Page 32 of Gilded Shackles

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"You can buy yourself out of this. I swear I won't say a word. You tell them I disappeared and you have no idea where I went."

That gets his attention.

His eyes lift, finally locking onto mine. And oh, they are not friendly.

"How much?" he says flatly.

"Ten million." I don't flinch. "Cash."

Pin-drop silence. Then he laughs.

"You think I'm sitting on ten million to throw after you? Despite what this place looks like, I am not a bank."

"You literally have a private fortress. And armed staff."

"That doesn't make me liquid."

I narrow my eyes. "That sounds like a you problem."

"Careful," he hisses.

"Why? You going to ignore me harder?"

That lands.

It's subtle, but I see it. A temperature drop. His expression shifts like a flame catching oil. He rises. Slow. Controlled. Terrifying. He steps toward me and the room shrinks around us. His jaw flexes.

Good. I want the crack. I want him to stop pretending I don't exist.

"You want money," he says, closer now. "Fine. Tell me. Where would you go?"

"Away from here."

He huffs. "Profound."

"You don't own me." I tilt my head up, daring him.

"I never said I did." His breath is a whisper against my skin.

"You act like it," I gulp.

"Because you signed that right away when you decided to play games with people more dangerous than you." His voice falls to gravel.

"I didn't say I'd marry them. I said I'd marry you. And you clearly want nothing to do with me. So let me go."

That's when he snaps.

It happens faster than breath.

My back hits the stone wall and his hand braces beside my head, body inches from mine. Not touching, but burning with restraint. I can feel the heat pouring off him, smell the whiskey on his breath, and every nerve in my body lights up like a circuit board.

"Do not think," he says, voice low, deadly calm, "that I haven't imagined throwing you out."

"Then why the hell won't you?"

"And do not think," he goes on, closer now, his breathbrushing my mouth, "that ignoring you is the same as not wanting you."

My voice dies. Everything inside me turns to hot, volcanic blood.

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