Page 118 of Cruel Deception
“Yes. We played a few games.” She lied with an easy tone. “She’s really good. Beat most of the men there—had them all drooling over her. But don’t worry, I didn’t let any of them come near.”
As if I wasn’t even in the room.
Cassian rose slowly, the motion deliberate. Each step he took toward me made my skin crawl with dread. My feet backed away on instinct until the wall kissed my spine—my body trapped, my lungs locked.
“Cassian, stop,” Elodie said, alarm creeping into her voice. “You’ve already done enough damage to this girl.”
But he didn’t stop. He closed the distance, his presence swallowing all the air between us. That cedar-and-sin scent made me dizzy, nauseous, weak.
“Please...” My voice cracked. “Don’t chain me again. Don’t make me relive yesterday.”
His hand lifted. Gently—almost lovingly—he cupped my cheek. I didn’t flinch, but I couldn’t breathe.
And then he kissed me.
Hard. Fierce. Possessive. Not as punishment—but like he missed me. Like I was still something sacred to him.
But I didn’t kiss him back. I couldn’t. I was still broken—too raw, too humiliated.
He pulled back slowly, eyes searching mine. “You hate me now, don’t you, Charlotte?”
I met his gaze, something bitter rising in my throat. “You hate me, Cassian. I wasn’t sure how I felt about you before... but after what you did yesterday—how you mocked me, degraded me—I know now. I hate you.”
His stare didn’t waver. “I can live with your hate.”
Then, shockingly, he pulled me into his chest. He didn’t speak—just pressed his face into the curve of my neck, like a man trying to apologize without saying the words. But I stood still. Cold. Unmoved.
His grip tightened, but I didn’t melt into him.
Because the words he said yesterday echoed too loud:
“You think you are a woman? You look like a man trying to play one.”
“The front of you ruins the illusion. It turns me off.”
“Flat. Masculine. Cut open like meat.”
My eyes stung again.
He pulled back a fraction. “Why are you so cold?”
“I’m just being myself.” I stared up at him. “But please... I’m begging you. Don’t chain me again. Don’t treat me like an animal.”
“Stop.” His voice cracked, sharp. “You forced the monster out of me. I wasn’t going to treat you like that. But you shot me, Charlotte. If I hadn’t worn a bulletproof vest, I’d be dead.”
“I told you... it was an accident.”
“But I could have died,” he repeated, harsher now. “And your brother—whose life I’ve saved twice now—would’ve dumped me in an incinerator like I was nothing.”
I stepped away from him. “This is the version of me you’ll get until this marriage ends.”
He grabbed my wrist, dragged me back to him. “You’re still mine, Charlotte.”
“I’m not arguing. I’m still your slave, right?” I said, laughing bitterly. “You called me that. Over and over. And you treated me like one. So yes, I’m still yours. Happy?”
“Stop!” he snapped. His frustration bled into the air like a storm cloud. “I married you to punish you. For what your mother did to me. But I never let myself go too far, even when I wanted to.”
“Until yesterday,” I said, quietly. “That was cruelty, Cassian. There’s no other word. Mock my body. Call me a man. Chain me like a beast. Take me from behind like I’m not human—I’ll endure it all. Because I’m your wife, and wives survive. But my heart?” I met his eyes with steel. “That’s off-limits. You will never have it.”
