She rushed to one of their many guest rooms and let the tears she'd been holding back fall freely. Nicolas just had to be a mean asshole all the time.

It hurt more because she felt she was truly at fault for losing the first two babies she was pregnant with and not being able to conceive afterwards.

When she found out she was pregnant the first time, just three months after their wedding, she was so upset. She cried, cursed and hit her stomach, wishing the baby would “fuck off back to wherever it came from”. As stupid as it might sound to anyone else, she wasn't ready to share Nicolas with anyone else.

When she had a miscarriage two months into the pregnancy, she was more relived than heartbroken and she probably failed to hide her relief because it was then that Nicholas's spite for her increased.

Then the other pregnancy happened and even though she still didn't want to have the baby, she tried to accept and take care of it so her husband would start to like her. But unfortunately for her, she lost that one too.

Tonight, Nicholas's words had upset her so much that she did what she had promised herself a long time ago that she would never do no matter what he said or did to her. She hit her husband.

Wiping the tears off her face, she quickly went to the master bedroom she shared with her husband and took a baggy shirt, her toothbrush and her shampoo.

She got back to the guestroom and took a long, needed bathe with strawberry scented soap which made her feel a bit better. After her bathe, she thought about reading a little but immediately her head touched the pillow she realised she was more tired than she thought, soon she was fast asleep.

A few minutes later, she woke up to a knock on her door.

“Emily! I'm losing my patience here so you better come open the bloody door!” Nicolas sounded so angry she jerked back a bit in fear. She quickly braced herself and went to open the door for him.

She looked up at him and wasn't surprised to see the anger in his eyes, but some other emotion she isn't used to was mixed with it. She didn’t want to find out what it was either.

“Can you tell me why you're not in our bed?” He asked coldly.

“Clearly, I'll be sleeping here,” She said with the little courage she could muster in that moment. She was prepared to have a fight with him about sleeping in different rooms but she had expected it to happen in the morning. She didn’t think he'd care about her absence enough to come for her that same night.

“Yes. It's clear enough that you want to sleep here,” he growled. “But why the fuck do you want to do that?”

“Why? You're asking me why after all the shit you said to me earlier?” She scoffed. “Look, apart from that, I already told you I wanted a divorce but maybe you think I was just throwing a fit or something. I mean it, Nicolas. I can't sleep in the same bed with you after asking for a divorce, that would make me seem silly, wouldn't it?”

“You're already being silly by acting this way,” he said coldly.

“If you think I'm being silly because I'm using my brain to think for myself for once since we got married, then yes, I'm silly. Call me silly Emily.” She said sarcastically.

“Emiliana. You. Are. My. Wife.,” he said in a a menacing tone, “As long as you're still my wife, you will sleep in the same room, on the same bed, with me. I'm your husband whether you like it or not.”

“I don't want to—”

“I don't fucking care what you want! I'm not going to sleep without you. So you better be a good girl and come back to the room or I'll carry you there myself if I have to.”

“Okay…okay. Relax,” she agreed, knowing he could carry her if he wanted to and he would actually do so, then she smiled to herself as she thought of something. “I'll come back but one one condition.”

He sighed. “Okay. What is it?”

“No sex.”

“No sex? You have to be joking right now? Please, tell me you're joking.” He sounded both shocked and frustrated which surprised Emily. She hadn’t expected him to react that way and it confused her for a moment.

“That's the deal. No sex.”

“You can't keep your body from your husband. It literally belongs to me. What do you mean no sex? That's some crazy bullshit.“ his eyes turned cold as he looked at her from head to toe then he smirked, “What if I don't agree? We're married so I have every right to do whatever I want to and with you.”

“You can't do that,” she said quietly.

“I invested a lot of money for your sake so even without marriage, I pretty much still own you.”

“Again with this talk about investing money to get me or whatever. I don't know shit about that so go fuck yourself,” she said in annoyance.

“Deny all you want, princess,” he laughed. “We'll discuss that properly soon enough. I'm tired, let's go to bed.” She tried to close the door in his face but he used his leg to hold the door then grabbed her hand, dragging her back to their bedroom.

She was angry by the time he released her hand. She looked up at him, refusing to show him any sign of weakness.

She scoffed, “You always acted like a gentleman. I didn’t know there was a mad man underneath. Is this how you really are, Mr. Nicolas Stone?” He cursed beneath his breath and in a swift movement, before she could move away, he grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her against him.

“I can be a mad man for you, princess. If you don't want to see that dangerous side of me, you better watch that smart mouth of yours,” he leaned in closer to her, their breaths mixed with each other’s.

“You…You're just bluffing. You can't—”

“I can and I will. Don't fucking push me,” he glared into her eyes and she could see the anger he was struggling to hold in. Maybe she had actually pushed his buttons enough for the night.

She tried to move out of his grasp but he slipped his hand around her waist and held her tight. Now their faces were so close, she just had to lean in a bit to get to kiss him.

And since this would probably be her last chance, that was what she did.

Surprisingly, Nicolas kissed her back desperately but it only lasted a few seconds before he stopped. He let her go and cursed loudly. She just stood there looking confused and feeling stupid.

“Sorry. That was a mistake, let's just go to bed,” he gestured for her to go lie down on the bed.

“A mistake? What do you…”

“Just shut the fuck up and go to bed, Emily.”

“Well, I'm still not having sex with you.” She scoffed

“That's fine by me, just go to bed already,” he sighed

“You're really okay with that?” She asked suspiciously

“Yup. I won't fuck you unless you want to be fucked or whatever.” He yawned.

“Right…okay then.” She walked down to the bed and sat down at the edge, then she sighed before she lay down and covered herself to her chest.

She watched as her husband went to the bathroom to shower and cursed herself for letting his sexy body send heat to her core. Ten minutes later he stepped out without a towel or any sort of clothing. She gasped when he walked over to the bed because she suddenly realized he planned to sleep naked.

The sneaky bastard.