Chapter 4

The atmosphere at the gala turned freezing cold.

Dozens of armed men stood frozen in place, watching helplessly as their autocratic ruler was viciously slapped by his civilian wife.

Caspian slowly turned his head to face me, every movement deliberate and terrifying.

He closed in on me with pure, predatory intent.

I flinched, a look of revulsion curling the corner of my mouth.

My reaction made his expression turn ferocious.

"That was your severance pay," I repeated, my voice shaking but loud enough for everyone to hear.

Caspian remained silent.

He reached out a massive hand, his grip clamping down on my forearm like an iron band, carefully avoiding the bleeding bandages.

He yanked me toward him, preparing to drag me out of the estate.

Just then, the man who had saved me marched right up to him and grabbed my other hand.

"Let her go, Caspian. She just demanded you break your oath in front of your entire syndicate."

Caspian stopped.

The lethal aura radiating from him was so thick it was suffocating.

"This is none of your business, Luca." He stared at Luca's hand on my skin, the muscles in his jaw ticking slightly.

Luca held his ground, leveraging his position as a partner.

"While you were busy saving someone else, I just pulled your wife off the bottom of the pool. You owe me."

Caspian's jaw worked.

He looked at Luca with dead, hollow eyes.

"The West Side Port operations are yours. Take it over, and stay out of my sight."

The remaining mobsters murmured in shock.

The Boss had just given up a massive, highly profitable territory just to buy Luca off and keep him away from me.

Caspian didn't wait for a reply.

He dragged me out of the estate, his unrelenting grip bruising my skin.

He shoved me into the backseat of his armored SUV. The ride was bumpy, the city lights blurring through the tinted glass in suffocating silence.

We didn't go to the penthouse.

Instead, he dragged me into a heavily guarded suite in a downtown hotel.

He pulled me straight into the massive marble bathroom.

"Get in," he ordered, pointing at the empty bathtub.

"Screw you!" I snarled.

"No."

He reached over and turned on the warm water.

Before I could escape, he grabbed me by the waist, hoisted me up effortlessly, and forced me into the filling tub, fully clothed.

He stepped in with me, his expensive shoes submerging in the rising water. The warm water soaked my ruined dress and splashed over my arms, sending an immediate, searing sting through the deep cuts on my wrists.

I gasped, the pain almost blinding.

He pressed my back against his chest, his thick arms wrapping tightly around me, locking me firmly in place.

His possessiveness flared like wild fire, heavy and dark, pressing down on me like a boulder.

He buried his face in my soaking wet hair.

"Sienna, thank God you're alive."

His voice was a deep, suppressed whisper in my ear.

Unable to break free from his embrace, I could only stare blankly at the marble wall ahead.

"Drop the act, Caspian."

I knew the truth.

He had saved his precious Mafia Princess first.

I figured this sudden show of intimacy was nothing more than a twisted sense of territoriality, triggered by another man touching his "property."