her gagged.” I frowned. “Not all the time.”

“Okay. But did you ever take time to talk to her? To listen to her?”

Dammit.“I wanted to.”

“All right. That’s probably a step forward.” She licked her lips, as if needing to collect her thoughts. “You do control her. You’re probably just as demanding as Maxim is of me. I don’t want to know, but I’ll assume you’re hung up on her submitting to you. Right?”

I let my silence serve as a reply.

“You’ve gotten her to submit to you. That’s one thing. But if you’ve never taken the time to formanyother connection with her, how is she supposed to know how to interpret your taking care of her mother’s expenses and healthcare?”

“Sloane, I don’t mind you,” I said slowly, keeping tight rein on my temper, “but don’t try to suggest that I open up and be lovey-dovey and all that shit. I’m not wired like that. The best I can do is keep my distance from her and?—”

“Why? What does that do?”

“I have to keep my distance from her so I…” I narrowed my eyes at her.

“What? Go on.” She grinned. “We’re getting somewhere now.”

“I need to stay away from her because I can’t trust how I feel when I’m near her. I don’t like this concept of…” I rubbed my forehead. “This concept of letting any feelings grow for her.”

“Why the hell not?” she asked incredulously. “You married her.”

“Because I was never supposed to marry her. I was never supposed to feel anything for her. This was supposed to be in name only, and it was the only way a woman would’ve ever become my wife at all.”

“Aha!” She pointed at me. “That’s it.”

I smirked. “What?”

“You went along with this arrangement because you think you scare women. You told me in the gym that one day. You have considered yourself a leper, too scary to get a wife in any other way, so you went along with this arrangement that you seem to think is only supposed to be a contract and nothing more.”

I shook my head, looking away.

“You married Lucy—regardless of who you thought she’d be—and now you’re starting to have feelings for her. If she’s accusing you of trapping her in this marriage because she’d be indebted to you for taking over her mother’s care, then you’re intimidated by the belief that she must only want to be in this because of that. Not because she might care for you, too.”

“I think you’re getting so bored that you're letting your imagination run away from you,” I remarked dryly.

“Admit it.”

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