Chapter 4

4

SCARLET

I curled up on the couch, flipping through movies on the massive TV. Julian sat beside me, his arm draped casually over the back of the couch. Kenny purred contentedly in my lap, kneading my thigh with his paws.

"Anything catch your eye?" Julian asked, his fingers absently playing with a strand of my hair. This new side of him was welcome, and the tender touches, it was pleasant. I couldn't help nestling into him more, enjoying his comfort.

I shrugged. "Not really. I've seen most of these."

"Right." He paused in his teasing of my hair before he reached for something on the side table. "Maybe this'll keep you entertained instead, keep your mind occupied."

I blinked in surprise as he handed me a sleek handheld gaming console. "For me?"

"Thought you might like it. There's a bunch of games already loaded on there."

A smile tugged at my lips as I turned the device over in my hands. It was a thoughtful gesture, and I found myself oddly touched by it.

"There's a few games we can play together," he added as he reached for his own device while mine booted it up.

We settled into a comfortable silence, the TV droning in the background as I explored the games on my new console. Time slipped away, and I lost myself in the virtual worlds playing with Julian until the sound of the front door opening jolted me back to reality.

Cristian strode into the room, his presence immediately filling the space. His eyes locked onto mine, a storm of emotions swirling in their depths.

"I need to speak with Scarlet," he said, his voice low and intense. "Alone."

Julian's body tensed beside me. He glanced my way, a silent question in his eyes. The exchange didn't go unnoticed by Cristian, whose jaw clenched in frustration.

I swallowed hard and gave Julian a small nod. He hesitated for a moment before rising from the couch and heading upstairs, Kenny bounding up alongside him.

Cristian took Julian's place on the sofa, his knee brushing against mine. He stared hard at me as my heart thrummed, the anger rising forth once more, the rage and fury I felt refusing to mellow out. How could he just sit there looking at me like that? His face was steeled, his jaw tight as he studied me, his brow pinched. He reached for my hand, and my heart skipped a beat as his fingers wrapped around my wrist, my skin prickling at his touch. I wanted to yank my hand away, but I just watched him instead, my curiosity winning out. He turned my hand and inspected the engagement ring that still adorned my finger, his frown deepening.

"You don't need this anymore," he murmured, sliding the ring off my finger. I tried to curl it and pull away, but his grip tightened as he yanked it off harshly, those dark eyes snapping to mine with a flicker of something in their depths. "You can trust some people now."

I yanked my hand away, a bitter laugh escaping my lips. "Trust? You've got to be fucking kidding me. There's not a chance in hell I'd ever be able to trust you after what you did."

Cristian's brow furrowed. "Kitten, I know you're upset, but if you'd just let me explain-"

"Explain?" The word came out as a snarl. "Explain how you violated me? How you took away my choice?"

"I did it for us," he insisted, reaching for me again. "For our future."

I exploded, leaping to my feet. "Our future? You mean the future where I'm just a fucking incubator for your twisted family? Where I have no say in what happens to my own body? Where you take what you want, make me bleed, treat me like a fucking sex doll?!"

Cristian stood, his eyes narrowing as his jaw stiffened. "Kitten-"

"Don't you dare 'kitten' me," I spat. "You had no right. No fucking right to do what you did. Do you have any idea how violated I feel? How betrayed?"

My chest heaved as I glared at him, tears of rage burning in my eyes. "I trusted you, Cristian. Despite everything, despite knowing what you are, I let myself start to trust you. And you shattered that trust like it meant nothing to you."

I trembled with fury, my hands clenched into fists at my sides. Cristian reached out, catching my wrists in his strong grip. His touch made my skin crawl, the hair standing on end as those dark eyes bored into mine.

"Scarlet, please," he pleaded, his voice low and urgent, catching me off-guard with the slight vulnerability. "Let me explain. I only want what's best for us."

"Us?" I spat the word like poison. "There is no us, Cristian. You made damn sure of that when you did what you did."

His grip tightened, and I could see the desperation in his eyes. "Kitten, I love you. Everything I've done, I've done for you - for our future."

"Love, what the hell do you know about love?!"

Something inside me snapped. With a strength I didn't know I possessed, I wrenched one hand free and slapped him hard across the face. The crack echoed through the room, and Cristian's head snapped to the side.

"Fuck you," I snarled, my voice dripping with venom. "I hate you, Cristian. I fucking hate you."

His eyes widened, a mixture of shock and hurt flashing across his face. But I was far from done.

"Whatever we had, whatever we could have been - it's gone. You burned it to the ground the moment you decided to play God with my body." I yanked my other hand free, taking a step back. "I can never trust you again. I don't want anything to do with you. Hell, I never want to see your face again."

For a moment, Cristian stood frozen, his cheek reddening where I'd struck him. Then, something dark and dangerous flashed in his eyes. In an instant, he closed the distance between us, his hands gripping my upper arms as he pulled me flush against his chest.

"You're mine, Scarlet," he growled, his face inches from mine, my breath catching in my throat. "There's no one else for me, and there never will be. Don't you understand? There's nothing I wouldn't do for you."

I struggled against his hold, but he was immovable, his grip like a vice, bruising my arms.

"Let go of me, you psycho!"

"No," he hissed, his fingers digging into my skin. "I won't let you go. I can't. You're everything to me, kitten. Everything."

I struggled against Cristian's iron grip, my heart pounding in my chest. His eyes burned with an intensity that sent a chill down my spine.

"Let me go!" I snarled, twisting and thrashing, but it was futile, whatever anger or hatred he felt right now, it was hardening him like stone.

In a blur of movement, Cristian shoved me backward. I stumbled, the back of my knees hitting the couch. Before I could regain my balance, he was on me, pinning me to the cushions with his body weight.

"Stop fighting this, kitten," he growled, his face inches from mine. "We both deserve this. A family, a future." There was a strange desperation to his tone as he said that, his eyes flickering.

I bucked beneath him in an attempt to throw him off, but he was too strong. "You're insane!"

His hand cupped my cheek, the gentleness of the gesture at odds with the fire in his eyes. "I'll treat this child right, Scarlet. I'll make sure they have a perfect life. My brothers will help with that."

A bitter laugh escaped my lips. "You? A father? You're fucked in the head, Cristian."

His grip on my face tightened, just shy of painful. "I may be fucked up, but I'd never bring harm to you or our child. Never."

"Our child?" I spat the words like venom. "We don't even know if I'm pregnant. And if I am, it might not even be yours."

Something dark flashed in Cristian's eyes, but his voice remained eerily calm. "That doesn't matter. It'll still be my blood in a way. My brothers', too."

I stared up at him, a mix of disgust and disbelief churning in my gut. "You're delusional. This isn't love, Cristian. It's obsession."

His fingers trailed down my neck, sending an involuntary shiver through me. "Call it what you want, kitten. But you're mine, and I'm not letting you go."

"You're harming me all the time," I hissed, my heart hammering wildly.

"True harm, my love. A little bit of pain with pleasure is something I will bring you, but I'll never endanger you, have death an actual possibility," he vowed.

I couldn't breathe. Cristian's body pressed down on me, his breath hot against my skin. My struggles were pointless, his grip unyielding. I ground my teeth, hating how he spoke words of possession and promises of a skewed version of love and family. He didn't understand any of it, not truly.

"Please, don't do this," I begged, my voice breaking. But my pleas fell on deaf ears as his hands worked his belt free.

"Call for Julian, and I'll make it worse for you, kitten. This is what's supposed to be. I promise you, this is right," he whispered as his teeth grazed my neck, dancing over my quickening pulse.

I knew there was no escape, and I didn't want to risk him hurting Julian. Would he hurt his own brother if I called for him? I was trapped beneath the weight of his body, his desire, and his twisted obsession. My heart pounded in my chest, a frantic drumbeat echoing the futility of my resistance.

His hands roamed over my body, touching, taking, with no regard for my consent or my tears. I turned my head away, squeezing my eyes shut as if I could block out the reality of what was happening. But there was no denying it, no running from the harsh, undeniable truth.

Cristian was going to rape me, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

His fingers curled into the band of my shorts and underwear, tugging it all down in one quick yank.

"Cristian, don't." I tried one final time to get him to stop, but he ignored me as he buried his length inside of me, the pain sharp and immediate. My body tensed, my nails digging into the fabric of the couch as I fought to distance myself from the violation. But he was relentless, driving into me with a ferocity that left me raw and breathless.

I lay there, tears streaming down my face, praying Julian would come down and stop this, my gaze focused on the staircase. Maybe even Tyrone would come home and end this for me, banish Cristian for this.

With each thrust, I felt a piece of myself crumbling away, leaving behind nothing but a hollow shell. He didn't care of the risk this was, that if I wasn't pregnant, then this could alter that. no, it would be what he wanted. I was just a body to him right now. An end to a means.

"Cristian-"

His hand wrapped around my throat, my words dying under his grip as those dark eyes held mine.

"You are mine, kitten. Forever and always. We're going to have a family, and we will all be one big family. It's going to be perfect," he ground out the last part with a deep thrust that made me suck in whatever air I could get in.

I wanted to scream at him that he was fucked, that this was so wrong on so many levels, but there was something in those dark depths, a desperation, that made my brow furrow.

He was scared.

It was a startling realization, but he shook his head, as if he sensed I'd seen the truth, and those eyes became masked as his lips twisted into a snarl.

He drove into me, my body rocking on the couch as I trembled, my body unwilling beneath his.

And then, it was over. Cristian shuddered above me, his body going rigid as he found his release. He spilled inside me, filling me and claiming me as his, proving the power he held over me. Another tear streaked down my cheek as the numbness washed over me.

He bowed down, resting his forehead on mine.

"Scarlet, beautiful Scarlet," he murmured, almost to himself as I closed my eyes, wishing he'd stop this yo-yoing. Right now, it was like he was someone I didn't know. Not the man I'd thought I'd come to have an odd connection with. This man was a goddamn monster.

For a moment, he stayed there, his forehead resting against mine. I could feel the rapid rise and fall of his chest, the warmth of his breath mingling with my own, and my emotions and thoughts were a chaotic mess right now. I had no idea what he was thinking.

"You belong with us now, Scarlet," he said, his voice low and raspy. "This is where you're meant to be."

Slowly, he pulled out of me and shifted his body so that he was sitting on the couch. Before I could move away, he reached out and pulled me into his lap, cradling me against his chest like a precious treasure.

I was numb, my mind a whirlwind of shock and disbelief. I sat there, stiff and broken, as he stroked my hair and whispered soothing words in my ear.

"Everything will be okay, kitten," he said, his tone almost gentle. "I'll protect you. I'll die for you if I have to. You'll be loved in a way no other man could ever love you."

His words struck deep, because I knew they were true, he'd kill for me, or die. And not just that, in that moment, I realized he was right about one thing. No other man could love me the way Cristian did—because his version of love was tainted by possession and control.

I thought of his brothers, of Julian's welcome sweetness and Tyrone's fierce protectiveness. They were all a part of this, whether they admitted it or not. They were all complicit in my captivity, in the stripping away of my freedom and my choices.

And as Cristian held me close, his hand stroking my back in slow, rhythmic circles, I prayed this whole pregnancy thing didn't happen. Why was my mind so broken that I'd want to keep it? After what he'd just done, how he'd been to me? I hated how he was toying with my emotions, being two people, one so normal, and then this feral, monstrous side.

I closed my eyes, a fresh wave of tears threatening to spill over. I was trapped in a gilded cage, surrounded by men who saw me as nothing more than a prize to be won, a treasure to be coveted.

Despite how Julian and Tyrone treated me and spoke to me, I felt like they were the same in their thoughts towards me. They'd said I was more to them now, not just their captive, but how could that be possible? They'd allowed Cristian to hurt me so much, looking the other way, accepting this twisted side of him.

"My precious little kitten. I won't let anything happen to you," Cristian said as he kissed my temple, and my stomach dropped.

I was stuck in this mess now, and I doubted Tyrone and Julian could help me.

Hell, what if they just looked the other way yet again?