“Don’t look at me like that,” he rebuked, his dark brows drawing low over his rich brown eyes.

“Like what?” I tossed back before I could stop myself. “Like you’re a monster?”

His jaw ticked. “It’s too dangerous for you to get pregnant right now.” He spoke with strained calm, as though trying to explain something simple to a small child. “My father is dying, and Dante won’t be the last man to try to take what’s mine. We have to wait until I’m the boss and no one will dare to challenge me again. Then we can try for an heir.”

“An heir?” I spluttered. “You mean a baby. A child that I will bear and will be expected to raise.”

His expression darkened to something utterly forbidding. “You will provide our child with a loving home.”

“Of course I’ll love my child, even if his father is a monster.” I wanted to be a mother. I wanted someone to love unconditionally, someone to protect and cherish.

And Luca was trying to take that right from me, at least temporarily.

“I won’t make our family even more vulnerable by risking a pregnancy right now,” he said, voice brooking no argument. “I will protect you, Nora. Don’t make that more difficult than it needs to be.”

I scoffed. He kept telling me not to be difficult. When he was the one making insane demands of me, twisting my life into something that suit his desires.

His eyes glinted with warning. “Are you going to bend over the bed for me, or am I going to have to make you?”

Hands shaking with rage, I turned from him stiffly and braced my elbows on the mattress. My cheeks flamed when he lifted my skirt and tugged my underwear aside. It took all my willpower not to whimper with humiliation when the needle stung my bottom. I bit my lip and refused to bury my face in the duvet in an attempt to hide from him.

I wouldn’t cower. I wouldn’t break.

He stroked my skin like he was reassuring a pet. My fingers flexed into the sheets, and I swallowed a growl.

My anger spiked when he dipped two thick fingers between my legs and brazenly rubbed my clit. I tried to bolt upright, but his free hand pressed down on my lower back, pinning me in place.

“Stop that!” I insisted, my voice vibrating with indignant rage.

He slapped my sex, awakening a stinging burn on my tender flesh. I gasped and went utterly still, mind blanking with shock at the casual way he was handling my most intimate areas.

“You will behave tonight. I won’t have my wife glowering at me in front of our guests.”

He started rubbing my clit again, reaching beneath my underwear this time. It tingled after the sharp slap, and sparks danced through my core as he firmly stimulated the pleasure point. I squirmed to get away from the mortifying sensation, and he pressed down harder on the small of my back.