Chapter 3 3

The penthouse was suffocatingly quiet.

Francesca sat at the vanity in the master bedroom, her shoulders slumped with exhaustion. She reached up, her fingers trembling slightly as she unclasped the heavy diamond earrings and dropped them onto the glass surface.

The bedroom door clicked open.

Emery walked in. He had loosened his silk tie, and the top two buttons of his shirt were undone. The faint, masculine scent of expensive cigars and aged bourbon drifted into the room.

He didn't head toward the bathroom. Instead, his heavy footsteps crossed the thick carpet, stopping directly behind her chair.

His large hands descended, resting heavily on her bare shoulders.

Even through the thin silk of her nightgown, Francesca could feel the scorching heat radiating from his palms. It burned her skin.

Emery leaned down. His hot, heavy breath brushed against the shell of her ear. His lips grazed her skin, a feather-light touch that sent a violent shudder down her spine.

Normally, she would close her eyes. She would lean back into his chest and accept whatever scraps of affection he was willing to give.

Not tonight.

The image of his soft, gentle eyes looking at Catalina flashed behind her eyelids.

Francesca jerked forward, her chair scraping harshly against the floor. She dodged his kiss entirely.

Emery's hands hung in the empty air.

In the reflection of the vanity mirror, Francesca saw his dark eyes narrow. A flash of genuine shock crossed his features, quickly replaced by a dark, brewing storm of displeasure.

His jaw clenched tight. He adjusted his right cuff, a telltale sign of his rising agitation.

"What is wrong with you?" he demanded, his voice dropping into that low, authoritative register he used to command boardrooms.

Francesca stood up. She turned around, forcing herself to meet his furious gaze.

"I'm tired, Emery," she said, her voice flat and hard. "I want to sleep."

Emery took a step forward, closing the distance between them. He reached out and grabbed her wrist, his fingers wrapping around the delicate bones.

"A shower will wake you up," he coaxed, pulling her toward his chest. His tone left no room for negotiation. It was a demand.

Francesca planted her feet. She yanked her arm back with all her strength.

Her wrist broke free, the friction leaving a bright red mark on her pale skin.

She took a large step backward, putting the vanity stool between them. "I said no. I don't want this tonight."

The temperature in the bedroom plummeted.

Emery's jaw was locked so tight a muscle ticked in his cheek. He stared down at her, his chest rising and falling rapidly. Beneath the anger, there was a frantic, chaotic energy in his eyes-the raw panic of a man watching something precious slip through his fingers.

He let out a harsh, mocking laugh.

"Have you spent so much time in that damn lab that you've forgotten your basic duties as a wife?" he sneered.

The words hit her like a physical punch to the gut.

She had given up a fellowship with a Nobel laureate for this marriage. She had sacrificed her prime research years to play the perfect Kirkland wife, and he dared to reduce her to a duty.

Francesca's teeth ground together. "If you just need a machine to fulfill a duty, go find someone else."

She didn't stop there. The pain pushed her over the edge.

"Go find the woman you couldn't take your eyes off tonight. The one you treat like fragile glass while you treat me like garbage."

Emery's pupils dilated instantly. The color drained from his face, leaving him looking almost sickly under the bedroom lights.

He lunged forward.

Francesca stumbled backward until her hips hit the hard edge of the vanity table. There was nowhere left to run.

Emery slammed both hands onto the table, trapping her between his arms. His face was inches from hers, his breath hot and ragged against her skin.

"Do not bring Catalina into this," he hissed, his voice trembling with a rage so intense it felt like a physical weight pressing down on her. "She is Hudson's fiancée. Stop acting like a paranoid, jealous child."

Francesca stared into his furious eyes. He was so desperate to defend her. He was so terrified of his secret being exposed.

The fight drained out of Francesca, leaving only a hollow, echoing void.

She turned her head away, refusing to look at him anymore.

"Get out," she whispered. Her voice wasn't angry. It was completely, terrifyingly dead. "Please, just get out."

Emery stared at her rigid profile. His chest heaved as he dragged in a ragged breath.

He pushed off the table violently.

He spun around and kicked the velvet vanity stool with his leather dress shoe. The heavy stool flew across the room, crashing into the wall.

Emery stormed out of the bedroom.

The heavy oak door slammed shut with a deafening crack that rattled the picture frames.

Francesca stood alone in the dead silence of the room, her hands gripping the edge of the table as she finally let the tears fall.