Valerius stepped closer, his shadow swallowing hers. “Kneel.”

The command was soft, almost tender, but it was not a request.

Chloe lowered herself to the cold marble floor, the chill biting through her knees.

He paced around her like a storm circling its center. “Do you know what bothered me the most tonight?”

She shook her head, a knot of anxiety tightening in her stomach.

“It wasn’t just that you ignored my call. You chose to be with another man when you should have been ...