TIES THAT BINDS

Isabella’s POV

First thing I saw when Enzo grabbed my waist and drew me in toward him was the warmth of his hands. We were standing in the shadow of his office, the low light sharply contrasting his face—those blue eyes, that sculpted jawline, the lips much too perfect to let me forget the reasons I disliked him.

How my body responded to him disgusted me. My body resisted listening, no matter how many times I told myself that this was all a game to him—a game of power and control.

"Isabella...!" His voice sounded low, harsh around the margins, as if he were struggling to control something more fundamental. "You cannot keep fleeing this."

His breath made me shudder on my neck, and as his hands went up to the small of my back, dragging me flush against him. Unquestionably, the heat radiating from him was the result of the chemistry smoldering between us since the day we met.

I said, "I'm not running," but the way my pulse beat told me differently.

His grasp tightened, and I felt a spark of excitement pass through me as his lips brushed the delicate flesh of my collarbone. Unable to prevent the way my body responded to him, I gasped.

"You keep telling yourself, Bella," he said, dark and deadly on my skin. But you are aware it is a falsehood.

I detested the reality he said. His presence seemed to dismantle me bit by bit until all that remained was this raw, wild yearning. But my thoughts cried for control even as my body turned against me. For a means of opposition to him.

I stammered, then managed to add, "This isn't real." Enzo, you are not interested in me. You just are playing with me.

His lips went up to my ear, and he nibbled at the lobe, causing another gasp. "You think I'm performing??" His voice sounded like a deep growl with something worse than I could have imagined. "Is that what you consider this to be?"

Needing room to breathe, think, and relax, I pushed against his chest but he did not move. Rather, his hands clasped my wrists, dragging them over my head and trapping them against the wall. His body shoved into mine, cage-like.

Though the words came out softer than I wanted, "Enzo, let me go," I pleaded.

With dark and fierce eyes, he looked down at me and sought something on my face. Though I had no idea what it was, his attitude toward me made breathing difficult.

You want me to let you go? His voice fell to a perilous whisper as he inquired. Is it truly what you wish for?

I stopped momentarily not being able to talk. I felt as though I was drowning in his very focused and absorbing stare. The worst aspect was not knowing if I wanted to be saved.

At last, my voice only whispers, "I don't know what I want."

His mouth quitched, but it was not a grin. It was something more primitive, darker. "That's because you've never been with a man that understands how to provide you what you need."

His lips were on mine, claiming me with a need that was unquestionably clear before I could reply. That was not a soft kiss. It was intense, demanding, and it set off something I had worked so hard to bury. Still held over my head, my hands closed into fists to fight the want to give in. Still, the struggle was lost already.

Enzo turned back just enough to murmur against my lips. Bella, please tell me to stop. Tell me you object to this.

Nothing came out as I opened my lips to say the things I knew I ought to. Rather, I discovered myself slinking toward him, my body arching toward him, ravenous.

"You couldn't, can you?" Though his voice was tinged with gratification, there was also something deeper, more vulnerable there.

That he was correct disgusted me. I detested that I cannot resist no matter how much I wanted to. Not when I was in his arms, not when his touch set me on feelings I hadn't experienced in years. Things I was unsure I wanted to experience.

"Enzo...". I said his name, but it was not a call to halt. It was a given-up.

He moaned, a deep, guttural sound, and his lips slammed into mine once more—this time with even more force. His hands let my wrists free, and I drew him in right away with my arms around his neck.

The next thing I knew was he was looming over me, his body pushing me into the mattress; I wasn't sure how we got on the bed. His lips slid down my neck, dropping kisses blazingly in their wake.

But a chilly insight struck me just as fast as the fire had developed between us. I was empowering him, not only caving in to him. Authority I could not afford to forfeit.

I gasped, then pushed into his chest, waiting.

He stopped, his breath faltering as he fixed me with perplexity and irritation flaring in his eyes.

"What's wrong?." His voice was quiet but slanted with agitation.

I inhaled deeply to help me to ground myself. "Enzo, I cannot accomplish this. Not like this.

He blinked, and I briefly considered him maybe arguing. Then, slowly, he sat up trying to regain his breath and ran a hand through his hair.

Quietly, his voice raspy, "You don't know what you're doing to me, Bella," he murmured. You're driving me crazy.

Pulling the covers around me, I sat up trying to sort things. Enzo, you have no interest in me. You just make use of me.

His eyes clouded, then he laughed bitterly. "Is that what you believe? That I am simply using you?

Not sure what to say, I looked at him. Not that the truth was anything other. Wasn't this for him only a game?

Shaking his head, he got up and walked the room like a caged beast. You do not understand it, then? This goes beyond your personal situation. This speaks to control. Power. Stillness.

I wrinkled and watched him closely. "Survival"?

His jaw locked as he stopped pacing and turned to face me. "Do you find me enjoying living this way? You assume I want to be this person?

What to say was unknown to me. Never seen him like this—so raw, so vulnerable. It was disturbing and caused me to doubt what I knew about him.

"Enzo..."

He shook his head, balled hands at his sides. Bella, you just do not understand. You find me to be just a monster. The reality is, though, I have no choice. Not in this universe.

My heart thumping in my chest, I choked hard. Then why do you keep me here? Why then imprison me in this life?

His eyes softened momentarily, and I caught a flutter of something—probably sorrow. But it vanished as swiftly as it had first shown.

"Because I need you," he replied gently, his voice a little above a whisper.

I fixed my gaze on him, my mind flying. Even then, what did that mean? Was it simply another tactic or the truth?

Before I could inquire, the door knocked sharply and Sofia's voice rang over the space. Enzo, we have a dilemma here.

He ran a hand over his hair and swore under his breath. "Not yet, Sofia."

Her voice tight, she added, "It's Ren." "He's moving here."

At Ren's name, I felt a cold go down my spine. Enzo's competitor, the man circling us for months like a shark.

Enzo's jaw tensed, and for a few seconds he appeared conflicted. Then, sighing, he turned to face me and his look was incomprehensible. We'll wrap up later.

And the walls were back up just like that. The hard, deliberate guy I had come to know replaced the fragility I had seen minutes previously. He left me alone with my thoughts as he moved toward the door without further word.

But I became aware of something when the door closed behind him. I was no more merely Enzo's pawn in his game. I was involved in something considerably more frightening than I had ever dreamed—something far more vast.

And I had no idea if I would make it through.

The hours that followed passed in a haze of anxiety and doubt. I walked the room, my head whirling with all that had transpired. Every touch, every phrase kept running back over and over in my thoughts. Still, one thing remained obvious regardless of how hard I tried to understand it.

Enzo wasn't only exploiting me. Something deeper, something greater existed there. And it spooked me.

I turned to find Sofia standing in the doorway, her demeanor as frigid as ever, when a gentle knock at the door tore me from my thoughts.

"What do you wish for?" Trying to suppress the shakes in my voice, I asked.

She stepped into the room grinning. " Just checking in on you. Enzo is somewhat preoccupied right now.

"I don't need you checking on me," I yelled, folding my arms over my chest.

Her smile grew more expansive.