lett

. When the heavy oak door to my room finally clicked open, I didn't flinch. I was sitting on the edge of the vel

unted from the doorway. He wouldn't meet my eyes. Perhaps

rom the ruined wedding dress I was s

d marble that echoed with every step, and shadows that seemed to stretch and claw at my ankles. We finally arrived a

oast a whole stag, casting long, dancing shadows against the dark wood paneling. At the cent

to reveal forearms corded with muscle. Even from across the room, his scent-rain, ozone, and raw power-hit me

lett. Do th

low and rough, like gravel grindi

ed my two handwritten papers on the polished

dy despite the way my heart hammered ag

r the pitch-black of a feral beast, but a swirling, stormy gray. He looked at me-really looked at me-with an

ry and fluid. "Negotiate?" He arched a dark eyebr

aper toward him. "You kidnapped me. You assaulted me. And then, I saved your g

I had written it in my neatest

ult (Choking, br

onment & Emotional

ife-saving intervention for Luna

m to explode, to tear the paper to shreds and throw me in the dungeon. Ten million dollars was an exorbitant sum, even fo

al figure. Then, he looked up.

r skills highl

Without me, you would be planning a funeral right

for a heartbeat longer, then reached into his jacket

gh," he sa

the pen and wrote. The scratch of the nib against the paper was deafening in

e order of Scarlett Monro

ew my

hed the check, folding it quickly and tucking it into

red by the victory. I pushed the second paper toward hi

he document. It was tit

ion out of my voice. "On the grounds of coercion and fraud. And, in accordance with

clause I had unde

f Communit

riage over, and I want my share of the commu

expected him to roar

stared at the words Community Property, a

rrifyingly amused. It was the smile of a wolf who

e a dark promise. He looked up at me, his gray eyes gleaming with a dan

," I whispered, sudde

crossing his arms over his chest. He didn't reach for the