C-4

The morning sun filtered through the heavy silk curtains of the master suite but Gwen was not allowed to see it because Lucian had spent the last hour burrowing his face into her neck and wrapping his limbs around her like a giant vine.

Every time she tried to shift or reach for her phone to check the morning business news he would let out a low and disgruntled moan and pull her back against his chest with a strength that was impossible to fight.

"Stay still baby" he grumbled with a voice that was thick with sleep but still carried that edge of possessive authority.

"The world doesn't need you today and the company can rot for all I care as long as you are right here where I can feel your heart beating against mine."

"Lucian you have a board meeting at ten and I have a reputation to build" Gwen said while she tried to pry his iron-like arm from her waist but he only responded by nipping at her shoulder and tightening his hold until she was pinned beneath him.

"If the most powerful CEO in the city is late because he was cuddling his wife the shareholders will think you have finally lost your mind."

Lucian lifted his head and looked at her with messy hair and eyes that were glowing with a terrifyingly sweet madness.

"I lost my mind the second you stopped being afraid of me wife" he countered as he began to pepper her face with lazy and possessive kisses.

"And if they want a meeting they can come here and sit on the lawn while I talk to them through the window because I am not letting you out of this bed until I am satisfied that you aren't going to vanish into thin air."

Gwen was about to argue when her phone on the nightstand began to buzz incessantly with notifications that sounded like a digital alarm.

She managed to snag the device and her blood went cold when she saw a message from an unknown number containing a grainy and edited photo of the original Gwen and Damian Lillard in what looked like a scandalous embrace in a hotel hallway.

She knew instantly that this was Kayla’s desperate attempt at revenge but she also knew that if Lucian saw this his fragile sanity would snap and he would likely burn down the city.

Before she could hide the screen Lucian snatched the phone from her hand with a speed that made her gasp and his face transformed from a playful lover into a cold and lethal shadow.

The air in the room seemed to freeze as Lucian stared at the photo and his grip on the phone was so tight that the glass began to spiderweb under his thumb.

He didn't scream or throw a fit and instead he became eerily quiet which Gwen knew was the most dangerous version of him.

"Is this why you wanted to go to the office baby" he asked in a voice that was a hollow and terrifying whisper. "Was he waiting for you in the shadows while I was busy planning our future."

"Lucian look at the lighting and the height of the shadows" Gwen said as she grabbed his face and forced him to look at her instead of the fake image.

"It is a cheap edit made by a jealous woman who wants to see you destroy me. If you believe this then Kayla wins and she gets to watch you lock me away in a dark room just like she planned."

Lucian’s eyes flickered between the phone and Gwen’s steady gaze and he let out a jagged breath as his possessive instincts fought against the trust she was trying to build.

He suddenly threw the phone across the room where it shattered against the marble fireplace and he lunged forward to bury his face in her lap while he gripped her thighs so hard it would surely leave marks.

"I know it is a lie but I still want to kill him for even being in a fake photo with you" he choked out while his body trembled with a mixture of rage and insecurity.

"I am going to destroy the Vergara family name by noon and I am going to make sure your sister is begging for scraps on the street for even thinking she could touch what is mine."

Gwen ran her fingers through his hair and realized that the face-slapping was no longer just about social humiliation because Lucian was ready to start a corporate war to protect her.

Gwen felt the heat of his anger radiating through his skin and she knew that if she stayed home while he went on a rampage he would only spiral further into his dark thoughts.

She leaned down and kissed the top of his head while she continued to stroke his hair until his breathing started to even out and the frantic tension in his shoulders began to dissipate just a little bit.

"I am going with you baby" she said with a tone that left no room for his usual protests or his clingy excuses.

"If you are going to destroy my family name then I want to be the one who signs the documents and I want Kayla to see that her pathetic little photo didn't just fail to break us but it actually gave me the power to ruin her life."

Lucian looked up at her with a dark and wicked grin spreading across his face and he looked like a child who had just been told he could have all the candy in the store.

He sat up and pulled her into his lap while he began to messily kiss her neck and her jaw as if he were trying to erase the very memory of the photo with his own touch.

"That is my wife" he whispered against her ear while his hands moved with a renewed and feverish energy.

"I will have my assistant bring the car around and I will have a desk moved into my office so you never have to be more than an arm's length away from me while we watch your sister burn."

An hour later the two of them stepped into the lobby of the Santori headquarters and the atmosphere was even more suffocating than usual as the employees watched their boss walk in while practically carrying his wife.

Lucian didn't care about the stares and he actually went out of his way to mock the security guards for not bowing low enough to Gwen as they passed through the gold plated elevators.

When they reached the top floor Lucian’s assistant was already waiting with a stack of files and a look of pure terror because he had already seen the orders for the hostile takeover of the Vergara family’s holdings.

Lucian sat down in his massive leather chair and immediately pulled Gwen onto his lap while he ignored the confused looks of the lawyers who were already gathered in the room.

"Why are you all looking at my wife like you have never seen a woman before" Lucian barked as he leaned his head against Gwen’s shoulder and began to play with the buttons on her silk blouse.

"Focus on the papers and tell me how long it will take to make sure Kayla Vergara doesn't have enough money to buy a coffee by the time the sun sets."

"Sir the process has already begun but Mr. Damian Lillard has just called an emergency press conference to defend Mrs. Santori’s honor" the assistant stammered as he held out a tablet showing a live feed of the rival CEO.

Lucian’s playful mood vanished in an instant and he let out a low and terrifying growl as he watched Damian on the screen acting like a white knight for a woman who was already claimed.

"He is trying to play the hero again" Lucian hissed as he grabbed a pen and snapped it in half with his bare hand.

"He wants the world to think he is the one protecting you while I am the one holding the sword."

Gwen felt his grip on her waist tighten to the point of pain and she realized that Damian’s rescue was actually the worst thing he could have done for her safety.