All Chapters of It Kills Me: A Forbidden Dark Romance: Chapter 231 - Chapter 240

I remained on the floor, in pain and shock.Bolton didn’t help me up.I still couldn’t believe that had actually happened—even though I was crumpled on the floor. I sat up and looked up at him, seeing him standing there with his hands clenched by his sides.I didn’t stand up. I didn’t know what to do.He stepped forward.I flinched.Then he extended his hand to pull me up. “I hope that’s the last time I have to do that.”I didn’t take his hand. I dragged my body across the tile until my back hit the cabinets.He withdrew his hand. “You can go to work and the grocery store. Try to go anywhere else…and you won’t be able to go anywhere at all.”When I got to work the next morning, it was the first time I’d been alone.Truly alone.And that was when my predicament really hit me. I’d sat alone at the dining table and cried about my cheating husband, and now I was a hostage to a very powerful man. It had flipped so fast that my mind couldn’t comprehend it. Bolton was a cheater and a liar, b

THEOI hit the button on the lighter and burned the tip of the cigar. It smoldered with ash before the smoke started to rise to the ceiling. The beginning and the end of a cigar were always the worst. But the center was sublime.“You seem pissed off,” Axel noted.“I haven’t said anything.”“I can still tell.”I sat with him in his study, Scarlett in the kitchen cooking, while Aldo helped with the kids. They had a chef who did a lot of the cooking, but sometimes Scarlett wanted to get her hands dirty. The difference in the quality was noticeable because she took her time, let every tomato simmer to perfection, hand-picked the produce from the store, so whatever she made would be exquisite. She had a natural touch that couldn’t be taught in a cooking class.“Work or pleasure?” he asked.“Neither.”“If you’re this moody for no reason, maybe you should get a dog or something.”“Dogs are too much work.”“I’ve been wanting to get a dog, but Scarlett shot down the idea.”“Why?”“She wants to

It was a hard week.Disassociation had many different compartments. I had no idea the mind had so many different floors and endless hallways. My mind seemed to be separated into two distinct halves. There was the version of me at the gallery or home alone, back to my wine and my regrets. And there was the version of me in his company, the one that engaged like I cared, that asked questions without listening to the answers.Bolton made good on this threat. When he felt like I was being disingenuous, he would twist my arm until it was about to snap, or he would grip me by the throat. He demanded sex from me, and when I resisted, I was forced.It only happened the one time, and instead of going through that subjugation again, I chose to accept it rather than face those consequences. I’d already had sex with him, so what did it matter? At least, that was what I told myself.I clipped my diamond earrings into my lobes, looking at myself in the vanity, a woman I didn’t recognize anymore.“R

THEOI opened the drawer to my nightstand and pulled out the wad of cash before I tossed it on the bed.Andrea lay there, her beautiful skin shiny from the sweat, her head propped on her palm as she watched me. “It’s on the house, Theo.”I left the money there. “I said I don’t want your pity.”“Oh, it’s not pity.” She smiled up at me.I turned away and headed to the bathroom. “Show yourself out.” I walked into the bathroom and took a quick shower to clean my dick and wash away the sweat that clung to my skin like lotion. I did a quick towel-dry before I returned to the bedroom, expecting to see her gone, but she sat at the edge of the bed, the money still where I’d tossed it. “Why are you still here?”“I wanted to talk.”My eyes narrowed. “I pay so I don’t have to talk.”“I’m not accepting your money, so there’s no agreement.”I stared at her for a few more seconds, irritated that I was being ambushed like this. “Guess I won’t be calling you again.” I walked to my dresser and put on a

Bolton glanced at me, and when his hand moved to my thigh under the table, I knew that was a warning for me to stop.Like the obedient dog that I was, I stopped.“How was dinner?”I looked up at the sound of the woman’s voice at the next table. She was dressed in all black. Black trousers with a black chef’s jacket. Her dark hair was pulled back in a low bun.“My name is Scarlett, and I’m the head chef this evening,” she said. “I love to come around and hear what you think. I’m constantly updating the menu, so suggestions are always welcome.”“Fuck.”Bolton turned when he heard what I said.His associate looked at me too then covered his reaction with a sip of his wine.“Everything alright, baby?” Bolton moved his arm over the back of my chair.“Uh, yeah.” I covered up my terror and eyed the bathroom on the other side of the restaurant. I could get up and go around her before she noticed I was there. We were the next table on her tour. “I—I have to go to the bathroom.”Bolton’s arm mo