Chapter 60 60

Chapter 60 60
Vivian's POV

Through the window I watched as doctors and nurses swirled around Dominic’s bed, busy and in time with each other. His body had reacted poorly to one of the drugs they’d put him on—some reaction between the pain drugs and the antibiotics that sent his system into temporary shutdown. But now they were stabilizing him, the wild symphony of monitors slowly coming back into order.

I had never felt more abandoned in my entire life. Terrified. Yet beneath those feelings flowed a river of rage I couldn’t afford to tamp down. This had been my life — a constant fear, a constant violence and everything in crisis. Always on edge for the next catastrophe, the next offensive, the next moment when everything could slip through our fingers.

Once they let me back in the room, he was awake but loopy from whatever they’d given him to reverse the reaction. He met my gaze with his grey eyes, and something in that look made the pit of my stomach contract.

"You're still here." His voice was flat, emotionless.

"Where else would I be?" I edged nearer to the bed carefully.
"Anywhere but here. With me. In this nightmare." He adjusted his posture slightly, grimacing as he did so. "You should have left by now. Smart people would have."

His words were chilly now, tellingly remote. This was the Dominic I’d learned to tread around carefully — not the man who said he loved me barely hours before, but the Don who saw people as assets or liabilities.

“I have nowhere else to go.”

"That's not a reason to stay. That's just inertia." His eyes were steely now, examining me. "You deserve better than inertia."

I wanted to protest, explain that I had stayed because I cared about him despite the bad times. That I’d meant it, what I’d said about loving him. But the words wouldn't come. He would make fun of me for them, and use them against me later.

“The federal guys was tryna take you to a holding cell,” I said, switching the topic. “Your lawyers won. Medical grounds. For transport you’re still not stable enough.”

There was something calculating in his eyes. "Good. I'm not going to any prison. Not if I can help it."

"They have evidence, Dominic. Recordings, financial documents, witness testimony—"

“They have nothing that will hold up in court. I have the best lawyers bunch of money can buy and they will destroy every little piece of non-evidence that there is.” Suddenly he reached out and seized my wrist, pulling me toward him with an insistent force for a man who’d just had a medical episode. "And you. And you’re going to help me make sure it remains that way.”

Xavier's stamp mere seconds beat mine out before I could answer, bearing news that obviously didn't want to be delayed. “The judge gave a stay on the transfer. Medical grounds, like you wanted. At least two weeks, and maybe longer if we press on hard.”

"How did you manage that?" The clasp of Dominic's fingers around my wrist loosened ever so slightly.

“Your doctors were quite persuasive, saying you were entirely too unstable for transportation. Incredible what they will say under proper motivation. It sort of sounded like they may not have been here legally,” Xavier said with an intonation that implied the motivation was more suspect than he’d have liked.

"Good. That gives us time to work."

"Time for what specifically?" Xavier settled into a chair, ready to talk strategy.

"To dismantle their case systematically. Discredit witnesses. Vanish and make inadmissible evidence. Dig up leverage on the prosecutors themselves.” Dominic’s voice echoed the icy deliberation I had all too often encountered. This was the crimelord, not the hurt man who had said he loved me.

"What about Cassius?" Xavier asked carefully.

"What about him?"

"He's still in federal custody. But the word is that he’s talking to anyone who’ll listen. Prosecutors, investigators, probably writing a memoir by now.”

"Then see to it no one listens to his lies. Plant the stories about his insanity, his penchant for making up things, his rationale for lying.” Dominic's eyes were cold. “And if not working, we’ll explore more durable options.”

It was a clear and chilling implication. Xavier nodded understanding. "I'll handle it discreetly."

Once Xavier gone to execute whatever sinister plot they’d wordlessly hatched, Dominic brought his entire focus back to me. I thought I would take a step back by the intensity of his gaze, but he was still holding onto my wrist.

“You’ve said nothing the whole time.”

"What do you want me to say?" It was an effort not to raise my voice.

Now I want to know what you were really doing at that park meeting your sister. His grip tightened. "The truth this time."

My stomach dropped. "I told you. She called and said she had a lead on Cassius—”

“And you went without telling me. Without backup. Without thinking about the consequences." His rage was almost lappable now, just under the skin. "Why?"

“Because I was hoping she would actually help for once! That she perhaps had information that could keep you safe—”

"You could have been killed. Or worse, got caught and held for ransom to manipulate me.” He leaned up, against the pain that move had to have caused him, and roughly seized my face between his fingers. “Let me be very clear about this with you. You don’t make a decision without speaking to me. You don’t leave this place without my direct say so. You belong to me—my wife, my charge, my possession. And I keep what is mine by making it entirely mine.”

Painfully he squeezed my face, and painlessly my wrist. "Do you get what I'm saying here?"

Yes, I murmured, disgusted by how shrunk my voice was.
"Yes, what?"

"Yes, I understand."
"Good. Now strip."

The command was so abrupt I actually gasped. "What?”

"You disobeyed me. Put yourself in danger. Risk everything that we’ve already established.” His eyes were cold, merciless. "There are consequences for that. Strip. Now."

“You’re hurt, you just had a medical episode, Dominic —”

“I did not ask for your medical opinion. I gave you an order." There was an edge to his voice that said arguing would just make it worse. "Strip."

My hands trembled as I started to undress, acutely aware that we were in a hospital room and anyone could come walking through the door at any moment. The humiliation was deliberate, I understood. His punishment, instead, he'd decided I deserved.

"On the bed. On your knees."

I did, and hated myself for it. Hating him for demanding it. But also feeling that familiar sickly heat blooming inside me. He had a way of making me hate and crave him as my body conspired against me, taking everything I thought I knew and delivering pure pleasure in return.

He rose slowly, obviously suffering great pain but not showing his distress. He was stalking me like prey, moving around me with his eyes roaming every inch of my naked self.

"You know what I should do? Get you off to someplace safe, where you can’t do something stupid, idiotic and impulsive that puts everything in jeopardy.”

His hand traced down my back, giving me an all-over case of goosebumps. "But I won't. You know why?"

"Why?" My voice was as breathy, betraying my pent-up sex despite everything.

"Because I'm fundamentally selfish. I just… I want you here with me, where I can see you and touch you and ride your cock whenever I feel like it.” Without warning, his hand slipped between my thighs to find me already wet. I gasped at the contact.

"Even when you doing something crazy as all hell and scaring the shit outta me. Even if that means you’re disobeying a direct order. Even when you make me feel things I promised myself I’d never let it touch." His fingers were old hands pushing me toward another peak. "I still want you. And that just makes me damned mad.”

He had me on the very brink, my body tightening as the orgasm neared. Then he stopped cold, backed off and left me panting and angry.

"But you don't get to finish. Not tonight. I can trust you again. Not until I say so." He eased himself back into the bed with slow careful movements and winced but did not change his expression from its cold severity. "Now put on your clothes & go back to Celeste's apartment. I'll have the need of you when I'm pleased that you've had enough punishment."

I looked at him, still buzzing with unrequited need, humiliated and furious. "You're cruel."

"Yes, I am. I can be very cruel when I have to." His smile was cold. And think about that the next time you even consider disobeying me. This is what happens. This is who I am. And you decided to stay, anyway.”