YOU CAN DO THIS WILLINGLY AND MAKE ME HAPPY FOR ONCE IN TWO YEARS

Chapter 4

Elowen

Adrian smiled. "You heard me, Elowen, this is my birthday wish, for you to let Matteo and Kian give you the pleasure and attention you've been denied, to let yourself feel wanted again, isn't that what you've been craving?"

I couldn't breathe, couldn't process what he was saying.

"No." Kian's voice cut through the silence and confusion like a blade, flat and absolute. "Absolutely not, this is insane, Adrian, you can't possibly expect..."

"I don't expect anything from you," Adrian interrupted smoothly, his tone almost pleasant. "I'm simply making a request, offering an opportunity that I think would benefit everyone involved."

"Benefit?" Matteo was on his feet now, his usual easy charm completely gone and something darker taking its place, something that made his accent thicker and his words sharp.

"You think offering your wife like she's some kind of gift is beneficial, sei pazzo, you've lost your mind..."

"Have I?" Adrian's smile never wavered. "Or am I the only one being honest about what we all see, what we all know, that she's wasting away in a marriage that stopped working two years ago." My breath hitched at his words.

"That doesn't give you the right to..." Kian started, but Adrian talked over him.

"I have every right, she's my wife, and this is what I want for my birthday, and I think if you're both honest with yourselves, you want it too, you've wanted it for years."

I couldn't listen anymore, couldn't sit there while they discussed me like I wasn't even present, like my feelings and wants didn't matter at all.

I stood so abruptly that Matteo's jacket slipped from my shoulders and Kian's wine glass tipped over, red spreading across the white tablecloth like blood.

"No," I said, my voice shaking but audible. "No, I won't, I can't, this is sick, Adrian, this is wrong and cruel and I won't do it."

His expression shifted just slightly, something dangerous flickering behind his eyes. "Elowen..."

But I was already moving, backing away from the table on legs that felt like they might give out at any moment, and then I was running, my heels clicking against the stone terrace as I fled toward the villa, toward anywhere that wasn't there bearing witness to my complete humiliation.

I made it through the arched doorway and into the cool interior before the tears started, hot and angry and scared all at once.

I pressed my hand against my mouth to hold back the sob that wanted to escape because I couldn't fall apart, not here, not now, not where they could all see me break.

"Elowen, wait!" Adrian's voice echoed behind me.

I heard the whir of his wheelchair, the sound of him following. How did he get to me so fast?

I wanted to keep running but my legs were shaking too badly and the villa was unfamiliar and I didn't know where to go.

I ended up in the main living room, backing against the far wall while Adrian wheeled through the doorway, his expression calm and controlled in a way that terrified me more than anger would have.

"Don't run from me," he said quietly. "We need to discuss this."

"There's nothing to discuss," I said, my voice breaking. "What you're asking is impossible, it's degrading and wrong and I won't do it, I can't do it."

"You can," Adrian said, wheeling closer. "And you will, because you owe me, Elowen, you owe me for everything you took from me that night, for every dream you destroyed when you made me so angry I couldn't see straight."

"I didn't make you do anything," I whispered, but the words came out weak because I'd said them so many times but he'd never believed them and part of me had stopped believing them too.

"Didn't you?" He was right in front of me now, close enough that I had nowhere to go, trapped between him and the wall.

"You pushed and pushed until I snapped, and now you get to live with the consequences just like I do. Except your consequences are guilt and mine are this chair, so tell me, Elowen, who really got the worse end of that bargain?"

"Adrian, please..."

"This is all I'm asking," he said, and his voice dropped into something softer, more vulnerable, the tone he used when he wanted something and knew cruelty wouldn't work.

"Two weeks, just two weeks of letting them make you happy, letting yourself feel something other than guilt and obligation, is that really so terrible, is that really too much to give me when I've already lost everything else?"

"I don't have a say in this," I said desperately. "They've already refused, you heard them, they don't want..."

"They want," Adrian interrupted firmly. "They've wanted you for years, I've seen it in the way they look at you, the way they find excuses to touch you or be near you. Every man wants you Elowen, don't you look at the mirror.

But they won't take what they want because they're good men who respect boundaries, except if you tell them you agree.

If you make it clear that this is what you want too, then there are no boundaries to respect, then they're just giving a woman what she's asking for."

My stomach dropped as I understood what he was saying. "No, I can't, I can't go back out there and..."

"You can and you will," Adrian said, and now the softness was gone and his voice was steel.

"You'll go back out to that terrace and you'll tell them that you agree to my request, that you want this, and then they won't be able to refuse because refusing would be denying you something you've asked for, and they'd never do that, they care about you too much."

"They'll hate me," I whispered.

"Maybe," Adrian agreed. "Or maybe they'll finally get what they've been circling around for years, either way, Elowen, you're going to do this because if you don't, if you refuse me this one thing after everything.

I swear I'll make sure you regret it, I'll make sure everyone knows what a selfish, heartless woman you really are, I'll tell them all how you destroyed me and then couldn't even grant me one final wish."

"You're manipulating me," I said, tears streaming down my face now.

"I'm giving you a choice," Adrian corrected. "You can do this willingly and make me happy for once in two years, or you can refuse and live with the consequences of that decision, but either way, Elowen, you're not walking away from this conversation until you agree."

I closed my eyes because I couldn't look at him anymore, couldn't see the man I'd loved twisted into this creature who would use my guilt and my fear against me like weapons.