Chapter 2

I froze, slowly turning my head. Edmund, dressed in a black, tailor-made suit, was standing right there, his presence chilling the air.

His gray eyes were locked on my hand, still on the bartender's chin.

"Chloe, I just remembered my mom's waiting for me. I gotta go!" My friend's face went white. She grabbed her purse and practically sprinted out of there.

Edmund stepped closer, his gaze shifting from my hand to the young bartender.

"Get out."

The bartender practically scrambled away. The other patrons sensed the danger and cleared out, leaving our section of the club completely empty.

Edmund closed the distance, his long fingers wrapping around my wrist like a vice.

"Tell me what you were just doing."

I yanked my hand away, glaring back at him. "What I do is none of your business."

Before I could even react, he moved. One second I was standing my ground, the next I was thrown over his shoulder. I beat on his back and screamed at him, but he ignored me and strode out of the club.

"Let me down! You're insane!" I pounded his back with my fists, but his muscles were hard as rock.

"Edmund Schroder! Put me down!"

He didn't listen. He shoved me into his car, got in beside me, and locked the doors, trapping me in the small space.

"And here I was this afternoon, thinking you'd finally learned to behave. Guess it was all an act."

"Have you forgotten the Schroder family rules?" He turned to face me, his voice tight with fury. "The Don's wife is forbidden from setting foot in bars or casinos."

Memories from my past life flooded back—endless days and nights shackled by those rules, the suffocating despair of fighting back only to be crushed again and again.

"And," his eyes swept over my tight, red slip dress with disgust, "you are forbidden from wearing inappropriate clothing. When you get home, you will write the family rules one hundred times."

"Enough!" I finally snapped, my voice shrill. "Stop trying to cage me with your rules! I'm not marrying you!"

The air in the car went still.

Edmund's face hardened, the chill in his eyes deepening.

"What did you just say?"

I realized I'd said too much. If he found out my plan now, my escape in three days would be impossible.

"I... I was just angry," I forced myself to calm down, looking away. "You're always so controlling. Of course I'd get upset."

He stared at me for a long time, so long I thought he'd seen through my lie.

"It better have been," he finally said, his voice still ice. "Or you know the consequences."

The car stopped in front of my villa. Edmund took off his suit jacket and draped it over my shoulders. It smelled of his cold, sharp cologne.

"Throw these revealing dresses away," he commanded. "And don't forget to start on the rules tomorrow."

I gritted my teeth, got out of the car, and watched his black Cadillac disappear into the night. Old anger and new hatred boiled up inside me. I ripped his jacket off and threw it into a nearby trash can.

"You stuffy, old-fashioned bastard. Just three more days. I can handle three more days."