My pulse throbbed in my ears like a war drum. “But why didn’t you tell me sooner? Why put me through all of this-“
“I didn’t want you to feel…” His voice dropped to a gravelly whisper, laden with sincerity. “…violated twice.”
The room fell into a profound silence, the air thickening with unspoken tension.
I stared at him, my mind momentarily blank before it flooded with a torrent of thoughts. The words I longed to express lodged in my throat like a jagged shard of glass.
There was so much I wanted to say, so many questions I needed to ask, yet I struggled to find the right way to articulate them.
I cast a cautious glance in his direction. “You’ve… seen it?”
Roman remained steadfast, his expression unyielding, yet I noticed a subtle tension in his jaw, a tightening that hinted at the storm brewing beneath the surface. He maintained eye contact, his gaze unwavering, as if daring me to look away.
“I had to know what he was using,” he replied, his voice steady but edged with an intensity that made my heart race. “What he had. I watched it once. Never again, Sav. I wouldn’t have if it weren’t absolutely necessary.”
A slow, shaky exhale escaped my lips, the air leaving my lungs in a rush as a wave of emotions crashed over me. My skin prickled, a strange battle of heat and cold waging beneath the surface, leaving me feeling raw and exposed.
In that moment, I felt like a puppet stripped of its strings, vulnerable and laid bare. I felt exploited. I felt violated. Most painfully, I felt betrayed.
This was someone I had once trusted deeply, someone I thought I knew inside and out. A moment that should have been shared in privacy, a sacred space just for us, had been invaded.
But Dean had to do this. He had to strike at the very core of my being, where it hurt the most.
A scream clawed at my throat, desperate to break free. I wanted to hide, to retreat into the shadows, to crawl into a dark, forgotten hole and never emerge-not to face Roman, and certainly not anyone waiting downstairs.
What did I want? I didn’t even know anymore.
How could I possibly confront Roman now, knowing he had witnessed that part of me? The thought sent shivers down my spine.
The image of him watching-seeing me in my most vulnerable state, unaware and exposed-burned itself into my mind like a brand. Shame coursed through me, hot and corrosive, twisting my stomach in knots until I feared I might be sick.
Yet beneath that shame lurked something darker, something that felt utterly out of place.
Want.
The realization that he had seen me, that he had absorbed it all, and chosen to carry that burden in silence pressed against something primal within me, awakening desires I had never anticipated.
My breath came in shallow gasps, each one a reminder of the weight of this moment.
“Why?” I managed to ask, my voice trembling, fraying at the edges like an old fabric. “Why not tell me straight away? Why the games?”
Roman’s expression was inscrutable, but I could feel the heaviness of his gaze. “Because it would have shattered you coming from me. You would have spiraled out of control. And I need you focused. Not broken.”
His words struck me like a physical blow, and my throat constricted. “You think I’m broken now?”
“I think,” he replied slowly, his tone measured, “that you possess a strength you may not fully recognize. But even the strongest steel can bend under the wrong kind of fire.”
His declaration hung between us, a heavy truth that settled into the silence like a stone.
I sank onto the edge of the bed, my legs suddenly too weak to support me. The mattress dipped under my weight, and I could feel the warmth radiating from him beside me. He didn’t reach for me, but his presence was all-consuming, wrapping around me like a shroud.
“So you just… watched it,” I whispered, my gaze fixed on the floor, even though I wasn’t sure why I felt compelled to ask again.
“Yes.” His response was curt, clipped. “I watched long enough to grasp exactly what I was up against. Long enough to ensure he could never use it against you without going through me first.”
My head jerked up, a spark of defiance igniting within me. “Going through you?”
A smile curled at the corners of Roman’s mouth-not one of amusement, but a cold, lethal promise that sent a thrill of fear and exhilaration through me. “If Dean ever tries, it’ll be the last thing he does.”
I should have felt relief, gratitude even. But my chest constricted painfully, and my thoughts spiraled into chaos.
Images flashed through my mind-Dean’s smug smirk, Roman’s intense gaze fixed on a screen, and my own body, grotesquely displayed in that sickening frame. The most unsettling part was how my body betrayed me at the thought of Roman watching.
I loathed myself for it.
“Savannah.” His voice sliced through my spiraling thoughts, grounding me momentarily.
I met his gaze, searching for answers.
“I told you once before that you’d beg me for something,” he said, his tone devoid of teasing now-quiet, heavy, laced with an ominous undertone. “This isn’t that moment. But trust me, the day will come.”
A shiver raced down my spine, and it had nothing to do with fear.
I swallowed hard, my voice rough and unsteady. “I’m not begging you for anything.”
He tilted his head, studying me as if he could see the truth lurking just beneath the surface. “Not yet.”
My hands curled into my lap, nails digging into my palms as I wrestled with the conflicting emotions swirling within me. I couldn’t tell if I wanted to hit him or…
The silence stretched between us, taut and vibrating with unspoken thoughts and unacknowledged desires.
Finally, I managed to voice the question that hung in the air. “So what now?”
“Now,” Roman said, leaning back against the headboard with a quiet confidence that suggested he had already mapped out our path, “you leave Dean to me. And you don’t let him see you crack.”
I stared at him, my heart still racing, my mind a tumult of shame and something else I dared not name.
But beneath it all, I sensed a shift.
Roman had witnessed me at my lowest, at my most vulnerable, and instead of turning away in disgust, he had stepped closer. He had protected me, controlled the situation with a fierce determination.
And God help me… a part of me craved for him to continue doing just that.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.