Cruel Vows

PAISLEY

It feels like I’m never going to win this fight.

All my attempts for the past week to piss Massimo Morrone off have either turned him on or angered him into punishing me with his belt, but both have led to punishment of some kind. Either pleasure without the release or pain also without any release. It appears my bratty behavior won’t stop this wedding.

Stuck in here, I’ve had to work with what I’ve got. My latest attempt to anger him was destructive and horribly wrong. I tried to set a pile of his Armani suits on fire, but set off the fire alarm before any of them were destroyed. Now, they’ve moved all of his clothes to another room.

I keep racking my brain for ways to make him hate me and change his mind, but he sees right through it. Sitting up, I glance around the room. Surely, there’s something he values in here that I can destroy to make him second guess his decision to marry me.

There’s no way I’m willingly walking down the aisle and marrying this man. I wonder if he was serious about forcing me down it at gunpoint.

Massimo may be gorgeous and his dominance may make me hornier than I’ve ever been, especially since I can’t find any relief with this fucking belt on. He removes it whenever he’s with me and edges me repeatedly, only to deny me every single time. He’s the devil in disguise. A man who takes what he wants and doesn’t give a fuck about consent.

I stand and walk around the room, checking through drawers in the furniture. There’s got to be something in here that I can destroy that will anger him enough to chuck me out and forget this wedding.

Massimo has hundreds of expensive designer suits that must be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars all together, but they’re no longer in the closet. I gaze at the empty racks, irritated that I cocked up the plan so badly, and then my eyes are drawn to the cabinet with three solid gold Rolexs on display.

My stomach churns as I wonder what he’d do if I destroyed one of those exquisite watches. Maybe he’d kill me for it. The question is, would I rather be dead or married to him for the rest of my life?

It’s a difficult decision.

I walk toward the cabinet and open it, surprised he doesn’t keep it locked.

One watch looks extremely old and when I pick it up, there’s an initial DMM engraved into the back. I put it back down and pick a more modern one up.

I take it back into the bedroom and search for something heavy to smash it with.

Up to now, my attempts to anger him have been solely verbal, so it’s time I try his patience more. It’s just after five o’clock in the afternoon, which means he will return soon if the past four days are anything to go on.

I find a very heavy metal paperweight on the small marble desk on the righthand wall and put the watch onto the surface, my heart pounding at a thousand miles an hour.

This might be the biggest mistake I’ve ever made, and yet I don’t care anymore. This isn’t a life I want being locked away day in and day out.

I take out all of my frustrations on it, smashing it apart until there’s no chance in hell he can ever salvage it. When I finally calm down, I’m surprised to see how much damage I inflicted.

And then I return to the bed and flop down on it, leaving the smashed watch on the desk for him to find.

It feels like time crawls slower than ever after, waiting for Massimo to return. I keep the paperweight in my hand, wanting something to defend myself with if he hits the roof.

If I’m going down, then I’m going down fighting.

After a painstakingly long half an hour, a key slides into the lock and the mechanism clicks, warning me he’s back. I keep my back turned and pretend to be asleep.

Massimo walks across the room as always does, headed for his desk where he always stows his briefcase. “What the fuck?”

I sit up and look at him. “What?”

His eyes are blazing with such rage as he stares at me. “Which one is it?” The panic in his eyes is clear. And then instead of coming for me as I expected, he rushes toward the closet to find out which of his watches has been defiled.

When he returns, I’m surprised to see that he’s totally calm. “If you thought smashing my Rolex would make me call off the wedding, then you do not know the kind of man I am. Luckily, you didn’t touch my grandfather’s watch, if you had I can’t say you’d still be breathing.” And then he lifts his arm, and I see the whip in his hand. “However, you’ll need to be punished.” Those cruel, dark eyes hold no emotion as he moves toward me.

“Don’t you dare come near me with that thing!” I scramble off the bed, holding the paperweight firmly in my hand. “I won’t hesitate to use this.” I hold up the paperweight.

A smirk twists onto his lips, one that borders on devilish. “Is that right, princess? And what exactly are you going to do with it?”

“Bash your head in.”

He laughs, and it’s a laugh that sends shivers through me. “You don’t have it in you.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that.”

He narrows his eyes and walks toward me. “I know a killer when I meet one, and you’re not one.”

“If you take another step, I will be.”

He doesn’t heed my warning and so I panic, throwing the paperweight toward him. Unfortunately, I misjudge how heavy it is, as it falls with a thud in front of him, missing him by a few inches. Massimo stares at the paperweight, shaking his head. “A bit more strength and you’d have hit me, but I doubt you’d have killed me.” When he looks back up, I realize that I’m now defenseless and backed into a corner. “Now, are you going to bend over the bed for me, or am I going to have to drag you over it?”

“Fuck off,” I say, rushing toward the bed in the hopes I can climb over it and get to the bathroom before he can stop me.

As I jump onto the bed, I feel something sharp wrap around my ankle and yank, making me stumble. When I look down, Massimo’s whip is around my ankle. “Nice try, princess. But you’re not getting away with this.”

“Why don’t you let me go?”

“Is that really what you thought would happen? I’d get so angry I’d decide not to marry you?” He laughs darkly. “So predictable.”

Before I can move, he’s looming over me. And then he grabs my arm and maneuvers me like a stuffed animal into position, on all fours. I regret not wearing more substantial clothes, as this nightdress gives him easy access.