CHAPTER 83: – DIVORCE? –

"Unlike you, when he pulls me for a hug—"

Viviana dragged her fingers through her hair.

"—It feels warm, it calms me down. No one else can give me that. And his touches are gentle. If you had been self aware, you’d realise how harsh your touches are, when you merely grab my hand. I didn’t like it, it was that simple, but it didn’t mean I didn’t love you back then. After all, if I didn’t, do you really think you would have escaped this country without me finding you? I wouldn’t even need my father’s help to have you stopped at the airport. No, I’m the one who let you go. And you’re standing here today in front of me because I allowed it. Nothing more."

She smiled. "Don’t bother me again. I am married, I don’t love you anymore, I already stopped a long time ago. So enough is enough." She turned to walk out.

"Do you love him then?" Emilio threw the question.

And paused her steps. She looked at him.

"Do you think he loves you, or he’s just after you, Viviana Di-grassi, a beautiful woman like you, and a millionaire? I mean, he’s a nobody isn’t he? Don’t tell me you’re still that naive. These—"

"Speak of him one more time, Emilio, and you won’t like me." She stalked over to the door to leave.

Emilion clenched his hands, stormed after her, and grabbed her, spinning her on her feet. He slammed his mouth over hers, forcing her into a kiss. Viviana, whose pupils had shrunk into the size of a needle, pushed at his chest to shove him off.

Her sounds were muffled, trying to get out of his hold, but his grip was tight.

"Stop it! Let go. Of. Me. Emi—"

Someone snatched Emilio by a handful of his hair, yanking his head back. Emilio lifted his gaze, and that gave Viviana the chance to stumble back away from him. She glanced over freezing at Nikolas who’d proceeded to smack Emilio’s face into the nearby table.

"You don’t put your fucking mouth on my wife."

Nikolas grabbed him by the neck, his fingers wrapping around his throat, cutting off his air supply just a bit.

"Nobody does." He looked over to Viviana, and left in dumbfoundment, she didn’t even pull away when he grabbed her by the waist, yanking her into his frame. All the while still holding Emilio, who was shorter by a few inches.

"Nikolas—"

His mouth crashed against hers with a fury that tasted purely of jealousy and something far darker. He was devouring her as if to erase every trace of Emilio’s lips by sheer madness. His fingers curled into her hair, tilting her face up as he stole every breath, her defiance, her composure.

Oh, Viviana drove him mad like a man who’d lost himself.

He wanted to mark her mouth with his own. There was no patience in this kiss, no tenderness like there usually would be. It was a raw kind that set her on fire, burning like she’d been consumed by laval.

Viviana couldn’t breathe.

Yet she wouldn’t pull away from him. Not like she’d done with Emilion. Because the thing was, there was just something about Nikolas Bastiani that had her on a chokehold she hated to admit.

As if she were bound to him.

She staggered back as he broke the kiss, throwing her head back to catch her break. Nikolas wouldn’t let go of her waist. But he looked Emilio who’d gone pale in his grip, unable to break away from him.

He warned. "You’ve probably never been taught not to touch what belongs to others. But you’re a very lucky man today, as there is only one thing holding me back. The things I would’ve done to you for touching her."

He threw him roughly to the floor. Then he turned over to Viviana who rapidly flickered her eyes to him. She was breathless, lips swollen from his kiss. "It wasn’t what you thought. And did you follow me?"

"So what if I did?" He stepped into her space, trapping her between the glass door she’d been pressed up to. "Is this why you wouldn’t tell me where you were going? Because you’d let another man other than me put his mouth on you?"

Her face grew cold at him and she shoved at his chest. "You’re one to talk. So what if I did? This thing between us isn’t even real, so if I wanted to kiss anyone else beside you, I will and I can. And there is nothing you can do."

"Viviana—"

She yanked open the door and stormed off, leaving him there with his fuming self. She drove away before he could even get to her, and Nikolas spilled out into the road.

His chest rose and fell with something more than anger. Possession. Obsession. MINE. The air around him thickened,

And then his eyes changed, replaced by a savage, glowing red.

In a blink, he was gone from his spot. Nowhere to be seen.

....

Viviana pulled into the driveway, still fuming, pissed off at him. She got out of the car, walked into the house to reach for the door of the living room.

However, she found him there. Nikolas, leaned against the doorframe. Waiting. He’d been waiting for her. His shirt was still rumpled from her grip. His lips damp with her kiss.

"There," he said, voice low and dangerous. "You’re home."

She froze. Not in anything, but merely in shock.

Impossible.

She’d left him there. There was no way he could have gotten here before her.

"How did you get here?" She asked, but then suddenly dismissed. "Whatever. I couldn’t care less at this moment." She shoved past him, moving into the house while pressing down on her phone.

"I’ve sent the money to you," she said suddenly, earning a brow raise from him. He turned to look at her and she shoved her phone into his face. "Five million just like we agreed."

Nikolas’s eyes narrowed on her. "Meaning what?"

She elevated her head with a far too serious look on her head. "I want a divorce."

"Divorce?"

"Yes," She replied coldly. "You and I, we are done. This thing is over. And—"

"Done?" Nikolas ran his thumb over his lips. "Don’t make me laugh."

"Nikolas—"

"It is not your call to make," he said dryly. "You don’t get to be done with me when you feel like it. It doesn’t work like that."