Chapter 61
[ 506 words ]
Chapter 61:
He pressed the nib of the fountain pen down so hard it snapped against the thick parchment paper with a sharp, metallic crack.
He slowly turned his head. The warmth and hunger from a minute ago were completely gone. His face was a mask of cold, lethal fury.
He looked at her like she had just slapped him across the face.
He stood up to his full, towering height. The physical intimidation rolling off his body was terrifying.
“A limit,” Jarrod repeated. His voice was a deadly, quiet hiss. “Are you going to calculate the gas money for the ride here, too? Shall we split the cost of the tea?”
Caroline took a step back, her heart hammering. “I just don’t want to owe you. I don’t want to be bought.”
Jarrod’s jaw clenched. The muscles in his neck jumped.
He raised his hand and slammed the shattered fountain pen down onto the glass table.
Yо𝗎𝗋 ոex𝘁 fа𝗏оr𝘪𝘁𝘦 rе𝗮𝗱 𝗶𝗌 𝘰𝗇 𝗀𝖺l𝗇оve𝗹𝘀.𝗰𝘰𝗆
BANG.
The violent sound echoed through the silent studio like a gunshot. Black ink splattered across the pristine glass surface in a violent, spreading stain.
The echo of the slamming pen hung in the air.
Linda Powell and her assistants froze, their eyes wide with terror. They didn’t dare make a sound.
Jarrod didn’t look at Caroline. His chest was heaving with suppressed rage. He braced his left hand on the glass table, leaning his weight on it, his knuckles white. The fury radiating from him was a physical force, a contained explosion.
He didn’t yell. He didn’t leave. He did something far more terrifying. He lowered his voice to a low, guttural growl that cut through the silence like a razor.
“Bought?” he repeated, the word dripping with venom. He finally lifted his head, and his stormy gray eyes bored into hers, pinning her to the spot. “Listen to me very carefully, Caroline. Because you will only hear this once.”
He pushed off the table and took a slow, deliberate step toward her, forcing her to tilt her head back to meet his gaze. The sheer dominance in his posture made the luxurious studio feel like a cage.
“The moment you signed that paper in the judge’s office, you became a Romero,” he stated, delivering the name like a verdict. “Under the law of this district, we are a single entity. Community property.”
He leaned closer, his voice dropping even lower, becoming a fierce, possessive whisper that was meant only for her. “Every single dollar in my accounts legally belongs to you. Half of everything I own — every stock, every building, every goddamned bullet in my armory — is yours.”
He reached up and gently cupped her jaw, his thumb wiping away a single, betraying tear she hadn’t even realized had fallen.
“You do not owe me,” Jarrod whispered fiercely. “You cannot pay me back with my own money. Do you understand?”
It was the most aggressive, domineering legal lecture Caroline had ever heard. But beneath the harsh words, she heard the desperate, clumsy way he was trying to give her absolute security.
The tight knot of fear in her chest completely dissolved.
.
.
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