Page 137 of Twisted Temptation

My stomach turns.

"My husband is going to hurt you," I say.

The comment catches him off-guard. For a moment, he just stares at me, and I can almost see his brain working.

Then he hits me.

He cracks his palm across my cheekbone, and my head snaps to the side.

The pain is blinding, and I see stars. My ears ring, and I taste fresh blood where my teeth cut the inside of my cheek.

I turn my head back slowly.

He's watching me, and I’m sure he’s waiting for me to cry. I can see the expectation shining brightly in his ice-blue eyes.

My face feels like it is on fire. But I’m not going to give him the satisfaction of seeing my fear.

I swallow the blood in my mouth.

And I smile.

"I was wrong. He isn’t going to hurt you. He’s going to kill you."

The satisfaction dies on Anton’s face.

My cheek is screaming, and my heart is slamming hard against my ribs, but I refuse to look away.

And my smile remains on my bloody lip.

"We'll see," he says.

He stands, and I notice he is less composed.

As he passes Flynn standing at the door, he says, “Spend some time with her. Let’s send her back to her husband a changed woman.”

Fear rips through me.

He’s offering me to Flynn.

To do to me what he wants.

A lesson for my disobedience.

I shrink back. Bile rises in my throat, and my stomach is being shredded to pieces by fear. I know what happens next.

Oh God.

The door clangs shut and a bolt slides, locking me in with a man who hasn’t taken his eyes off me.

59

DANTE

There's a version of me that people see.

The suits. The casino. The man who walks through his casino every night observing his empire with quiet satisfaction.

That’s the civilized version.