Page 58 of Xander

Part of me wanted to bask in the compliment—there had been so few of them over the last three years—but a flicker of terrifying fear went through me instead as he led me through the store.

The back of the store was more business-oriented. Twill pantsuits, elegant trench coats, and blouses that seemed to come in every flavor, from embroidered to peplum. I reluctantly selected a pair of pants, a matching blazer in a millennial pink tweed, and a pretty blouse in a relaxed knit.

If Xander was disappointed by my choices, he didn’t show it. After a glance at my selections, he went around the store, briskly gathering a spangly evening gown, a few more blouses and pants, and one of the Casablanca-looking trench coats.

“You don’t need to do this. We agreed on just the one outfit.”

“You agreed,” he said, yanking my selections from my arms. He plopped a toiletry bag on the counter and urged me to pick out some makeup and a skincare kit. It wasn’t a bad call, considering the darkening bruise on my face. I wondered if Xander was trying to provide me with a solution because he noticed I unconsciously kept touching it.

He was the first male in years to go shopping with me. I used to beg Henry to do the same, but he always confined the experience to online shopping from the “comfort” of our home. Shopping with a man at a physical store was supposed to be a dream come true, but there was no joy in it now. Hearing Xander’s plans to confiscate my freedom—after years of enduring the same at his father’s hands—shattered any hope that he’d be my liberator. Instead, he was another jailer. Henry, but in a different body.

As if on cue, his eyes flickered over the items until they landed on the wedding ring on my hand. Xander frowned. “Why do you still have your ring?”

“What?” I folded my hand over my wedding band protectively.

Xander arched an eyebrow, waiting expectantly. “You didn’t want me to buy you things. Then give me the ring. We can call it collateral for the clothes. Take it off.”

A white-hot jolt of anger shot down my arms, and I jerked away from him. “I’m not giving you my wedding ring,” I managed without my voice shaking. The ring was a part of me, and I never considered taking it off before.

“Give me the ring, Jordan.” The expression on his face was defiant, almost petulant. “Don’t make me ask again.”

I twisted the diamond on my finger, hating him for demanding something I wasn’t ready to part with and hating myself for still attaching sentimental value to this inanimate object that symbolized so much pain in my life.

“Do you feel attached to that piece of jewelry because my father spent a lot of money on it?” he asked with a bite to his tone. “Is that why you won’t give it up? You feel indebted to him?”

“That’s not the point.”

“I bet he did it to make up for all the women he ran around with.”

Warily, I eyed him, taking in the massive frame that towered over my own. He crossed his arms over his chest and gave me an arched look, daring me to deny him.

So, I did. “That’s right. I’m a gold digger.” The heated words didn’t soothe the ache at uttering them. “You found me out, Xander,” I hissed. “I married your father for his money, and I’m not giving back the ring.” I rubbed my chest, where it still hurt that he thought so little of me.

Suddenly, he gripped my hand.

“Ow,” I yelped when he yanked the ring off, nearly disjointing my finger in the process. I watched the ring disappear into his pocket. The shock of what he’d done stung more than my empty finger. Maybe because it was an unnecessary display of power, given that Xander might retain autonomy over every one of my actions. Did he also have to go out of his way to humiliate me?

Not looking at me, he opened a drawer and began jotting down what he’d purchased on a pad of paper. Signing it with a flourish I recognized from various merchandise he’d autographed before posing with happy fans for pictures. He dropped both the pen and the pad back into the drawer and locked it.

“Unless you’ve grown fond of the sheet, change,” he said, leaning back against the cashier’s desk. “You’ll feel better once you do.”

I stared back defiantly. “I’m not changing in front of you.”

“So you’re shy now? You weren’t last night,” he bit back.

I flinched at his tone. He looked like he was at the end of his rope, too, but for whatever reason, he decided to drop the anger with a resigned sigh. He shoved the clothes into shopping bags and handed them to me, nodding at a heavy damask curtain to our right. “Changing room’s over there.”

I walked over with a hollow chest, but to my consternation, he was right. After a morning of wearing nothing but sheets tossed over my shoulder like a toga, wearing clothes made me feel human again. There was something incredibly dehumanizing about being kept locked up like a prisoner, naked, despite Xander treating this situation like a grand adventure.

When I left the changing room, he held out his hand. His fingers closed lightly around my arm, steering me out of the shop. I stepped aside, watching him lock up again with a swipe. Trying not to think about how much money he’d just casually dropped on me.

I wasn’t entirely surprised when our next stop was a restaurant. “The kitchen is closed,” he said as if I had expected the chef to be waiting on standby, “but I can set up a cheese plate.”

My stomach growled before I’d even considered the offer. “Thank you,” I mumbled.

Sitting at one of the tables away from Xander’s searching gaze, I pulled my phone out of my clutch. Still no reception. Henry’s messages taunted me in glowing black letters until I put the device away. My cheek was still throbbing. I couldn’t believe he beat me in front of his mistress and a roomful of witnesses. But he had. He had been cocking his leg back for another kick before Xander surged in out of nowhere and coldcocked him in the face.

Xander was gone for what felt like a very long time for cheese and God knows what else, but when I stood up, he came out of the kitchen holding a wooden cutting board loaded down with more cheeses than I could name and an assortment of cured meat and pickled vegetables.