CARTER

It felt so damn good to punch him in the face. I've been wanting to do that since I met him outside that elevator.

I'm usually composed, cool-headed, and smooth-going, but ever since Lilly, I cannot control my temper, I cannot stop myself from getting a reaction out of her, and I cannot stop myself from touching her. I'm not in love. This is lust. Pure annoying raw lust and compulsive obsession.

I have my arm draped over her shoulder as she stays silent to my chest. Calm. There's fog in front of her eyes as if she's deep in thought and I'm curious about it "What are you thinking?" I watch as her throat works to swallow, and her lips quiver "You held back, didn't you?" Then pauses for a moment too long "You held back but you wanted to kill him, right?" She looks up at me, her lips parted, and her blue eyes are searching too deep into mine. Desperate for an answer. Desperate to know if she's right or wrong. I don't have to tell her anything but I do. I let her know how a very dark thought crossed my mind while I was punching the shit out of him "I wanted to take my knife and slit his throat for touching you and calling your name."

She doesn't gasp loud, she doesn't scream, but I don't miss how hard she worked to hold in that gasp in her throat, pressed her lips tight. She turns her face to look straight ahead and moves over to the other side of the car, pressing herself close to the door. It's locked, I know she won't do anything stupid but the distance between us bugged me.
Then she says under her breath, loud enough that I catch it "You're a heartless man, Carter Romano. You take lives as if they don't mean anything to you. You take things whenever you want without caring that they might hurt the other person. You make living unbearable." She said all of this with her eyes fixed on the window, looking outside in the dark "You play with fear, you don't care about anything. You take what you want, even if it's taking the lives of the innocent." I let her words sink in, my breathing getting heavy with rage. I did everything but look at her, I did everything but burst into screams.

And I couldn't contain it at all.

I yell, "Stop the fucking car!" The car comes to a halt and she looks at me with eyes wide. I get out of the car and make my way to her side and open the door, pulling her out. We're in the middle of nowhere, in utter darkness. The only source of light is from the headlights of the car.

I pull her to the back of the car and press her hip on the trunk of it, my hands on her sides, trapping her in. I say "Say everything you just said to my face." She's quiet now. Eyes going crazy with fear. I grab her jaw and she gasps but I don't let her go, I don't care that it's hurting her at this moment "You're all talk, Lilly. I might be a heartless man but let's talk about you. You're a coward. That's what you are and that is what you will forever be. A fucking coward." Her gaze goes down but I lean closer and growl "Look at me! Look into my eyes!" Her eyes squeeze shut as my voice rises with anger.

"Don't you dare close your eyes, look at me!" I yell at her face but she turns her head to the other side. Silent at the moment. I scoff and let her jaw go. I pull her off the trunk and open it, pushing her in. She cries but I close the trunk without caring how many times she bangs on it. Without caring how many times she cries to be let out. I let her suffocate, I let her cry herself till she's unconscious.

I leave her there till I reach home.

♡

When we reached home, the banging in the trunk stopped. Everything went quiet. The driver parks the car and I get out, going for the trunk. I open it and she's shivering with her eyes clenched and hugging herself. Curled into a fetal position. Tears stream down her cheek nonstop.

I did not take pleasure in this but I did not feel the guilt either. I don't know if I took it too far and I don't give a damn. I'm too angry right now to even give a fuck at the moment.

I say "Choose: you either go inside with me willingly or you can stay in the trunk for the night." She slowly opens her eyes and looks at me with pure hatred in them. I hold out my hand and she slowly takes it with her trembling hand. I sigh and lean down and scoop her in my arms. She still trembled but she never wraps her arms around my neck, just keep her hands on her stomach, linking her fingers together.
I felt every bone in her body tremble under my hand as I take her inside with me.

I don't take her to the cell. I never had plans to keep her in the cell at all. I just take her inside and then upstairs and then to my corner of the house. She's silent and scared. Doesn't say a word or even whimpers. Just quiet.
I take her upstairs to my room and set her on my bed. She sits up but stays there. I walk inside the bathroom and bring out a wet towel, and kneel in front of her.
I take her foot and clean the dirt under it. I picked her up without letting her put on something to protect her feet.

The sole of her feet just have slight calluses to them but other than that, she's fine.
I throw the towel on the chair and take off my jacket, laying in my bed. She stays frozen, looking at the wall without a thought or a sound.
I sigh and sit back up, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her back, and then lay her down with me. The lights are off and the room is dark. It's chilly inside. I drag my blanket over us and pull her in closer till our foreheads are connected. Wrapping my arms around her waist, I take a deep breath. She stopped trembling but I knew she was staring at me.
Then she says in the softest and venomous way, "I hate you." I let that sink too but I'm not angry anymore. So I say "You can hate me all you want, Lilly. Know this; that you belong to me. You are mine. And whoever tries to take away what's mine gets killed. Josh was lucky that I spared his life even though I didn't want to."

♡

LILLY

I wake up to find him gone. His side of the bed was cold so I knew he has been gone for a long time.

I get up and go to the bathroom.
I find a new pink toothbrush near a black one.

I looked up in the mirror and sigh "What the hell have you gotten yourself into?" I felt trapped again. I felt helpless, I felt annoyed, I felt disgusted.
Eighteen hours ago, I was moaning his name. The name of the man who brought me nothing but pain and suffering. How can I do that to myself? How can I become too damn low in life?

Wake up, Lilly. No one will save you because you have no one. You don't have a father, a mother, a sibling, or a friend. You have no one. And don't you dare expect someone to come and save you because they won't. They won't care. They won't shed a tear when you die.
No one is looking out for you. You need to stand up for yourself. You either die a coward or you die a brave person. Romano called you a coward and you stayed quiet because you knew he was right. You know that you are a coward.

A fucking coward.
A fucking-

"Hey." He breaks me out of my thoughts in an instant. I turn my head to him and find him wearing shorts and a compression shirt. Headphones around his neck. His hair was sweaty as he heaved. It looked like he came back from a run.

I turn my face back to the sink and ask about the toothbrush "This for me?" He just grunts and walks out. I take the brush and put some toothpaste on it, brushing my teeth.
Then I hear him shuffling behind me.
I glance at him through the mirror as his back is turned to mine and he takes off his shirt, his back muscles stretching with his movement. There's a scar on his left shoulder blade and then another near his right ribs. No tattoos on his back. None at all.

I threw the foam in the sink and clean the foam from inside my mouth and spit out the water.
When I stand straight again, he's behind me, staring at me and I gasp. His gaze was intense on me through the mirror. I stare down and take the towel to dry my mouth and face and keep it back.
I turn around to face him and his head tilts. He slowly makes his way near me and puts his hands on the sink, trapping me in between. He leans closer and unconsciously, I start nibbling on my bottom lip. His gaze flickers down at my mouth and he asks with his voice low "Would you like to take a shower with me?" I try so damn hard to not show my reaction but I can't help but let out a soft gasp. One side of his lips quirks up but I say "No, thank you." He steps back, lets me free, and turns around, pulling down his shorts, I instantly look up at the ceiling. He chuckles and gets inside the shower, sliding the glass door close, and turns on the shower.

I slowly make my way out and I find his rings on his nightstand. His two thorn rings that he always wears. I look back at the bathroom and I knew he was still in the shower, and out of curiosity, I pick one up. It was silver and looked like it was twisted as if you would twist two thorn filled rose stems together but this was thinner. Way thinner. I slid it on my middle finger but it didn't fit. Then I slide it on my ring finger and it fits perfectly. His fingers were thin and long while mine were on the little thick and short side.

I sigh and try to pull it out. Shit. No, no, no, why is this happening? Shit! It's stuck.

I was about to go back in the bathroom but the shower turned off so I ran down the stairs and into the kitchen. I pump soap in my hand and rub it around the ring, trying to pull it off but it won't budge. Stupid, Lilly. I pump more soap in my hands and keep lathering it up till it forms bubbles and try pulling again and it won't come off. I wash my hands from the soap and as I turn around, he's standing there with a brow raised. His hair was wet but slicked back in his usual style. Wearing a dark black shirt and black slacks. The shirt was tucked inside it and the sleeves rolled up to his elbows.

He asks "Ring not coming off?" I purse my lips and hide my hand behind me, hoping he didn't see anything. But he holds his hand up for me and I see him wearing his other ring on his forefinger. He sighs "Lilly," and I put my small hand in his big warm one. His fingers were still a little wrinkly from the shower though. He holds my wrist gently with his other hand and tries to take the ring off. No luck.
He tries again and still no luck. He inspects it left and right and says "Your finger is swollen. You used the soap too roughly." I nod. He lets my hand go "Try again when the swelling goes down." I nod again.

Suddenly the main door opens and in comes the man that was hosting the Bidders Balls.
Rafael Romano.

My breath catches in my throat and I'm slowly stepping behind Carter for some reason.
Rafael Romano narrows his eyes at me and I look down at Carter's hand behind his back, holding his palm out for me. I put my hand in his and he squeezes it gently, but it was like his hand and his entire body had two different meanings. Two different personalities.

He tugs at my hand and pulls me so that I'm pressing on his back as he speaks with full confidence to his father "May we help you?"

Rafael Romano bites "You lied to me." Romano is quiet and calm. Calculating.
Rafael Romano hisses "Mi hai mention. Mi ha detto che era morta! (You lied to me. Told me she was dead!)" Romano replies or I think that was a reply "Perché sei qui? (Why are you here?)"
Rafael Romano loosens his emerald tie "Don't I have the right to check up on my son after his enemy ambushed him?" Romano scoffs "I'm alive. Respectfully, leave." Rafael Romano looks at me and I don't make eye contact as he says "Why is she here?" Romano raises his brow "She concerns you- why?" Rafael Romano says "If she's not of use to you, throw her in with the others. I'm about to host the bidding." My eyes go wide and my heart starts skipping beats. This anxiety crept up inside my stomach.

I can't be in that tube. I can't go back to that place. I cannot look at them and their disgusting faces and their disgusting lust.

There was another man behind Rafael Romano and he held power. He was tall, middle-aged, with buzz-cut black hair and dark skin. A gold stud in his left ear as he stares at me up and down and occasionally smirks at Romano for some reason. Rafael Romano sighs "You let me take her off your hands for you." The guy behind Rafael Romano takes a step and Romano's voice is low but thick "If you touch her, I will cut your balls off." The guy stops and looks at Rafael Romano but he just smiles as if the threat his son made is nothing but a cute attempt at being scary "Why not?" Romano pulls me forward and presses my back to his front. I try so hard to walk and stand behind him or run up the stairs but he wraps his arm around my stomach and hold up my left hand, showing it to him "We're married." My eyes go wider but I hold onto his lie for dear life. My hands were shaking but he gripped them in a way that no one would know much I was trembling.

Romano says slowly, eyes locked on his father "You mess with my wife, and I will burn you in the fire of hell." Rafael Romano smiles and looks down at me, his gaze on my stomach and his jaw clenched. I follow his gaze and I see Romano's left hand on my stomach. He wore his other ring in his left hand. Ring finger. I don't know when he even put it on there.

Rafael Romano says something in another language "Il matrimonio è un grosso errore, ragazzo. (Marriage is a big mistake, boy.)" Romano moves my hair to the other side, barring my shoulder and neck for him. His lips pressed as he gently kisses my skin and I try damn hard to not squirm "Il tuo matrimonio è stato un errore. Non pensare per un secondo che io sia te. (Your marriage was a mistake. Do not think for one second that I am you.)"

My head felt dizzy with anxiety and the use of another language that I did not understand. But Romano knew that damn well that he keeps me pressed to him tightly. Rafael Romano scoffs and says under his breath "Stupido ragazzo. (Stupid boy)." And then he's storming out with that other man hot on his heels. The door slams shut and I'm being turned around.

Romano holds my face between his hands and presses his forehead to mine "Lilly, breath. Okay? You need to breathe for me." He whispers gently, his tone soft, different, and fragile with me. "Baby, breathe." I take a deep breath and let it out. I take another one and then exhale till my head felt lighter. Tears start stinging my eyes and I say "I was scared when that man almost tried to come towards me to take me to that room." Romano licks his bottom lip "I know. I know you were scared because I felt it." I sniff and he pulls away his hand and cranes my face up, looking deadly into my eyes "I would never let him take you. You understand that?" My bottom lip quiver and he whispers "You are mine."

He says "If anyone tries to take you away from me, Lilly," then he smiles and it's not a happy smile. It's a smile of evil satisfaction "I will burn them to the ground." He kisses the corner of my lips "I will burn them alive."

I hold onto his wrists and pull on them. His hands fall and I say "Let me go. Leave me alone. Please." His jaw ticks and suddenly he's irritated. He presses me on the kitchen island with his hands on the marble, trapping me in "You're like a broken record. You keep telling me to let you go or leave you. Didn't you hear what I just said?" He grabs my jaw and my body jerks as he nears closer "You. Are. Mine."

He presses his lips to my ears and my eyes close as I feel a shiver down my spine "You are now the wife of Carter Romano. Start acting like one."

♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡

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Love, Hope
♥️♥️