His low growl held no threat for Annabelle Linton.

She was as cold and detached as ever, her brow furrowed with impatience. "Do you have to make things difficult for everyone? Can’t you just live your life in peace? I don’t like you. I have no feelings for you. There is no chance of us ever being together. What’s the point of forcing it, again and again?"

She’d lost count of how many times she’d said it.

She just felt fed up. So incredibly fed up.

Leona Grant watched her, his gaze chilling. Beneath his expressionless mask, a torrent of rage was churning.

’If he had a choice, he wouldn’t be like this either.’

All his life, people had fawned over him. Before he met her, he didn’t even know the meaning of the word ’force’.

’Isn’t it good enough to stay by my side?’

’I’d spoil her, love her, give her unparalleled influence, do everything in my power to make her happy. Isn’t that what all women want?’

’Or is it... that because the man by her side isn’t Aaron Wyatt, everything else is just settling in her eyes?’

Few people could remain calm knowing the one they loved was in love with someone else, let alone a man like Leona Grant, who had always been at the top of the food chain.

He was accustomed to a world that bowed to his will. His patience and mercy for Annabelle Linton had already been stretched to their absolute limit!

Leona Grant’s eyes were bloodshot as he glared at Annabelle Linton, so furious he wanted to put a bullet in her. "Then why are you so stubborn? Why won’t you give me one chance? I said it before—one chance! Just one! I’ve already made so many concessions. Is it so damn hard for you to give just a little?"

"It is." Leona Grant clenched his fists, each word scraping out of his throat, raw and pained. "Forcing you, threatening you... I know you hate it, I know you’re sick of it. But what the fuck am I supposed to do? What am I supposed to do, huh?!"

He gestured toward Aaron Wyatt, his gaze accusatory as he stared at Annabelle Linton. "If you showed me half—even a tenth—of the kindness and concern you show him, I wouldn’t have fucking resorted to this. If I don’t force you, you’ll leave. If I don’t threaten you, I know better than anyone that you’ll walk away without a backward glance. You’re so effortlessly detached, Annabelle Linton."

"But have you ever thought about how I feel? Have you ever fucking thought about me for once?"

He jabbed a thumb at his chest, the rims of his eyes turning redder. It was impossible to tell if they held more pain or more rage, but his voice was laced with anguish. "You’re selfish, Annabelle Linton! You see a chance to be free and you fight with everything you have to take it. But have you ever stopped to think about the one who lets you struggle? The one who puts up with anything and everything, just as long as you don’t leave? The one who tolerates you endlessly? Have you ever thought about what’s going on in his head, hmm?"

"You hate me for locking him up. Fine. Let me ask you: have I done anything to him? If anyone else dared to steal my woman, dared to raise a hand to me, I would’ve put a bullet in him without a second thought to teach him his place. But I didn’t. I haven’t done a single thing to him! Don’t you know why? You do. You know better than anyone!"

"It’s because I’m a coward! I’m fucking terrified! Of what? Of you never, ever forgiving me! Of us drifting further and further apart! Annabelle Linton, I’ve given up so much for you! Is it really that hard—so incredibly hard—for you to just waver a little? Huh? Is your heart made of stone? How can you be so completely unmoved?"

’Stone.’

Annabelle Linton watched him, her expression frigid. A glint appeared in her icy eyes, and a sarcastic smirk played on her lips. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

’Just look at this beautiful, pathetic display of endless concessions and compromises.’

’Hypocrisy. Pure, unadulterated hypocrisy!’

’Yes.’

’She knew she was cold. But why? Why was she so cold?’

’She knew she was trampling all over his precious pride and authority, again and again. But in the end, who was it that kept giving her the chance to do so? Hmm?’