“I don’t have anything to say to you,” I say, hating the panic I hear in my own voice as I try to pull my wrists free.
Apparently tiring quickly of my attempt to free my hands from his grasp, Theo changes tactics, turning me around to face the wall and pushing me forward until I’m pressed against it with his body right up against my back. His hand opens and I pull my wrist free, but before I can do more than reach back to try to shove at his abdomen, there’s a flurry of movement.
All of a sudden, cold, hard metal is pressed against my throat, and he uses the chain to pull me back against him. I grab at it, trying to get my fingers beneath the links to pull them away.
“Settle. Down,” he says lowly, so close I can feel his breath on my ear.
I’m in such a panic pulling at the chain, it takes me a moment to realize that while he does have it around my neck in a threatening gesture, he isn’t pulling tight and trying to strangle me with it; he’s just using it to hold me.
Forcing myself to stop fighting, I draw in a few quick, fearful breaths. My voice shakes as I demand, “What the hell are you doing, Theo?”
“Nothing,” he says, his tone calm and almost soft but with a hint of menace that makes my stomach drop.
Trying to keep my voice level with his, I tell him, “Drop the chain.”
“Why?” he asks, almost like he’s amused. “Afraid I’m gonna hurt you?”
“It wouldn’t be the first time,” I mutter back.
“No,” he murmurs in agreement. He shifts his hold on the chain around my throat and brings a hand forward, lightly skimming the curve of my jaw with his fingertips. “I couldn’t go through with it, though, could I? Sent Brant to do the dirty work instead. Somehow, that turned into you marrying him. How the hell did that happen?”
“None of your business.”
He tightens his fist and pulls the chain tight around my neck. It only lasts a few seconds, but when he eases up again, I’m scared enough that I don’t fight him as he lets his hand fall to my chest. He runs it over the swell of my breasts then pulls me back against him more snugly. “Now, that’s not very nice, is it, Alyssa? I don’t like this new habit of you not being nice to me.”
Drawing in a shaky breath, I turn my head and look toward the barn door, wishing Brant were home. Scout is outside losing his mind, barking and jumping at the door. He never acts like that, so he must be able to sense something is wrong.
Leaning in so his breath hits my neck, Theo says, “Why don’t you be a good girl and tell me you’re sorry?”
Why don’t you go to hell.
Swallowing down my angry thoughts with some effort, I ignore the wave of nausea rolling through me and force the words out. “I’m sorry.”
“That’s better,” he says, cupping one of my breasts in his hand and squeezing. “That’s more like the Alyssa I remember.”
My jaw locks and revulsion passes through me, but I keep my mouth shut.
“These are getting a little bigger, aren’t they?” he murmurs as he caresses my breasts through my shirt. “How is my baby doing?”
I tell myself not to even speak to him, just to shut down because I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I can’t stop myself from correcting him. “Brant’s baby.”
It doesn’t make him angry, though. He laughs a little before kissing the shell of my ear. “No. We both know I’m the one who put that baby in you, Alyssa. No need for the lie when it’s just us.”
It’s not a lie. I want to fling angry words at him, tell him he’s not a fraction of the man Brant is and, as far as I’m concerned, Brant is the baby’s father now in every sense.
It wouldn’t matter, though. I don’t know what he’s playing at, but I know he doesn’t actually care.
“But back to what we were talking about before. How did you get here, Alyssa? Hm?” he murmurs, burying his face in my hair and sliding the hand covering my breast lower, to my stomach. “I send Brant to kill you, and next time I see you, you’re wearing his ring. I’m genuinely curious. Did you know why he was approaching you when you met him, or did he lie?”
“Brant doesn’t lie,” I mutter a bit resentfully. “You’re thinking of yourself again.”
Ignoring my jab, he says, “So you knew? Huh. Interesting. Did he come to threaten you at all, or did he take one look at you and decide to fuck you instead?”
“I’m not sure,” I answer honestly. “He showed up to threaten me, I don’t think he planned ahead of time to fuck me, but… maybe, I don’t know.”