Chapter 3

Eleanor’s POV

I opened the door with the most disgusted sneer I could muster, blocking River from coming in with my arm.

I sighed tiredly, trying to convey all the hatred that belonged to him crawling under my skin.

“What do you want, River?” I asked coldly.

“I’m here to apologize, Eleanor.” he said pitifully. “I never wanted to hurt you. Don’t end what we have over one drunken mistake.”

“I don’t care what you have to say.” I answered. “We’re over.”

“But uh what about your inheritance?” He said, scrambling for something to say. “Yeah! Your inheritance! Our engagement dinner is tonight, you have to know that cancelling it now will make us the laughing stock of the mafia world.”

I rolled my eyes, refusing to listen to the whole ‘I’m the solution to all your problems and you can’t do anything by yourself since you’re a woman’ routine he had been trying to get me to accept. He wasn’t worth my time or attention, he didn’t deserve it.

“Get this through your thick skull, River.” I said. “We are not together anymore. We are over.”

“Please, you have to forgive me!” He begged. “Is this about what I said yesterday? None of that was true, I-I was just angry! I didn’t mean—“

I glared at him threateningly, challenging him to pursue that conversation further.

I noticed there was a bruise where I had punched the night before and highly considered giving him a much worse one with my knee—one that would hurt much more and would crumple any man to his knees. If this situation were less complicated to get out of, I’d probably do much more than consider it.

He threw his hands up in surrender.

“Oh, come on!” He said. “You already punched me yesterday to vent it out!”

Seeing that he wasn’t getting anywhere with me, he leaned against my door and tried to give me his most charming smile.

In the past, that smile had been used to defend himself for not sticking up for me, for making a joke at my expense, and for anything else he had done to make me angry. Normally, that smile made me want to forgive him and try to move past everything. In that moment, however, it made me feel nauseous to think I ever had feelings for someone so manipulative and careless.

“Can’t we just…” he said softly, pausing as he put his hand on my shoulder , “start over?”

I grabbed his hand and immediately pulled it off me, he was lucky I didn’t break it or crush his fingers.

“No, River.” I practically growled. “We can’t start over. Why? Because I will never in a billion years forgive you. So, just leave me alone. Even better, just leave—immediately. I don’t want you and I don’t want you here.”

River grabbed my hand and tried to rub comforting circles into it with his thumb, likely trying to do anything he could think of to manipulate me into listening to him. It didn’t matter what he said or did, I wanted nothing to do with him.

“Eleanor, I really truly care about you.” He said. “I can’t stand the thought of losing you, especially right before our engagement. I don’t want to lose you and you know you need me to get what you want.”

Growing impatient and angry, I yanked my hand away and turned to shut the door—causing my shirt to fall slightly and reveal the hickey on my collarbone.

His eyes followed my shirt before I could cover it and his expression immediately changed to one of anger. He slammed his hand on the door to stop it from being closed.

“What did you do last night, huh?” He said. “Did you cheat on me?”

Before I could respond, he forced the door open and pushed into the room. His eyes swept my apartment suspiciously—the messy bed, the overly large shirt I was wearing, the used condom in the trash bin, the multiple purple hickeys on my skin. His face twisted with rage as he no doubt put every single piece of the puzzle together.

“So this is what you did?” He shouted at me with an accusing glare. “Couldn’t even wait a day before finding another man like a common whore?”

I met his glare with a challenge, anger bubbling inside me at the audacity he had for insulting me. When he didn’t even slightly back down or attempt to take it back, I wanted to make him hurt where I knew it would hit him the hardest.

“That’s right.” I said smugly. “And he’s better than you in every way— not just better looking, better equipment, and better in bed too! A hundred thousand times better! The best sex I’ve ever had! He knew how to actually satisfy a woman!”

Seeing his hands ball into fists, I could see that my words definitely struck a nerve hard. He shoved me back aggressively, practically snarling at me. He grabbed my face and kissed me but I pushed him off in disgust. He grabbed my hands and forced me back until I was back on my bed with him on top of me.

“Get off of me, you pig!” I yelled, trying to get out of his grip.

“No!” He yelled back. “I’m gonna make you realize how wrong you are! How lucky you are to have me! How good I am!”

I struggled against him, fighting to get out of his grip. One of his hands left my wrist to unbuckle his pants. I took advantage of the opportunity and punched at him with my free hand using every bit of strength I had.

My fist connected with his nose, sending blood splattering everywhere over my bed. I shoved him off me and tried to get up and get to the drawer that I had for emergencies—it had a gun, knives, pepper spray, anything a woman should have to defend herself in a man’s world.

I had never thought I’d be using them against River, or that I’d be using them at all, but I knew when weapons were necessary.

I may have trained in combat my whole life and was incredibly capable of defending myself, but River wasn’t exactly helpless. I was unarmed and vulnerable, and River was a large enraged mafia man. That meant I was outmatched and needed to arm myself in order to give myself an upperhand. If I wanted to stop this, I had one chance and one chance only.

Before I could even completely get off the bed, he regrabbed my wrist and overpowered me. He slapped me across the face to stop me from struggling and pinned me back to the bed—his legs holding mine down and one of his hands holding my wrists.

I struggled with everything I had, not wanting to look weak or helpless. Even if I couldn’t stop him or beat him, I would never give him the satisfaction of giving in. I would fight him with claws and teeth and everything I could.

Just as he grabbed my chin and was about to force another kiss on me, the bathroom door burst open with a crash.

The man from last night stepped out and swiftly kicked River off me hard, sending him crashing off the bed like a rocket.