The CEO's Dirty Little Secret novel Chapter 36

　　Eve looked down at her phone as it rang again for the millionth time. It was Brendan again.

　　He has been messaging and calling since the early hours of the morning. Besides replying with a quick 'I'm okay, I'll call you later,' just so he wouldn't think she was in a ditch somewhere, she'd ignored everything.

　　Even Miranda and Josie had texted to ask where the two of them had disappeared to last night but she hasn't bothered to reply to them.

　　What could she say?

　　She'd just found out she was fucking the devil? She had given her mind and body to an evil bastard who liked to own people like property?

　　He'd used her body's responses to him against her to make her sign that wretched contract. And now she was stuck here because she couldn't tell her parents that she wasn't buying the house anymore and that they would be homeless.

　　She looked outside her bedroom window and sighed. It was raining today. It was still and chilly. The weather has changed so suddenly, typical of the English weather, but it matched her mood perfectly.

　　She had gone beyond fear now. In her mind, she'd seen all the things that Roman could do to her with his money until all she felt was this numbness. This emptiness.

　　She had showered again when she'd woken up after a couple of hours of restless sleep and had dressed in another pair of pyjamas.

　　If it wasn't for the fact that she knew Roman was in the house, she wouldn't have bothered. She would have stayed in bed all day. But she didn't want to be in a vulnerable position in case he came in again.

　　It was clear that whatever this arrangement was, it wasn't working anymore so why couldn't he just leave her alone? Why couldn't he go to the other girls?

　　She felt her eyes start to water at that thought and blinked it away. She'd been such a fool. Such a naive fool. Roman had shown his true colours from the beginning but she had been too blind to see it.

　　She heard a knock on her door and tensed.

　　It was almost lunchtime. After the way they had parted last night, why hadn't he just gone home? Why did he want to keep her wound up like this, wondering what he was going to drop on her next?

　　The knock came again and she remained silent.

　　She didn't want to see him. She didn't want to remember that she had been in love with someone like him, and a stupid part of her still believed that it was true.

　　The door opened without her consent, as she had known it would, but she kept her gaze outside.

　　"I'm making some lunch. You should come down and eat something."

　　She didn't respond. What was she supposed to say, anyway? He was only there to show her that he could do whatever he wanted just because he could. Why else has he sent Phillip away when he had to have known what her reaction would be?

　　"Evelyn, we can talk about this. You don't have to starve yourself."

　　Would her words make any difference? She'd left him before and he'd dragged her back and said she was his whore until he was done with her. And last night was the same thing. He'd booked a private room in a club just to show her that she was indeed a whore, because even after seeing him with another woman, she'd still let him fuck her.

　　And now it seemed he actually owned her. She was stuck here.

　　"The silent treatment? Come on, Evelyn, that's not going to get us anywhere," Roman said. "The food is almost ready, I'll have it on the table in fifteen minutes. Come down so we can discuss this."

　　She didn't know how long he stood there but she could feel his gaze burning the back of her head.

　　Her phone started vibrating again but she didn't even glance at it.

　　She was supposed to go to her parents' house tonight. She only had a few hours before her mother started calling to ask where she was. She would have to answer her phone and lie.

　　At least for now. The truth was going to have to come out when she figured things out.

　　"Evelyn," Roman sighed.

　　Why was he even bothering? Did he really think they could get past this? There was nothing to discuss. He'd put things in the contract that he had known she would never agree to, and then spent the night pretending to be the perfect man just to make her sign it. He'd been intentionally devious. How could she ever trust him again? How could she give her body to someone like that?

　　She heard him move and thought he had got the hint but she was surprised to see him next to her.

　　"I know why you're upset with me, but you still need to eat. I can explain why I did this."

　　Explain? Did he really think there could be an explanation in the world that could fix this? There was no justification for being such an asshole. She didn't want any part of it.

　　She didn't want any part of him.

　　It was over.

　　He had to see that and let him go.

　　"This is childish, Evelyn. You knew who you were getting into bed with from the beginning," Roman said tightly.

　　He sounded angry as if he was the wronged one.

　　"Something I'll regret for the rest of my life," she said, finally answering him.

　　Her voice sounded hoarse from all the crying she had done.

　　Roman just sighed and walked out of the room.

　　She hoped he would leave. She wanted to think about how she would break this news to her parents. Because there was no way she was letting Roman touch her again, so they were going to end up homeless anyway.

　　She'd failed as a daughter. She'd done the complete opposite of what they expected from her. Now she wasn't even sure if she could continue with her degree because it was Roman who had paid for it, and she was sure he would take that away from her, too.

　　The thoughts that had kept her up at night returned in full force.

　　What else would he do to her? Would he also go after her parents?

　　A little bit of her fear returned as she started thinking of the repercussions. People didn't cross men like Roman without consequences.

　　The door opened again and she was startled.

　　"You want to behave like a child? Fine, I'll treat you like one. I'm staying here until you talk to me and we sort this out."

　　She turned to face him. What the hell did he mean by that?

　　"You obviously don't want me here, but I won't go until you talk to me," he continued. "So come downstairs."

　　He wasn't going to stay. He had businesses to run and women to take out. He would go and she would finally be able to think about what to do.

　　Roman still looked like the businessman that he was. The top button of his shirt was open, his sleeves rolled up and he didn't have a jacket on but that was probably as casual as he got.

　　"Why, Roman? There is no longer anything to discuss," she said.

　　"Because you think you will walk away from this?"

　　"What do they call a man who sleeps with an unwilling woman?" She asked as she looked out of the window again.

　　"I only have to touch you and you'd be willing," Roman said.

　　He sounded so sure of himself. Maybe it had been true even after she had seen him with that woman. But now? He had broken her.

　　"No, Roman. I won't. I will never trust you again. You might as well just let me go and find yourself another woman."

　　After a few moments, she heard the door close, but something told her Roman was still going to do whatever he wanted. Because he was a cold bastard who didn't care about how anyone felt. The moment he left she was going, even if she had to walk for miles down the country lanes.