Adam stared at Genevieve.
"Is that how you feel?"
"I didn't feel that way before..."
"That's not something you should sort out with me." He said and looked suggestively at Ryan.
Ryan stood up.
"I'm tired. I have a long day tomorrow." He said and left.
Genevieve looked at Adam.
"Your cousin is a coward... Is that how you see me?"
"No."
"I'm never getting into bed with Ryan again."
Adam stood up and looked at her in doubt for a moment, but then made up his mind.
"You should never have gone to bed with him." He said and left.
Genevieve tried to hold back her tears. Adam had always been a good lover, but he'd refused to go to bed with her after a night of drinking when she'd taken an interest in Ryan. They were so alike... But Adam had all the qualities of a more mature man. He had experience with his hands and tongue and knew how to bring out the sensuality and ardor in a woman, whereas Ryan was careless, lazy and didn't take pleasure in giving pleasure. He was quick and selfish. She regretted it, but it was too late. Adam never lay with her again. Which, in his view, was a minor punishment, considering that every woman who lay with Adam and then decided to leave him didn't live for more than a week. He accepted her as a friend and confidant.
...
Adam went to his room and knocked on the door. Anna opened it, her eyes still almost closed and her hair in a mess. He knew he had never seen her more beautiful.
"Are you alone?"
"Who would I be with?"
"Ryan needs to find you..."
"He knocked on the door, but I didn't answer."
"Why not?"
Anna seemed to wake up and her eyes opened.
"I... I don't want to talk to him again."
Adam shook his head.
"You have to."
"You're wrong about what I need." She said and her eyes involuntarily went to the parts of Adam's sex that she noticed, and his eyes immediately lit up with excitement. He went inside and put his hands in his pockets. Anna closed the door and sat down on the bed.
"You're a child."
"Is that what you were thinking last night when you were between my legs, in my bed?"
Adam stared at her in surprise at her boldness, but she was just as surprised as he was, as if she had spoken without thinking.
He moved closer and stopped in front of her.
"You... Anna, you have a few options. I've never done this before, but I'm going to let you choose one of the destinations you can follow."
"I'm looking forward to hearing it." She said, simulating a yawn.
"You can go back to the green house and become a 'product'... You can stay with me, but it's not permanent. When I get tired of you... Well... Staying with me, you'll sometimes hear things... Compromising things that can't be repeated and you'll discover secrets... Secrets that you wouldn't be able to keep if you were facing the pain of torture, and that's why... After it's over, I'd have to kill you."
Anna was silent for a few seconds. When Adam talked about torture and then about killing her, his eyes lit up with even more excitement. She understood that he was definitely a psychopath.
Anna knew it was useless to send him to a psychiatrist and began to think quickly about her options.
"Let me get this straight... I can be the wife of four men, and live forever locked up in a house, never seeing another landscape, with no social life, no friends, with my existence totally focused on satisfying you, or I can be your bitch, until you get tired of me, and bury me."
"You summed it up well."
"I have a third option."
Adam frowned.
"What are you talking about?"
"Ryan."
It was so unexpected what Adam did that Anna didn't know whether to cry out in pain or surprise. He lifted her off the ground by the scruff of her neck with just one arm, as if she weighed no more than a glass, and stared at her with eyes flashing with anger.
"This is not a good time for you to tell me that you prefer my cousin." He said and his eyes flashed furiously.
Anna tried to speak, but her voice wouldn't come out. She was beginning to lose consciousness when Adam violently dropped her on the bed.
Anna put her hand to her neck and started coughing. When she recovered, Adam was looking at her with a murderous gaze.
"Are you jealous of Ryan? You must have a good reason for that." Anna teased. She knew he was ready to kill her right then and there, but she couldn't help it. She was glad he was showing some emotion. Even if it wasn't positive, he couldn't be a psychopath.
"That's why I never compromise. I'm going to use you until I get tired of you, since you're my wife and I have that right, and then I'm going to hand you over to the green house. And then I'll come and visit you, but not to use you as a product, because products have never been of interest to me, but to find out if your opinion of Ryan remains the same. And for you to discover that I always get what I want, Anna. Always! Don't make the mistake of forgetting that for a second time!" He said and went to the door, but Anna was quicker and got in front of him, blocking his way. She knew he could easily take her away, but she needed to have a night with him, and she knew that if he left and thought about it, he would never come back.
However, under Adam's lethal, inquiring gaze, she couldn't think of anything to say. Her mind went blank.
Adam raised his hands to push her away, but when he raised his hands, she raised hers along with theirs, and held onto his arms. He could easily free himself, but something new made him wait. He was curious about what this girl wanted to do.