Chapter 7

Catherine did not move toward the kitchen. She stared at Cassandra's pointing finger.

"I would," Catherine said. Her voice was still thick with that nasal country twang, yet her delivery was razor-sharp and unyielding. "But I am afraid the heat of the coffee might further activate the cheap, synthetic base notes of your perfume. Smells exactly like the discount air freshener in my uncle's rusted pickup truck. Gives me a terrible headache."

Cassandra's jaw dropped.

Catherine took a slow step forward, her eyes locked on the socialite. "You are wearing a discontinued batch. The top notes of bergamot have already oxidized, leaving only the chemical binder. It smells exactly like a discount taxi air freshener."

Cassandra's face flushed a violent, ugly red. Her pride was shredded in front of the entire staff.

"You trailer-trash bitch!" Cassandra shrieked. She raised her hand high, aiming a vicious slap right at Catherine's face.

Catherine's eyes flashed. She raised her left arm in a lazy, sweeping block. As Cassandra's arm came down, Catherine's knuckles struck the exact ulnar nerve cluster on Cassandra's forearm.

Cassandra screamed. Her entire arm went instantly numb. She lost her balance on her stilettos and crashed hard onto the expensive Persian rug.

Arjun's hand paused in mid-air, his coffee cup hovering near his lips. His head turned sharply toward the sound of the heavy thud.

Cassandra clutched her dead arm, tears streaming down her face. "Arjun! She assaulted me! Throw this animal out!"

Arjun slowly lowered his cup to the saucer. A dark, cruel smirk played on his lips.

"Since my wife finds your scent offensive," Arjun said, his voice dropping to a freezing register, "you can leave my house. Now."

Cassandra gasped, humiliated and horrified. She scrambled off the floor and ran for the elevator, sobbing.

The heavy doors slammed shut. The living room fell into a dead, terrified silence.

Catherine immediately dropped her shoulders. She hunched her back and looked at the floor, waiting to be dismissed.

"That was quite the bold observation for a country girl," Arjun said. His voice cut through the silence like a blade.

Catherine's heart skipped a beat. She pinched her throat. "I-I watch a lot of perfume commercials on the TV, sir," she stammered in her country drawl. "I just repeated what the lady on the show said."

Arjun let out a low scoff. He didn't believe her, but he didn't care enough to press it.

"Push my chair," Arjun commanded. "Take me to the greenhouse. I need to get that cheap floral stench out of my lungs."

Catherine walked behind him. She gripped the cold metal handles of the wheelchair and pushed him down the hall into the massive, glass-enclosed botanical conservatory on the roof.

The humid, heavy air of the greenhouse wrapped around them.

"Stop," Arjun ordered.

Catherine stopped the chair. Before she could step back, Arjun reached back and grabbed her wrist. His grip was punishing.

"Do not think that because you chased away an idiot, you have any power here," Arjun whispered. "This marriage is a piece of paper. Cross my boundaries, and I will break you."

Catherine stared down at his knuckles. "If I am so useless," she asked quietly, "why didn't you throw me out with her?"

Arjun's jaw clenched. He didn't know the answer. He didn't know why the faint smell of her skin made his chest tight.

He shoved her arm away violently. "Because you are too stupid to be a threat."

Before Catherine could reply, the glass doors of the greenhouse burst open. Arthur ran in, his usual calm completely shattered.

"Sir," Arthur gasped. "The Nexus Dynamics medical database. We are under a massive cyber attack. The firewalls are failing."