Sometimes, I think that I’m the only sane person among the people that surround me. A divorce? Hailey is suggesting a divorce? How am I supposed to divorce a man who threatened me into marriage, fooled me into thinking he was a good man before the wedding, and has been switching between nice and crazy since we got married? With a heavy sigh on my breath, I respond. “I can’t threaten him with a divorce, Hailey. He won’t buy it.”
“Because?”
“Because we signed an agreement.”
“Doesn’t matter. Scare him. Give him reason to think that you’re going to break your end of the bargain. It is important to him that you two stay married until he gets his inheritance, Nat. You have that power over him. Use it.”
I think over what she has said for some minutes. She has a point. Brandon needs me. If I leave this marriage, it will not only taint his image, it could cost him his inheritance. Rebecca Martinez is known for keeping to her words. If Brandon didn’t actually believe that she’d cut him off, he wouldn’t have settled for me.
After Hailey leaves for home, I settle into bed with a Mills and Boons medical romance that I picked up the last time I was in at the mall. I chide myself mentally to ensure I finish the book because I haven’t been reading much lately but I’m asleep barely 10 minutes into the story. I sleep through dinner and only wake up at the sound of footsteps beside my bed.
When I open my eyes Brandon is standing at the side of the bed staring down at my sleeping form. I squint my eyes at him and the tray of food in his hands before managing to sit up. I raise my left brow in question and he puts down the tray awkwardly.
“Mom wanted me to check and make sure that you’re fine.” He says with his eyes looking above my head.
“Thank you,” I say, and make to go back to sleep.
He heads towards the door but turns around with one hand on the knob. “You know you could have just taken one of the rooms upstairs.” He says quietly. “They’re bigger.”
I keep my eyes on him from my place on the bed but refuse to utter a word. After a few seconds, he walks out and shuts the door behind him. I close my eyes to go back to sleep but find that I can’t. Trust Brandon to ruin my sleep however he can. When he isn’t snoring, he’s bringing me a tray of food I didn’t ask for.
After tossing and turning for almost half an hour, I finally get up and reach for the tray. On it is a fine spread of spicy lamb chops, baked potatoes, and a chocolate cake that tastes like heaven. I make a mental note to thank Kate for the chocolate cake. She knows I have a weakness for it and I suppose she made it specifically to cheer me up.
When I try again and fail to go back to sleep, I pick up my novel and try to concentrate on the storyline but find myself constantly distracted. With a final sigh of frustration, I step out of bed and make my way towards the kitchen. I keep the lights off to avoid waking anyone or having them wonder who’s down here.
With a mug of steaming hot chocolate in my hand, I sit stop a counter in the kitchen and drink slowly. I make a mental note to find out how the chocolate cake addition to Giancarlo’s menu is faring and speak with the two new employees that we have. With my head in the clouds, I do not hear the approaching footsteps and am startled when the lights suddenly come on.
Standing at the door is a shirtless Brandon clad in nothing but a pair of cotton pants hanging low on his waist. I swallow audibly before forcing my eyes away from the sight of his bare chest. His gaze travels down my body, and only then do I remember that I am putting on a low-cut see see-through nightgown that I’d never dated to wear when he and I shared a room.
Feeling self conscious, I fold my arms over my breasts and clear my throat loudly. He immediately drags his eyes off me and steps into the kitchen, opens a cabinet, and gets out a bottle of Irish Scott. I wonder why it’s in the kitchen cabinet and not in the bar in the living room, but do not ask him.
“I’m sorry for startling you.” He says before pouring into a glass. “Didn’t know anyone was in here.”
Watching him down the glass, I take a sip of my hot chocolate and nod in acknowledgment. I watch him down the second, and third glass, and by the time he is on the fourth, I begin to worry. Why is he drinking so much at this time of the night?
“You really shouldn’t drink so much,” I say quietly, but he only laughs drily before downing another glass. I step down from my place on the counter and try to take the glass from him, but all at once, he throws the almost empty bottle at the door and yells, “Leave me the fuck alone, Natalie.”
I shiver at the sight of glass shards falling to the ground. “What is wrong with you” I ask in an equally loud voice.
“What is wrong with me? What is wrong with me? You are what is wrong with me, Natalie! One single kiss and you are everywhere I go. You’re in my house, in my thoughts, in my dreams, and even in my fucking kitchen when all I need is solitude!” He yells.
I swallow and try to steady my breathing. “What are you talking about?”
Without warning, Brandon closes the distance between us and grabs my shoulders with a jerk. He covers my lips with his and tightens his grip on my shoulders to keep me still. Unlike the other day at Giancarlo, he doesn’t kiss me sweetly or even passionately. What he does is use his teeth and tongue to cower me into submission. Tears of humiliation well in my eyes, and I push at his chest to force him to let me go.
When he finally lets go, it takes all of my willpower to make sure that my knees do not go out underneath me. Swinging my hand back, I slap him as hard as I can. It is one thing to kiss me in front of everyone to prove a point, but to treat me like a piece of trash like that? It is absolutely unacceptable. I cannot put a name to the look on his face as I hurriedly make my way out of the kitchen.
Too busy trying to wrap my head around what just happened, I forget about the bottle of wine that Brandon threw at the door. When the first slice of pain hits me, I let out a piercing scream. I try to raise my injured foot off the ground and lose balance, stepping on another shard of glass with the other foot. Brandon is immediately at my side, lifting me off the ground and into his arms. Pain and frustration mix together and I place both hands over my face and begin to sob.