Chapter 3. Your Children

Proserpina

Releasing my arms, he grasped a handful of my hair in his fist, winding the other arm savagely around my waist, trapping me effortlessly in a brutal embrace that had nothing to do with love. As I gasped in pain, he brought his head down, kissing me with ferocity and grinding his mouth on mine. There was no love, no gentleness. Only he needs to brand me as his.

When he raised his head, I could taste blood. He flung me away, his face mirroring self-disgust.

Breathing hard, wide-eyed with shock and a host of conflicting emotions, I watched him, touching my bruised mouth, aware that I would have darkening bruises on my arms where he had sunk his hard fingers into my arms in such a brutish way.

He turned, his eyes glinting almost evilly in the feeble lighting. His eyes dropped to my heavy breasts, the nipples clearly outlined through the coarse cloth of my gown, because he still had the power to arouse me, even with his cruelty. With a low growl, he came closer again, roughly fondling my full breasts, his mouth feverishly moving over my throat, nipping and biting, and like a fool, I felt myself responding, surrendering to him. Dazedly, I was aware of his movements, for I was like a dr****d person. When he reached a hand through the robes, parting my legs, his large, meaty hands seeking my womanhood, I suddenly regained a semblance of my wits.

"No, I cried in panic, struggling as he held me imprisoned in his arms, and I realized what he intended to do." His erection, massive and hard, was pushing against me, demandingly.

"No, Lucien, not here, please!" I begged, and I pushed at his iron chest with all my puny might.

Ignoring my urgent pleas, he continued, his hands finding my entrance through the simple cotton pants I wore, and in sudden desperation, I slapped him hard across the face.

Abruptly, he stopped, and as I became aware of what I had done, I shoved him away and moved to safety, standing behind an ornate table in the center of the room, trembling with shock and fear, hugging myself.

Lucien turned to me slowly, a livid mark on his face where I had slapped him.

"So the kitten has claws now?" He murmured coolly, his eyes glinting savagely, and I quaked at the threat in his voice.

He touched his cheek reflectively and began circling the room, showing no sign of the aroused man who had attacked me just a few minutes before.

While I stood there, disheveled, my emotions were all over the place, pulling my robes tightly around me, desperately clinging to my sanity.

"You haven't answered me," he went on, stopping before an exquisite sculpture of the Buddha with his back to me. "Who are those b*stards?"

Breathing with difficulty, I stayed silent for a while, swallowing my humiliation, and then I spoke, tilting my head proudly.

"You know I did not sleep with anyone else when I was with you,"

I said it in an unsteady voice, hurt beyond words, my eyes filling as I looked up at his powerful shoulders, willing him to meet my eyes.

Turning, he came to stand before me, his fists deep in his coat pockets, his eyes boring into my soul as it were, and snarled, his tone thick with passion.

"So say it, damn it!" I want to hear you say it!

"They are your children," I said stiffly, my shoulders held high, mustering all the dignity I could, hugging my waist with my arms.

A strange look passed over his face, a look of triumph, and I tried to look away as his eyes moved over me, raking my face and my body with a look of ownership and possession that left me weak at the knees.

To try and wrest some kind of power over the moment, I spoke through stiff lips,

"Why...'I babbled, "Why did you... I mean, why have you come...?"

Lucien moved closer, and I shrank back, feeling the wall against my back.

"No woman leaves me, little one." His gruff voice betrayed his rage as he went on, coming so close that I could feel the heat of his body.

”I tell the women I fu*k to get the hell out of my life when I tire of them."

He spoke softly, but the fury behind his words was apparent, and I trembled at his wrath.

I stared at him, my breath coming rapidly.

Raising a hand to my face, he touched my cheek, moving a finger to my mouth, tracing the plumpness of my swollen lips tantalizingly with a slow, igniting touch as he went on in a growl.

"You, a slip of an eighteen-year-old, you tried to run away from me, little girl? Did you think I would let you off so easily?

The threat in his voice was unmistakable, and I stared up at him, hypnotized with terror. He loomed closer, and I put up my hands, pushing ineffectually at his chest, and even in the dimness of the room, I saw the flash of desire on his face before the cold mask came back on.

"I'm not going to f*ck you in this room." He sneered in a bored way. And he went on, conversationally, his breathing shallow, as though he were controlling himself with an effort. watching me, "But I don't believe you, you little liar."

I stiffened as he went on, a hand trailing lazily down my throat to part my robes at the base to carelessly expose my breasts, and I gulped.

"I need to get a test done. A paternity test."

The words fell on my ears like blows.

Shocked, I gazed up at him stupidly as he went on, stepping closer, crowding me in, and his breath coming raggedly as he went on, eyes blazing with anger and some other emotion.

"I'm a rich man, as you may have discovered." I don't want some b*stards landing on my doorstep, claiming to be mine, sometime in the future.

I stared at him in disbelief. He flicked a finger at my swollen mouth, and I winced at the deliberate hurt, frowning in disbelief.

"When you're not so young and desirable," he went on, running his eyes over my body slowly, seeming to undress me, breathing harder, his expression closed and cruel, but his eyes were hot with lust, "and there are no takers for this lush body... "

He moved even closer if that was possible, bridging the gap between us and breathing hard; now the tips of my breasts pressed against his chest.

Dear God! He has the power to make me want him even when his hatred for me is evident, I thought in despair.

His eyes were intent on my hard nipples, but with his hands still shoved in his pockets, he rasped,

"You might think of making some easy money."

I took a sharp breaht, the insult hurt me more than I cared to acknowledge.

'"Once a wh*re, always one. You might have the brilliant idea of foisting someone else's dirty b*stards on me," he growled, the menace in his voice evident.

The ugly words and the unjustness of it all incensed me, and without thinking, I raised my hands to claw his face; but with a swift movement, he captured my hands easily enough, but not before I had scratched his cheek, leaving a small cut on his chin. He laughed in surprise, and I felt his arousal as I struggled while he pinned my arms behind me, my body forced against his again. I was panting and flushed with rage, and his eyes traveled leisurely over my face, dropping to my robe that gaped open, revealing my heaving breasts. Memories of how he used to make love to me, sucking and biting me, made me take a sharp breath.

His heavy-lidded eyes seemed to glimpse my weakness. The resistance that I had shown seemed to intrigue and excite him, I realized with a sinking heart, and I bowed my head in dejection.

"You've changed," he growled softly, breathing harshly, "and I'm going to enjoy taming you."

Tame me?

That brought my head up sharply, and I cried out in alarm, "NO!"

Twisting my captive wrists cruelly, his hard chest pressing against my softness, he bent his head to my mouth and whispered.

"I am going to get a test done."

He punctuated his words with a sharp nip on my earlobe, and I moaned, squirming.

'For that, I am taking your b*stards with me, NOW. "

I shook my head in protest, my eyes pleading with him.

"No!" I half sobbed. 'Lucien, please, don't do this! For the love of God…'

Breathing heavily, his body touching mine, he gritted out the words in a harsh whisper,

"You said those kids are mine. So I have the right to take them with me IF I'm their father. Besides, I need to find the truth, are they really mine?"

And then, silkily, his mouth hovering inches away from mine, he added,

‘I’m taking them with me. Whether you come or not is your choice. And no one can stop me from doing that.'

And then he stepped back coolly and strode out, throwing the words over his shoulders as he went, 'Make the arrangements." He said in his cool, arrogant way as he left, "Those kids are leaving tonight with me in an hour."

I sagged onto the cool floor as I saw that I had no choice but to go with him...