“My wife wants to talk to you,” he sneered.

Luca blinked slowly, eyes glassy as he struggled back to awareness. His powerful limbs twitched, and chains rattled as the cuffs held him fast. He grunted and blinked again, shaking his head slightly as though to throw off the fog of the drugs.

“Please,” I begged, turning my attention to Dante. “Let us go. You don’t have to hurt him.”

His green eyes were pitiless, spearing my heart with an icy blade. “No. I’ve waited too long for this. It’s his fault that you’re involved now. If he hadn’t stolen you away from me, you would have no part in this. He will suffer for taking what’s mine, and you will help me.”

I wanted to rail at him that I didn’t belong to him, that I never would. He was deranged and unfathomably cruel. He’d demanded my obedience when he’d humiliated me with the whip, but he hadn’t broken me. He’d known that I didn’t mean it when I said I was his wife.

I didn’t dare give voice to my defiance now. Not when Luca was completely vulnerable to Dante’s sadistic whims.

Luca came back to full awareness with a roar of pure rage. The chains rattled against the metal bedframe, and his corded muscles bulged as he fought the restraints. His ochre eyes were fixed on me, wide and wild.

I shrank deeper into the cage and covered my breasts, mortified at my nakedness. Dante had brought me low, and Luca was witnessing my humiliation.

“What have you done to her, you sick fuck?” he bellowed at our captor.

Dante simply smirked at him, watching his fruitless struggles with dark amusement.

Luca twisted in his bonds. “Let her go,” he snarled. “You have what you want. I’m right here.”

“Yes, you are,” Dante purred. “And you’re not in a position to make demands. You don’t understand yet, but Nora does. Shall I show you how obedient my wife is?”

Luca glanced around wildly, searching the room for another woman. I saw the moment he understood what Dante meant.

“She’s mine,” he growled. “Nora is my wife.”

“Not anymore,” Dante retorted. “We’re married, and as of now, you’re no longer her husband. You are no one. You are nothing.”

As Luca struggled and cursed him, he calmly walked toward me and unlocked the cage. He held out a hand, a pretense of gentlemanly assistance. “Come on out, little bird.”

Refusing his mocking help, I crawled out onto the tiles and quickly stood to recover a tiny shred of my dignity. I wouldn’t remain kneeling at his feet for one second longer than he forced me to.