Chapter 18: :eighteen:

IMOGEN’S POV

I was fucked!

Perry waved Silas’s card in my face, smiling smugly as if he had caught me red-handed.

He really had.

What have I been thinking?

How could I have been so stupid to have left the card behind?

Oh hell, I was doomed.

I was fucking doomed!

“Tell me!” he bellowed and I jumped i fright.

“He’s...he’s nobody,”

“Is it the bastard at the club?” he demanded, grabbing my face roughly.

“He’s not...he’s a nobody. It was just some random person at the club who gave that to me and I must have forgotten to throw it away,”

He let out a laugh that cut a sharp pain in my chest. “You forgot to throw it away? what do you think I am? a child?”

“I swear that’s it, Perry. you’re overthinking this.”

He looked from me to the card in his hands as if contemplating. Fuck, I had made the dumbest mistake ever.

I had put Blond in danger like the dumbass I was.

“How do I confirm that eh?” he said, rising up until he stood tall and loomed above me.

I watched in horror as he picked his phone off the bed and dialed the number.

“No!”

The worst thing that could happen right now was him calling Blond.

Everything was over.

Everything would end and Blond would know I was married and had used him to get the edge off--he would hate me.

Perry fixed me a glare and I clamped my hand over my mouth.

“You had better shut your damn mouth!” he hissed and placed the phone on the loudspeaker.

My heart beat raced fast with each ring--I was doomed.

Big fucking time.

PERRY’S POV

The phone rang for fucking ages, I didn’t know how long I stood there before Imogen, dialing the damn number on the card.

The fucker who owned the number didn’t pick the call.

I glanced at Imogen who remained on the ground shaking like she had epilepsy or some shit. There was a nasty purple bruise on the side of her face.

This was what she got for pissing me off. I had planned good things for us--I had planned to spend the day in her damn arms before she went ahead and pulled that shit on me.

Cheat on me? fucking ridiculous.

I was going to find the bastard she had gone frolicking around with and I was going to snap his arms off.

“Perry...please,” she protested weakly, stretching her hands towards me.

I slapped her hands away from me. After I was done with the bastard she went off to, I’d deal with her as well--whichever came first.

The call dropped when no one responded but I was antsy so I dialed it again. Why the hell was the jackass not picking my calls?

Had she been telling the truth all along?

Had she really gone for a walk?

“Why isn’t he picking up?” I growled, reaching for her hair, grabbing a fist full of it.

She yelled in pain and I pulled harder in satisfaction at the way her face contorted.

“I don’t know!” she cried. “Please Perry, let me go,”

“Let you go?”

Let her go? she had to be out of her fucking mind.

“You’re mine! letting you go is not an option...” he shot me a look and burst into a short laugh before straightening his face. “Was that why you went to fuck another man? Did you hope I would let you go?”

“No, I didn’t... I didn’t, I swear.”

“Then how the fuck did you get this card?” I demanded.

The card could not belong to a woman, it was a man--definitely a man.

“I--told--you,” she shivered, trembling under my gaze.

Good.

Just how I liked it.

I wanted her to be as submissive as ever.

“He had approached me at the club the other night and gave me his card. I didn’t need it so I didn’t call him. I--I had forgotten all about it, believe me,”

I sighed and tossed the phone on the bed. Could she be telling the truth?

Imogen rarely lied to me, perhaps because she knew I was going to beat the shit out of her if she tried, but now, staring at me with all those fear in her eyes--I didn’t think she was lying.

Unless she had a death wish.

“Please,” she whimpered. “If I was interested, I would have hidden that card from you,”

Fair point.

I had found it lying around the room, if she had gone to meet whoever owned that number, she ought to have hidden the card.

“You’re not lying to me, are you?”

She shook her head slowly, as much as she could, wincing in pain after a while.

My shoulders relaxed and I dropped on my knees. Her pretty face was all swollen and looking quite blue. Her lower lip was busted from the slap earlier and she closed her eyes tight when I loomed nearer.

It was all her fault!

If she hadn’t set me off, none of this would have happened. I did it all because I was scared I would lose her-- she was the monster! she terrified me.

If I wasn’t so damned scared that she was slipping away from me, I wouldn’t have had to do that to her.

I reached for her hair, gentler this time, running my hands through her hair. She shook under my hand as she withdrew away from me.

“It’s all your fault,” I said with a sigh. “If you hadn’t acted all suspicious, I wouldn’t have had to do all of this. You know how much I love you, don’t you?”

Her brown eyes looked at me warily and I sighed silently.

“My fragile heart cannot bear the thought of losing you, you know that Imogen,” I murmured as I reached for her hands.

Tugging at them, I helped her rise from the floor, watching her fidget under my gaze. It was all her fault.

If she had not ticked me off, I wouldn’t be so mad. I had driven all the way back home for her--to see her, and then I found out she had broken out of the vacation home and couldn’t reach her!

Any man who cared for his wife would be worried--I was worried.

The thought of her with another man was sickening, she was mine to use--to discard and toss aside when I was done.

She had signed up for it all when she agreed to become mine.

I led her to the bed and helped her sit then her breaths came in breaks and hiccups. She must have cried a lot.

“You need to clean up,” I told her, tilting her face up so I could inspect her face. “Your left cheek is starting to swell, and it doesn’t look pretty.”

She sniffed and yanked her face out of my hands, I laughed at the look of anger on her face.

“Aww, is my little Imogen mad at me?” my knuckles grazed the side of her face, stroking the tender skin. “Don’t be mad at me honey, I only discipline you because I love you. A woman’s place is with her man--your place is with me.”

Her lips parted in a scoff and I grinned, she certainly did look adorable when she was mad. But now, not with her face turning as blue as the fucking sky. I touched the bruise lightly and she winced, letting out a quiet sob when I pressed harder.

“I’ll get you some ice packs. we’ll need that swelling to go down by the time we leave.” I informed her, rising to my feet.

“Leave?” she asked, her voice husky. “Where are we going?”

I grinned while whipping out two tickets I had gone to book that very morning. Seeing how comfortable she had gotten in Rome had been a damn catalyst.

Sure I was done with my business deal--I had been done in a while, and I would have loved to spend a day or two more with Antonella but when Imogen had disappeared on me and I had almost gone crazy with the idea that she was cheating on me, I knew we had to fucking leave.

“Yes, we’re leaving Rome. we’re going back home babe.” I winked at her, knowing it must have caught her off guard.