Chapter 13
We got back to my apartment in silence. Rozen hadn’t said a word since dragging me out of that bar. His jaw was clenched, his eyes dark, and I could feel the tension radiating off him like heat. I stepped inside first, tossed my coat over the couch, and crossed my arms, waiting for whatever storm he was about to unleash.
He didn’t make me wait long.
“You should come back to the estate,” he said firmly.
I blinked. “Excuse me?”
“I want you there.”
I let out a dry laugh, turning away from him. “We’ve already talked about this, Rozen. I’m not going back. I have a project to handle. My team needs me. And you-” I spun back to face him. “You don’t need me. That was the deal.”
“I need you,” he said, voice low.
I stared at him, caught off guard. “There’s no event. No party. No banquet. So what are you even talking about?”
“I don’t care about parties,” he snapped. “I just want you there.”
Something in me twisted.
He wasn’t yelling. He wasn’t forcing. But there was something in his tone–like desperation barely veiled beneath control.
I folded my arms tighter. “You’re acting strange. This… isn’t you. Why are you doing this? What happened?”
He looked at me. And for the first time in weeks, I saw through the wall he always put up- the calm, calculated man was gone, replaced by someone real. Someone conflicted. Someone hurting.
Without saying a word, he pulled out his wallet, opened it, and slipped something from inside. He held it up.
I squinted. It was his usual ID slot–but it was empty.
The photo of the mystery woman–the one I’d found in his library–was gone.
I looked at him in confusion.
“Why did you-”
Before I could finish, he reached into his coat and handed me something.
A card. Black. Sleek. His name etched in silver.
I stared at it. “What’s this?”
He shoved his hands in his pockets, not meeting my eyes. “Take it.”
“What am I supposed to do with your black card?” I asked, eyebrows furrowing. “Bribe myself into moving back in?”
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19:26 Fri, 18 Apr
And then it clicked.
I froze.
My fingers tightened around the card.
The bet.
The one we joked about. That ridiculous, teasing deal we made during those awkward early days of this marriage. If someone falls in love, they lose. And the winner pays.
“You’re joking,” I said, staring at him.
“I’m not.”
A laugh escaped my lips, more from disbelief than amusement. “You can’t be serious. Rozen, that was a joke-”
“So you’re laughing while I’m confessing to you?” he cut in, voice sharp.
I blinked. “I just… didn’t expect it. You- You can’t be in love with me.”
“I am.”
The words landed like a stone in the pit of my stomach.
I opened my mouth, but no words came out. My chest was tight, my thoughts racing. “No. No, this doesn’t make sense-”
“I tried to fight it,” Rozen said, stepping closer, voice low and rough. “God, I tried. I told myself it was just attraction. Just duty. Just guilt. But it wasn’t.”
He reached out, brushing his fingers along my wrist where the bracelet still clung like a
secret.
“I kept checking it,” he whispered. “Not because I wanted to control you. But because! needed to know you were safe. Because you mean something to me. Because somewhere along the way… I fell in love with you.”
I shook my head. “No–no, don’t say that.”
“Why not?” he challenged.
“Because I won’t believe it.”
His jaw tightened.
And then, before I could say another word, he grabbed my face and kissed me.
Hard.
Fierce.
Like he was trying to make me feel everything he couldn’t say.
It wasn’t gentle. It wasn’t sweet. It was raw and overwhelming, and when I gasped, he deepened it, as if he was proving a point–with his hands, with his lips, with the way he pulled me close like he couldn’t stand the space between us.
When he finally pulled back, I was breathless, dazed.
His hands stayed on my waist, anchoring me.
Chapter 13
19:26 Fri, 18 Apr м.
When he finally pulled back, I was breathless, dazed.
His hands stayed on my waist, anchoring me.
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“I want you,” he said, voice ragged. “Whether you like it or not. You’re not running away again. You’re not pretending this doesn’t exist.”
I opened my mouth to argue, but he cut me off.
“We’re going back home.”
“Rozen-”
“My wife,” he finished, locking eyes with me. “You won’t leave my side again.”
I wanted to push him away. Wanted to scream that he was being ridiculous. That this wasn’t what we agreed on. That I didn’t believe in love anymore. That I didn’t trust him.
But I couldn’t.
Because part of me–deep down–had been waiting to hear those exact words.
19:26 Fri, 18 Apr
