“He pulled out a belt to teach me how to be a wife, not knowing I was a national boxing champion with a hidden camera above us.”
CHAPTER 1
The morning after our honeymoon, my husband pulled off his belt, wrapped it around his fist, and smiled like he had been waiting for that moment since the day he proposed.
“It’s time you learned the rules of being a wife,” Ethan said.
My suitcase was still open beside the bed, full of sundresses, sunscreen, and photographs from Hawaii where we looked like two people in love.
But the man standing in front of me was not the man in those pictures.
The heavy metal buckle tapped against his palm. His eyes were calm. That was what scared me most. He wasn’t losing control.
He was finally showing me the control he had planned to take.
I stood near the foot of the bed in the oversized white travel shirt I had worn on the flight home. My hands were shaking, but not from fear.
From recognition.
Every warning sign came back at once.
The way he corrected my laugh at dinner.
The way he asked for my bank passwords “for transparency.”
The way he rushed the wedding three months after my father died.
The way his mother, Margaret, kept asking about my Chicago properties like she was discussing furniture.
Ethan tilted his head. “Take off the shirt.”
I looked at him for a long second.
Then I slowly unbuttoned it.
His smile widened. “Good. Obedience makes everything easier.”
I draped the shirt over a chair.
Underneath, I wore a black compression top and boxing shorts.
Ethan’s smile faded.
I reached into my suitcase, pulled out my worn red boxing gloves, and tightened the straps with my teeth.
May you like
Then I looked him straight in the eyes.
“Perfect,” I said softly. “I’ve been needing a sparring partner.”
