Chapter 139

Zavian pinched her nipple teasingly in retaliation for her cheeky remark, making her gasp. “What about you, little girl? Are you still the same person you were before all your troubles began?”

Emmeline considered this for a moment, torn between the sensations he was stoking in her body and the sobering reminder of her excuse of a happy marriage.

“I was just a naive student back then, never pushing for the top spot and always surrounded by friends,” she said at last, her voice tinged with wistful melancholy. “Despite everything, I don’t think I’ve really changed all that much inside.”

Zavian made a disapproving noise low in his throat, his fingers plucking insistently at her other nipple until she was writhing and panting beneath him.

“Your heart is deeply wounded, little one. You can’t hide that sadness from me with your fake smiles.”

Emmeline inhaled heavily. “But I’m happy with you,” she insisted, pouting up at him.

The naked hunger in Zavian’s