Chapter 54

[ZARA]

I didn’t have to look at those papers to know what was written on them. It was the same marriage contract. The one that I stupidly forgot to burn. I should have. Why didn’t I? Maybe I should now. Was it too late?

As if he would let you! My conscious snorted. And even if he does, what makes you think he doesn’t have copies?

Point. But that didn’t mean I would do as he asked. He didn’t own me. No one did.

“I won’t!” I grounded my jaw and glowered up at him. If he thought he could make me sign those papers by playing this ploy of intimidation, he was wrong. “I’d never sign them. Take them away!” Clutching the file, I flung it back at him. He caught them just in time before they could have scattered to the floor.

If he was angry earlier, now he was livid.

Wiping my cheeks, I tossed my legs to the side of the bed and stood up.

His intense gaze stabbed through me.

My knees threatened to buckle. But I held myself together. I had to. I couldn’t let him win. Not again. Not ever.

“Don’t