Mine Until Forever

“Will... no more.”

“Be good, Kim. Almost there...”

His coaxing voice was rough, low, and dangerously persuasive.

Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, autumn wind tore through the night. Rain battered the glass in sheets.

Kimberly was trapped against the openwork carved chair, her body too soft to hold itself up. Tears clung to the reddened corners of her eyes, trembling but not falling. Her teeth had bitten a pale mark into her lower lip, and the helpless little sounds spilling from her throat tangled with the rain.

There was something ruined and beautiful about her like this.

The kind of beauty that made a man forget restraint.

William gripped her slender waist and leaned close to her ear, his voice gone hoarse.

“Beg me. Beg, and I’ll let you go...”

Kimberly’s brows drew together. She lifted her chin, her voice shaking as she pleaded, “Will... please...”

“Is that begging?” His eyes burned. “Or are you trying to seduce me? Hm, little vixen?”

Whatever was left of his composure burned away under the pull of the woman in his arms.

He bent and kissed her, then loosened the tie binding her wrists and carried her, unsteady and breathless, to the sofa.

“No more...”

“No more what?” He swallowed. “Hm?”

The veins along his forearm stood out, pulsing under his skin. Possession darkened his eyes.

“Kim...” His voice dropped lower. “Am I going to die on you?”

After a long, reckless madness, Kimberly lay limp against the sofa.

William had barely stood, his breathing finally even again, when his gaze was dragged back to her.

Her skin was pale against the cushions. Her posture was loose, languid, entirely undone. The last haze of desire had not left her eyes, giving her a bone-deep allure that made cruelty feel almost inevitable.

Beautiful enough to make a man want to ruin her all over again.

William’s Adam’s apple rolled.

He dragged a cashmere throw over her, put on his robe, and went to the window to smoke.

Under the warm yellow light, Kimberly’s softened gaze rested on him.

At six foot two, he had the kind of proportions designers pretended they could create. His robe wrapped around broad shoulders, a long frame, a lean waist, and a firm line of muscle that made even stillness look expensive. His face was all clean bones and cold nobility.

Smoke curled from his long fingers, drifting past his head in gray-white threads.

He was smoking too fast. His brows had not relaxed once.

One cigarette burned out. He lit another.

Kimberly rarely saw him like this. She watched for a long while before she finally asked, “Is something on your mind, Mr. Carter?”

At the distant form of address, William’s hand paused.

His narrow eyes slid toward her, cool and sharp.

“Ms. Martinez,” he said, “never forgets her boundaries.”

He crushed the cigarette in the ashtray and strode back to her.

Bending over her, he caught her chin and pulled her face toward his.

His lips brushed the shell of her ear, his voice low and dangerous. “Do I have to be inside you before you call me Will? Hm?”

Kimberly lowered her eyes.

Her thick lashes cast shadows beneath them. Her expression had already returned to its usual cool restraint.

William studied her for several seconds. Then he gave a dark, humorless laugh, scooped her up, and headed straight for the bathroom.

“Don’t even think about sleeping tonight.”

Panic flickered through Kimberly. Her legs kicked uselessly in the air.

“You... We’ve already done it three times. Are you insane?”

“Save your strength.”

His mouth brushed her ear again.

“You’ll need it to scream.”

...

The first pale light of dawn seeped through a veil of mist.

William had finished washing up. A tailored suit wrapped his tall frame, turning him once more into the cold, untouchable man the world knew: elegant, distant, frosted over.

Not a trace remained of the unrestrained madness from the night before.

Kimberly leaned against the headboard, one bare shoulder slipping beneath the sheets as she studied him with a faint frown.

He had always been cold. That was simply William.

But with her, he had never been angry.

Since last night, though, Kimberly could feel it clearly. He was dissatisfied with her. Worse, there was a thin thread of impatience in him, almost disgust.

Had she done something wrong?

She could not stop herself from asking, “Aren’t you going to sleep for a while? Is something urgent?”

William finished tying his tie without looking rushed.

Then he looked down at her, stepped closer, and bent over the bed. His large hand slowly settled beneath the beauty mark near the corner of her eye. His thumb stroked there gently for a moment.

Then he withdrew his hand at once.

“Move to Crestwater Estate,” he said. “Don’t leave any of your things here. Move today.”

Surprise flashed through Kimberly’s eyes and vanished almost at once.

She looked up at him for several quiet seconds. Her voice was calm and even.

“All right.”

William’s eyes darkened instantly.

He said nothing. He grabbed his keys and wallet from the nightstand and walked toward the door.

With his hand on the knob, he stopped.

His tone turned cold. “You have nothing to ask?”

Kimberly met the shadow in his eyes. Her red lips parted.

“If you tell me to go, I go. If you tell me to stay, I stay. I follow Mr. Carter’s instructions.”

A vein jumped at William’s temple.

He gave a cold laugh. “What a well-behaved bedmate you are.”

The door slammed behind him with a violent crack.

The luxurious bedroom fell into absolute silence.

Kimberly stared at the ceiling. Hot tears slid from the corners of her eyes.

Three years ago, she had still been the famous Martinez heiress of Rivermont.

Then overnight, Martinez Group collapsed, her father jumped from a building, and her mother was fighting for her life. Creditors hounded Kimberly like vultures.

Family and friends vanished faster than shooting stars.

In a matter of days, Kimberly lived through death, abandonment, humiliation, contempt, and the kind of coldness people reserved for the ruined.

William was the one who helped her.

He arranged her father’s funeral.

He found the best medical team for her mother.

He paid off the crushing debts.

He pulled her out of the abyss.

Kimberly understood one thing very clearly. No one gave that much without wanting something in return.

Especially not a man like William, who did not mind using any means necessary to get what he wanted.

He had spent money, labor, time, and influence. Of course he wanted something.

But what did she have left besides herself?

She had asked him directly once. He had avoided the answer.

After circling around it for a while, Kimberly learned he had someone. His first love. The one who got away.

Maybe that woman was not by his side, and Kimberly looked like her.

Or perhaps their personalities were alike.