Cats In the Cradle

41. Emma

"Emma, come on. We need to talk." Daniel said again, reaching for me to lift me out of bed. It was a mildly tempting invitation, but I really wanted to stay and find out more from Mama.

"Talk about what?" I asked him, in a strange, wobbly voice I didn't recognize.

"Everything that happened yesterday. Let's go. Hurry." He lifted me off the bed and held me in his arms, the same way he'd held me while he carried me home from Orion's.

The way he'd carried me before he pinned me against the wall and screamed at me and wrapped his hand around my throat.

Before he broke my heart and then left me here to wake up in someone else's arms.

I waited until he'd carried me out of my bedroom before I pushed against him and squirmed, trying to get away.

He didn't even ask me if I was ready to go. I'd clearly been in the middle of a conversation!

And I could walk by myself just fine! He didn't care about me last night, so why should I believe he cared now?

As I struggled to free myself from his firm grasp, I quickly realized that my anguish and sorrow and heartbreak was turning into...fury.

I had never been angry with him before. I'd truly never had a need to. But I felt abandoned and betrayed and...unimportant.

The way I always felt after father whipped me for speaking too loudly, and nobody came to my defense. When everyone looked on silently while I was scolded by a man for speaking out of turn or punished for staying in bed when my irregular, painful "monthly" bleeding nearly rendered me crippled.

"Emma, stop! I'm serious. I know you're pissed, but we need to go home now. There's a lot we need to do in the next 24 hours or so... And I'm going to have to brand you." He winced as he spoke, but still refused to let me go. He barely struggled to keep me contained in his muscular arms.

He was too strong. And his hands were too fucking large. Perhaps he needed to see a doctor to have them evaluated for some excessive growth deformity.

"Just brand me, then! Just brand me, so I can stay here with my mother while you're off doing all your Very Important Things that I'm not allowed to help with. And then if I wander away again, like a 'stupid fucking bitch', someone will return your pet to its owner." I screamed, knowing very well that I'd be whipped if he decided to punish me.

I wasn't even sure where all this anger was coming from. My emotions were all over the place, bouncing from distraught to angry to grateful to infuriated.

I was grateful that he came back for me, but distraught that he'd left me all night. Angry he'd screamed at me and threatened me. Angry he'd treated me the way I'd always feared I'd be treated by my husband someday.

Infuriated that he was finally going to brand me now, but only after everything that had happened to me yesterday.

Infuriated that he'd briefly acknowledged that I was upset, but still hadn't apologized.

Infuriated that I was in love with him, and I had no idea if he even felt the same.

He was oddly calm, but I could see his telltale signs that he was bothered: his jaw was clenched, nostrils flared, and he was breathing heavily. Although the heavy breathing may have been due to me throwing a tantrum while he tried to walk me out of the house.

None of my squirming seemed to make a difference, however, so I eventually gave up. We stepped onto my parents' front porch, and Lars was waiting there.

He smiled kindly, but I refused to meet his eyes. It was humiliating, knowing he'd seen me yesterday. Knowing he'd probably heard me screaming at Daniel, and now I was being carried out of the house like an unreasonable toddler.

I stayed quiet for the rest of the walk home, although I was still quite annoyed that Mama hadn't been able to finish whatever she'd been about to say.

Lars waited on our front porch while Daniel walked us inside, into the master bedroom.

"If I put you down, will you listen to what I'm going to say?"

I huffed, but I nodded. It wasn't as if I had much of a choice.

He gently set me down on the bed, then he sat down next to me.

"Emma, I'm sorry." He grabbed onto my hand with his freakishly large...maybe still slightly handsome hand, and he squeezed my hand gently.

"I shouldn't have said all those things I said yesterday. I shouldn't have threatened you. I lost my fucking mind, when I saw......saw you yesterday."

I stayed silent, afraid I might crumble if I tried to speak. I was determined to be angry with him. I would not be swayed by his charm and his long eyelashes. Or his stupid, gorgeous, firm jawline and his muscular, thickly-veined arms.

"I was unbelievably angry at Orion and that other guy—"

"Mr. Robert."

"I don't even fucking care what his name is. The guy with the tiny dick that I fucking hope I killed."

I peeked at Daniel with just a bit of wary curiosity.

"I'm not even fucking kidding. I hope he's fucking dead, and I wish I could've finished off Orion. I know we're not actually married, Emma, but I lost my goddamn fucking mind when I heard that he took you. I was extremely angry that you even left the house, but still.

"Orion had no right to. He knows you're mine. He knows you belong to me, he knows who my father fucking is, and I'm one more bad day away from losing my absolute shit. He should not have fucking touched what doesn't belong to him."

"...So now you have to brand me." I whispered.

He was finally claiming me. It was what I wanted, despite the excruciating pain that would accompany it.

But I didn't want to just be his property. I wanted to be his wife. If we were going to escape soon, I didn't want to be permanently marked as his.

Not unless...

Unless.

"Daniel," I blurted before I could lose the nerve.

"Daniel...are you in love with me?"