Chapter 23

Laura's POV

I sometimes did things without thinking. It is what some would refer to as bravery and others would see as being stupid. My pulse beat steadily, my body still humming with the defiance I had just laid bare.

And then, Rodrigo moved.

Without warning, he reached out and grabbed the wrist of the woman beside him who had been covered. Her cloak fell open to reveal a sultry blonde with vacant eyes, dressed in a sleek red dress that clung to her curves like a second skin. Her painted lips parted slightly, but before she could make a sound, Rodrigo yanked her onto his lap with a force that sent the chair scraping against the floor.

The sharp gasp that escaped her was drowned out by his low, amused chuckle.

"You see," Rodrigo drawled, his voice laced with cruel amusement, "this is how bitches are supposed to be treated."

And then he crushed his mouth against hers.

It wasn’t a kiss. It was a claim, a show of power, a deliberate spectacle meant to remind everyone in the room who held control. The woman stiffened, her fingers curling into the fabric of his suit, but she didn’t resist. Whether out of fear or conditioning, I didn’t know.

My stomach twisted with disgust.

I should have looked away. I should have flinched, recoiled, shown some sign of being rattled by the display of dominance playing out in front of me.

But I didn’t.

I kept my expression cold, my gaze steady as I watched the bastard take his pleasure as if the woman in his grasp were nothing more than an object to be used.

A sharp pang of familiarity clawed at my chest, memories of my mother flashing behind my eyes. I had seen this before. This kind of power imbalance, this unspoken rule that women like her, like me, were meant to endure whatever men like Rodrigo deemed fit.

I had almost become a victim.

When he finally released the woman, shoving her back into her seat as if she were nothing more than a discarded napkin. She swallowed hard, her head tilting down just enough to let her hair shield her face.

Now I could clearly see the injuries that matted her skin. I took in a slight intake of breath. He abused her as well! I side eyed the devil sitting beside me only to find him already watching me.

Bastard. He dared not. Contract or not. I would hit him where the sun doesn't shine.

I exhaled slowly through my nose, fighting the urge to snap and raised an eyebrow against him in question.

"You’re quiet, Catalina," Rodrigo mused, his gaze sliding lazily back to me. "Doesn’t this bother you?"

I tilted my head, showing my annoyance in my tone. "Should it?"

His lips curled into a smirk, clearly entertained by my answer. "Most women would be horrified."

"I’m not most women."

Rodrigo chuckled, tapping ash from his cigar, but there was something new in his eyes now. Interest. Intrigue.

Foolish man.

If I wanted to play this game, I needed to be more than just another woman in the room. I needed to be someone they couldn’t quite figure out.

Kelvin still hadn’t said a word, but I didn’t have to look at him to know that he was watching me closely.

The meeting dragged on with discussions blurred together. Talk of shipments, territories, and debts owed. Rodrigo dominated the conversation, or should I say Kelvin was too bored to care and just listened to him ramble on. It happens that despite his resistance he had no choice but to report to Kelvin.

I listened, not just to what was said, but to what wasn’t. The unspoken tensions. The veiled threats.

Kelvin barely spoke, but his silence wasn’t passive. It was calculated.

When the meeting finally wrapped up, Rodrigo leaned back in his chair, taking a final drag from his cigar before stubbing it out in the crystal ashtray. Then, with an almost lazy smirk, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a sleek black card.

He flicked it onto the table in front of me.

An invitation to him.

An insult to me.

I stared at it, my jaw tightening. He didn’t even need to say it aloud, his message was clear.

I was something to be pursued. A mere amusement in his world.

I curled my fingers into my palm, nails pressing into skin to keep my expression from slipping.

The lizard's eyes glinted with amusement, as if he was waiting for me to react.

I refused to give him the satisfaction.

Instead, I met his gaze with an almost bored and blank expression. Then, with deliberate slowness, I picked up the card and placed it back on the table, pushing it toward him as if it was beneath me to even touch.

He cackled, actually cackled like some wizard from the 16th century, before finally rising to his feet. "What a shame," he mused. "I do enjoy a challenge."

He threw Kelvin a pointed look before turning away, his long coat billowing behind him as he strode out, his men following.

The moment the doors shut behind them, the air in the room seemed to shift.

The tension that had been simmering beneath the surface, the unspoken weight of power plays and silent battles, suddenly coiled into something darker.

Kelvin exhaled slowly, the sound almost like a growl.

Then…He chuckled.

The sound sent an unexpected spark down my spine.

I turned my gaze to him, heart hammering despite myself. He wasn’t laughing out of amusement. No, there was something else lurking beneath that sound. Something dangerous.

"You really do have a death wish, don’t you, Catalina?" His voice was a whisper against my skin. “Your face seems to have attracted a lot of trouble for me today. Should we do something about it?”

His sharp nails felt like knives right now as they caressed my chin.

I had always known that I was beautiful. Dangerously so. It had warned me more enemies than friends and right now was bringing me unwanted attraction.

I swallowed, refusing to let him see how much he affected me. "I don’t see how rejecting a piece of trash like Rodrigo qualifies as that."

Kelvin's smirk deepened, his grip tightening just slightly. "No, but making him want you? Now that… that might be a problem."

I held his gaze, refusing to back down. "Then maybe he should learn that I don’t belong to anyone."

Kelvin’s amusement flickered into something else.

"Is that so?" he murmured, voice silk over steel.

I didn’t blink. "Yes."

For a long moment, we just stared at each other, the air between us crackling with something neither of us wanted to name.

Then, without warning, he leaned in, so close that his breath ghosted against my lips.

"You might want to be careful with that mouth of yours," he murmured darkly. "Someday, I might just decide to shut it up somehow."

His fingers trailed along my jaw, before brushing against my lips. The touch was featherlight, but the dark amusement gleaming in his eyes told me that it was anything but.

My heart skipped a beat.

I hated that my body responded to him. Hated the way my skin tingled under his touch, the way my pulse betrayed me.

He tilted his head, his gaze dropping to my mouth as his thumb traced the curve of my lower lip. "What a pity," he murmured, his voice a rich hum. "Such a pretty mouth… wasted on spouting nonsense…."

His grip shifted, fingers trailing down my throat, sending a shiver through me. And then, he leaned in.

My breath caught.

He was going to kiss me.

I should have pushed him away or slapped him. But my body was frozen in place.

His lips hovered just above mine, the heat of him searing against my skin.

And then, dark silk obscured my vision.