C-3

Gwen looked at her sister’s trembling form and then back at the man clinging to her arm like a giant possessive toddler and she realized that Kayla had already been thoroughly defeated by Lucian’s unfiltered mockery.

There was no point in staying to kick a woman who was already drowning in the laughter of her peers so Gwen decided to indulge the man who was currently burning holes into the backs of every guest with his glare.

"Fine we can leave Lucian" Gwen whispered as she smoothed back a stray lock of his hair and saw his eyes instantly light up with a childish triumph that made him look far younger than twenty-eight.

"But if we go home now you have to promise to stop pouting and behave yourself while the drivers are watching."

Lucian didn't even give her a chance to say goodbye to the hosts before he was dragging her toward the exit with a strength that belied his whining persona.

He stopped only once to look over his shoulder at Damian Lillard who had been watching from across the room with a look of longing and heartbreak.

Lucian curled his lip in a sneer and pulled Gwen’s hand up to his lips to kiss it right in front of his rival’s face.

"Don't even dream about it Lillard" Lucian barked across the marble foyer while he ignored the scandalized gasps of the socialites.

"She hates the color of your suit and your breath smells like disappointment so stay in your lane before I decide to pave over it."

Once they were inside the sanctuary of the blacked-out limousine Lucian didn't wait for the door to fully close before he pulled Gwen into his lap and buried his face in her chest with a deep and satisfied groan.

The childish bully from the ballroom was gone and in his place was the suffocatingly needy man who seemed to draw his very oxygen from her presence.

"They were all looking at you too much wife" he muttered into the silk of her gown while his hands traced the line of her waist with a feverish intensity.

"I hated every second of it and I hated that I had to share the air you breathe with those pathetic vultures. I should have just stayed home and watched you sleep instead of letting them see how beautiful you are." Gwen sighed and rested her head back against the leather seat as she felt the car pull away from the gala.

"You were the one who wanted to show me off Lucian" she reminded him while she ran her fingers through his hair to keep him calm.

"You wanted to show everyone that I was yours so you can't complain when they actually look at what you're bragging about."

Lucian looked up at her with eyes that were dark and swirling with an obsessive light that made her heart skip a beat.

"I changed my mind" he whispered as he caught her chin between his fingers and forced her to meet his gaze.

"I don't want to share. I want to build a wall around this villa and fire anyone who looks at you for more than a second. I want you to only see me and I want you to only need me baby."

Gwen knew that as a transmigrator this was the dangerous point of the plot where the golden cage became a reality but she wasn't the weak woman from the book anymore.

She leaned down and nipped at his lower lip until he let out a sharp intake of breath and then she whispered against his mouth with a smirk.

"If you lock me up then who will be there to tell you how handsome you are when you're being a brat to your rivals" she teased and she felt the tension in his body snap into a different kind of hunger.

Lucian’s response was to pull the partition shut and growl into her mouth as he kissed her with a desperation that told her he would never truly let her go.

He was her dog and he was her protector but he was also a monster that she had to keep on a very short leash if she wanted to survive the night.

The limousine sped through the dark city streets like a silent predator while inside the atmosphere was thick with the scent of Gwen’s perfume and Lucian’s unyielding obsession.

He had her pinned against the leather seat now and his hands were moving with a frantic energy as if he were trying to memorize every curve of her body through the expensive fabric of her gown.

He pulled back for a second just to stare at her with a look of pure worship while his chest heaved and his eyes remained fixed on her lips like a starving man.

"You are so beautiful it makes me want to scream wife" he murmured while he caught her hands and pinned them above her head against the seat.

"I watched you standing there under those chandeliers and I felt like my heart was being squeezed by a giant hand because I knew everyone else was thinking the same thing I was. I wanted to gouge their eyes out for even glancing at what belongs to me baby."

Gwen let out a soft and breathless laugh while she looked up at the man who was supposed to be the most ruthless CEO in the country but was currently acting like a possessive teenager.

She knew that in the original novel this was the part where the male lead would have become truly violent but she had shifted his darkness into this strange and clingy devotion that was much easier to handle.

"You really are a brat Lucian" she whispered while she used her free fingers to trace the line of his jaw.

"You spent the whole night making fun of Kayla’s face and Damian’s suit just to make me laugh and now you want to act like a villain in the back of a car."

Lucian’s eyes softened for a fraction of a second and he leaned down to press his forehead against hers while his voice dropped to a low and dangerous rumble.

"I will be whatever you want me to be as long as you stay mine" he promised while his grip on her wrists loosened into a gentle caress.

"I will be a clown for you and I will be a monster for them but if you ever look at Damian with anything but disgust I will make sure he never sees the sun again."

Gwen knew he wasn't joking and she knew that the transmigrated world she lived in followed the logic of a dark melodrama where his threats were very real.

She reached up and pulled him down for another kiss that was slow and deep and she felt him shudder against her as if her touch were a drug he couldn't get enough of.

"I don't care about Damian or anyone else Lucian" she said against his skin while the car finally pulled into the long and gated driveway of the Santori villa.

"I only care about the man who is currently blocking my exit from the car."

Lucian let out a dark and satisfied chuckle as the driver opened the door and he didn't even wait for Gwen to step out on her own before he scooped her up in his arms once again.

He carried her through the front doors and ignored the bowing servants while he headed straight for the grand staircase with a look of absolute determination in his eyes.

"The gala is over wife and now the rest of the night belongs to me" he growled as he kicked their bedroom door open and tossed her onto the massive silk covered bed.

"And tomorrow I am going to buy that hotel we were just at and tear it down so no other man can stand in the spot where you stood tonight."

Gwen rolled her eyes at his dramatic flair but as he crawled onto the bed after her she realized that her taming process was working perhaps a little too well.