Bound by Fate: The Billionaire's Unwanted Wife

Elizabeth sank back onto the bed, her body saturated with perspiration and limp with delight. Her tremendous release still sent wild spasms across her slender frame. Luca had separated and detached himself from her within seconds of their mutual climax and lay on his back by her side, his breathing heavy and rough.

Elizabeth rolled on her side to softly trace his firm face with her gaze, longing to touch and caress the smooth, soft and slightly brown skin but knew from experience that her touch would be rebuffed. His words, the ones that were usually said to shatter her after his climax, were still floating between them. Even after all these months, they stung more than they should have.

"Give me a son, Elizabeth..."

With just five words, he stopped the afterglow, destroyed the intimacy of the moment, and transformed the act into nothing more than a biological need. After eighteen months of the same, Elizabeth had finally grasped that things would never change. She hadn't abruptly reached this conclusion; instead, it had been creeping up steadily ever since he said the words the first time.

But Elizabeth had her own five words this time. They were words that had been on the tip of her tongue for months and should have been said long before now. She couldn't hold back those words any longer, even though it hurt so much to speak them. She sat up, naked, her body still shivering and hugged her knees to her chest. She wrapped her arms around her legs, pressed her head to her knees and watched as his breathing steadied, his own shaking was reducing slowly. He lay spread-eagled, likewise wonderfully naked, his eyes were close but she knew he wasn't sleeping. She knew he would take a few seconds to calm himself before going for the shower, where she always envisioned him vigorously washing her fragrance and touch off his bronzed skin.

She could no longer control the words and they came from her lips with desperate honesty.

"I want a divorce, Luca ."

He tensed, every single muscle in his body became as rigid as a wound spring, before he turned his head to meet her watching stare. His eyes were closed and his upper lip twisted mockingly.

"But I thought you loved me, Elizabeth," he taunted with exquisite malice and Elizabeth lowered her eyes, attempting to conceal the shaft of anguish in his words. When she was satisfied she had her emotions under control, she once again lifted her eyes to his dark glare.

"Not anymore," she managed, hoping her lie sounded convincing.

"Hmmm..." it sounded eerily like the purr of a cat. "What happened to 'I'll love you forever, Luca'?"

"Things change," she muttered.

"What things?" He shifted onto his side and pulled himself up onto his elbow, resting his head on his palm. He looked so much like a Roman warrior in repose, that her throat grew dry with desire. She swallowed heavily.

"F...feelings change..." she muttered haltingly. Again that low murmur of agreement from Luca but Elizabeth wasn't deceived by his easy attitude; he was as tense as a coiled serpent. "I.I've changed..."

"You look no different," he assessed, his voice still terrifyingly calm. "Still the same Elizabeth I married. The one who professed to love me so deeply, she couldn't live without me. The one whose daddy made sure she received precisely what she wanted..."

And that was when he struck, without moving, without so much as altering his voice.

"The same timid little Elizabeth, who can't even give me the only thing I've ever wanted from this pathetic excuse for a marriage." She flinched but she refused to avert her gaze.

"A...all the more reason for a divorce," she attempted for blasé but failed badly.

"Maybe for you," he shrugged charmingly. "But I told you from the very beginning, amore, there would be no easy way out of this marriage. Not until I had what I wanted from you and that day appears to be a long way off! Unfortunately, cliché as it may sound, you've created this bed and we both have to lay in it!"

"I can't live like this anymore," she covered her face in her knees and battled to keep the tears at bay.

"Neither of us has much choice..." he sat up and stretched languidly before getting up and strolling, naked, to the en-suite bathroom they shared. Elizabeth heard the shower start minutes later and took a few seconds to calm herself, wipe the hot tears from her cheeks with the backs of both hands before putting on a gauzy peignoir and strolling into the kitchen to pour herself a hot drink. While she was seated on a bar stool, drinking her hot milk, she felt Luca 's presence behind her and the hairs on the back of her neck sprang on edge.

"You must be cold in only that skimpy little thing you're wearing..." he remarked nonchalantly, strolling to the fridge and drawing out a bottle of orange juice. His short black hair was wet and stood up in tufts where he had carelessly towel-dried it after his shower and he wore nothing but a pair of black boxer shorts. He looked as magnificent as before and Elizabeth despised him more than ever for that muscular beauty.

"I'm fine..." she jumped up quickly and moved for the sink to rinse her cup but he grabbed her arm to halt her movement. She stiffened, horrified by the touch... Luca never touched her outside of the bedroom. In the eighteen months they had been married, this was the first time that she could recall him caressing her without it being a preamble to sex. He went closer to her and put his lips to her ear. She felt his hot breath on the side of her face before he spoke.

"There'll be no more talk of divorce, Elizabeth... ever," he informed her with a horrible air of confidence.

"You can't stop me from divorcing you, Luca ," she said almost in a scream. .

"You really want a divorce, amore?" He questioned tauntingly and she nodded stiffly. "If you get that divorce, your cousin loses her business and she can't afford that now, not with a new baby on the way. She and her husband need all the money they can get." Somehow she hadn't anticipated that. She should have but she didn't. Luca had given her cousin, Amelia, the start-up capital for her shop. Elizabeth didn't know what the circumstances of that loan were but she had always imagined that it was something he had done out of goodwill. Staring up at him now, she couldn't believe her own naïveté. Luca did nothing out of genuine compassion and the loan was only another instrument for him to wield against her if he needed to!

"You wouldn't," she said with nothing but certainty. "Amelia has done nothing to deserve this."

"Amore, I will do whatever it takes to get what I want from you."

"I have money too I can help her..." she started urgently.

"No, you have a rich father and he had the opportunity to help Amelia when she was looking for the start-up capital for her bookshop but he made his contempt of the idea more than obvious to everyone at the time and you know that he would never support you through a messy divorce, Elizabeth."

"I still don't believe you would do it! You have an image to preserve, you're an honest businessman, you wouldn't damage a small business merely to prove a point. What sort of message would that send?" she asked bravely.

"That I'm not to be trifled with," he shrugged. "Do you honestly think I care what people think of me, Elizabeth? Do you think I care what you think of me? I never have and I never will. You're weak and spoiled..."

"I'm not..." she attempted to explain herself but he made a scoffing sound in the back of his throat before moving on as if she hadn't spoken.

"You'll get your divorce eventually but there's something I need to get from you first! You desired this marriage, remember? You asked for it... So if you want a divorce right now, it'll come with some significant costs attached to it. Are you willing to toy with your cousin's future?"

He knew she wouldn't do it! He knew he had her just where he wanted her. There would be no breakup. Not when so much hung in the balance. But there would be changes... Elizabeth Chloe Dawson-Moretti was done with being a doormat! She said nothing, opting to turn and walk away instead. He watched her leave, she could feel his eyes searing into her thin back yet he did not call her back. She did not return to the bedroom they had been sharing since the first day of their marriage, preferring instead to make for the library, knowing that she could not sleep another wink. Not in that room, not anymore...