“You’ve displeased me, Valentina.” William ignores my pleas with a cold heart. He pushes me against the dresser, nudging my legs apart. “And when someone dares to displease me, they must be punished.” His hands roam over my body, degrading me. His touch isn’t soft or gentle. His caresses are meant to punish, to humiliate, to show me I’m at his mercy.
“William, no.” I try to fight him off, but he’s stronger, bigger than me. Panic rises inside me. “Don’t do this, please. Stop.”
William chuckles, not even breaking a sweat. “Look at you, getting all feisty.”
At my wits’ end, I start yelling for help, praying someone will hear me.
“Who do you think is going to hear you? They’re all downstairs getting drunk.” William laughs in my ear as he covers my mouth with his fingers. “Stop fighting me or I’ll make it worse for you.”
Little by little I’m losing control while handing it to William, and there’s nothing I can do to stop him. He bunches my dress up around my waist, unzips his pants and takes out his cock. He rubs it against my entrance. Closing my eyes, I tune him out and what’s happening around me. I grow numb as my mind takes me back to a magic night full of stars. Suddenly, it’s not William who I feel or his punishing hands. It’s Sébastien. He’s dancing with me, filling my world with his beautiful light. And I’m loved and cherished once again.
“Ready?”
“Hmm?”
“Do you trust me?” he asks throatily, tightening his grip around my waist, pulling me closer to him.
I blink a couple times, still in a daze. However, the answer jumps out of me. “Yes.”
No …
No …
No …
No!
The memory works like an electroshock awakening my mind from a stupor. I open my eyes, trying to push him off of me. “Stop.”
William pulls closer, kissing my neck. “If you weren’t so frigid, you might enjoy this.”
“Stop.” I push him again, barely moving him. “Stop!”
“It’s your fucking duty after all.”
Focus, Valentina. He doesn’t get to win this. He doesn’t get to take this from you. I pause. Close my eyes. Take a deep, calming breath. And when I’m ready, I shove him away with every ounce of strength I possess.
The force of my push takes William by surprise. He staggers back and trips on a chair, crashing on the carpeted floor.
As he’s falling, I see a window of opportunity to escape. My ears ring as I make a move to cross the threshold. William tries to grip the skirt of my dress, but I am quicker than him.
“If you leave this room, I won’t give you a cent,” he shouts angrily, still on the floor. “You won’t get my money, you hear me? You’ll be back to being nothing. You’re nothing without me!”
All this time I thought I was fighting for us, and now I realize I was fighting to be hurt over and over again, chasing memories that held us together. Love can’t survive on memories alone. So I’m letting him go. It’s time I forgive myself and the mistakes I’ve made. It’s time I fight for me.
“I have given you my everything, William, and you’ve made me feel like there’s nothing left of me. You’ve shattered me, broken me like I am made out of glass. Once. Twice. And each time I foolishly came back. Hoping it would be different, hoping you’d stay true to your word. Always hoping. Always blind. But you don’t get to break me anymore.”
I pause by the door, my entire body shaking compulsively. “I’d rather be nothing, have nothing, than remain married to you. I will have respect for myself, and that’s all that matters.”
My heart pounds in excitement as a light film of sweat covers my upper lip. Without giving William another thought, I rush out the room, leave him and this life behind running towards the front doors of the house. The only thought—my only goal—is to get away. I have nothing. No money. No clothes. But I don’t care.
I am free.
I go down the stairs as fast as my feet will allow, bumping into some guests. When I’ve reached the landing, I stop to glance back and see William right behind, closing the space between us. Panic settles in the pit of my stomach. About to move again, I bump into someone and lose my balance.
Placing his hands on my forearms, the man stalls my fall. “I’m so sorry,” I apologize distractedly, needing to move. “I wasn’t looking where I w—” I raise my eyes.
My breath catches.
My heart stops.
The whole world disappears except the man who owns my heart and soul.
“Sébastien?”
He smiles softly, his eyes sad. “Hello, Valentina.”
“What are you doing here?” I ask softly, afraid I’m dreaming and he’s not really here.
“You took away my heart, and I want it back.”
“Oh, Sébastien.” I touch his face, my incredulous fingers aching to feel him, to make sure he is real. “I thought I lost you for good.” His beautiful face blurs as a sob escapes my mouth, and I begin to cry. “I-I am so sorry for leaving you like that.”
“Ma petite chouette.” His hands tremble as he cups my cheeks. “My little love.”
“I’m so sorry,” I cry, unable to stop the tears from coming. “I’m so—”
Sébastien silences me with an everlasting kiss that breathes life into my soul. His splayed fingers strong against my skin feel as though he is trying to absorb me into him. Our mouths claim one another until we become two stars crashing and lighting up my night sky in magnificent, brilliant colors.
The kiss comes to an end, and my mind is still in a haze when I hear William say my name with utter hate. The room is so quiet, you could hear a pin drop.
My gaze finds William standing at the foot of the staircase not even ten feet away from us surrounded by friends and family. Loretta. Gwyneth. Larry. His shield. They all watch us with disapproval in their eyes. But I don’t care what they think about me anymore. And the realization is one big high.
Loretta’s icy glare bounces between William and me. “This is unacceptable,” she utters with disgust. “Someone explain to me what is happening right now.”
“Why don’t you ask William and Gwyneth?”
“Valentina! The library,” William orders, his face growing red. “Right now!”
Once upon a time, I would have listened to him. His hold on me was that powerful.
But not now.
Never again.
“No.” I shake my head. A slow smile grows from within me. Out of me. “I don’t think I will, actually. I’m done running back to you, William. We’re over.”
Sébastien takes my hand in his and brings it to his lips as he stares at William and Gwyneth and the whole lot, claiming me in front of them. Focusing on my husband, Sébastien dares him to come between us. To try and separate us, but William remains in his place. “Thought so,” he says under his breath. Then he turns to look at me and grins like the rascal he is.
“Want to get out of here, ma petite chouette?”
And like that night in Paris when he whispered the same words to me, the same answer forms in my heart. “God, yes.”
BACK IN HIS HOTEL ROOM, the world and reality slip away. Words cease to matter. There is only silence, magical silence, and the wonderful man standing in front of me. I stare at him, my eyes swallowing his savage beauty for all the days, weeks, and months I have gone without him.