CHAPTER FOUR

Elena told herself she wouldn’t go back to the Dimitri estate a week later. She promised herself she would find excuses, keep her distance, bury the memory of Roth’s mouth on hers, and the feel of his body pressed against her. But by Wednesday evening, she was there again, Adrian tugging her along for another casual dinner with his father.

Adrian excused himself after dinner to make a call, distracted, muttering about some deal he was trying to salvage. Elena lingered in the garden, trying to breathe. The night air was cool, the fountain’s trickle soft, and for a moment, she thought she’d be safe out there, surrounded by roses and silence while father and son have their private moment.

Then she heard his voice. “You always run to the dark corners.”

Roth stepped out of the shadows as if he had been waiting for her. His suit jacket was gone, his shirt sleeves rolled, his throat bare and strong. His eyes didn’t flinch away like Adrian’s always did. No. Roth stared as though she belonged exactly where she was: standing under the moonlight, trembling, and ready to break.

“You shouldn’t sneak up on me,” she managed, though her voice betrayed her.

Roth smirked, closing the distance with unhurried steps. “You’re not frightened of me, Elena. That’s the problem. You’re frightened of yourself.”

Her pulse kicked. “You’re imagining things.”

“Am I?” He stopped inches from her, the heat of his body wrapping around hers like an invisible leash. His hand brushed her wrist, fingers curling just enough for her to feel the strength there before he let go. “Your pulse says otherwise.”

Elena stepped back, but the fountain caught her, leaving her cornered. Roth followed, his shadow swallowing hers. “You can’t keep doing this,” she whispered, hating the way it came out shaky and pleading.

“I can do anything I want.” His mouth curved wickedly. “The real question is whether you’ll admit you want it too.”

Her body betrayed her first. A shiver ran down her spine, her thighs tightening with shameful need. He noticed. Of course he did. His gaze flicked down, sharp and knowing. “Tell me,” he said, voice low, commanding, “do you let Adrian touch you at night? Do you open your cunt for him the way you did for me?”

Heat flooded Elena’s cheeks. “Stop.”

Roth leaned in, his lips grazing her ear, “Does he even know how wet you get when someone tells you what to do?”

Her knees weakened, but she held herself stiff, fists clenched. “You’re vile.”

“You say that while your body begs me to take control.” His hand slid up, fingers grazing the side of her waist through silk. “You want me to ruin you right here, don’t you? Out where my son could walk past?”

The words struck low, cruelly, and her lungs seized with the thrill of them. She hated him for saying it. She hated herself for wanting it. “I don’t,” she lied.

He chuckled darkly, tilting her chin up with a single finger so her eyes met his. “Then prove it.”

Her throat tightened. “Prove it?”

“Step back,” he dared. “Walk away from me without looking back. If you don’t want me, you’ll do it.”

The silence stretched heavy. His eyes were sharp steel, cutting through her flimsy defenses. Elena willed her feet to move, she willed herself to run, but her body disobeyed. Her breath quickened, her chest rose and fell, and her lips parted in quiet surrender.

Roth’s smile was slow and victorious. He bent, pressing his mouth to the soft curve of her neck. Not a kiss, more like a claim. His teeth grazed her skin, and she gasped, fists clenching in her skirt. “You didn’t move,” he murmured against her pulse. “That tells me everything I need, elena."

Her legs trembled. She should have pushed him away, screamed, anything. Instead, she whispered, “This is wrong.”

“That’s what makes it worth it,” Roth said, biting down just hard enough to sting before soothing the mark with his tongue.

A moan escaped her, traitorous and desperate.

Roth caught it with a laugh, pulling back just enough to look at her. “I could make you scream my name in this garden. I could have you kneeling for me in the grass, my cock in your mouth while my son sits inside, blind and oblivious. Do you know what that does to me, Elena? Knowing you’d let me.”

Her breath came ragged, shame flooding her veins, but her body leaned closer to him instead of away. His hand cupped her hip, fingers digging in with dominance, forcing her against the hard line of him, against his growing erection.

“Feel that?” he growled. “That’s how badly I want to break you apart.”

Elena eyes fluttered closed, and her will unravel thread by thread. He pressed his lips to hers then, rough and claiming, tongue forcing past her resistance. It was filthy and merciless, a kiss that left her dizzy, clinging to him like he was the only thing tethering her to the earth.

When he finally pulled back, his breath was ragged too, but his control never slipped. His thumb smeared her swollen bottom lip, his eyes burning with intense lust. “You’re mine,” he said softly, almost dangerously. “You can lie to yourself, lie to Adrian, but you can’t lie to me. You’ll come back and beg me”

Elena shook her head, though her body betrayed her again by arching into his touch. “I won’t.”

Roth smirked, dragging his thumb down her throat, pausing at the frantic beat of her pulse. “Then I dare you.”

Her breath hitched. “Dare me what?”

“Spend the night in my bed. Just lie there. No touching, no fucking. Just sleep and If you can handle that without begging me to ruin you, I’ll let you go. Forever.”

Her stomach dropped, her mind spinning. The thought alone left her trembling. Being that close to Roth, his body inches away, his scent, his voice whispering filth in the dark, it would destroy her. She swallowed, unable to answer.

Roth leaned closer, lips grazing hers again, voice a sinful whisper. “See? You’re already imagining it.”

Her knees nearly gave out. She pushed him back with the last shred of her strength, voice breaking. “I can’t.”

“Can’t,” he echoed, smiling like a predator. “Or won’t?”

Her silence gave him the answer he wanted. He straightened, adjusting his cuffs with infuriating composure, as though he hadn’t just unraveled her piece by piece.

“Think about it,” he said. “And when you can’t sleep tonight, when you’re wet and aching, you’ll know where you really belong.”

Roth left her there in the garden, shaking wet, her lips swollen and the sting of his teeth burning on her neck.