The silence after their fight was heavier than thunder. Daniel paced the room like a caged beast, jaw locked, hands balled into fists. Linda stood near the window, refusing to bow her head, her breath ragged but her spine straight.
Neither spoke at first. The echo of her words — No to domestic violence — still rang in Daniel's ears like a curse. His pride screamed to break her spirit, yet a dangerous part of him… admired her courage.
Finally, he turned sharply toward her.
"You think you're brave, but you're reckless," he hissed. "One more word like that, and this village will crush you."
Linda's lips curved into a bitter smile. "Then let them try. I won't live as a ghost in my own life."
Her defiance struck him like a blade. Rage flared, but beneath it burned something hotter, something he hated admitting: desire. Her fire made him furious — but also alive.
He stepped closer, close enough that she felt the storm of his presence. "Careful, wife," he murmured, his voice low and dangerous. "Revolutionaries don't last long here."
Linda met his gaze, her heart pounding. "Neither do tyrants."
The air thickened, silence pressing down until even their breathing felt too loud. His hand twitched at his side — wanting to shake her, wanting to pull her close, wanting too many things at once.
But instead, he turned away abruptly, grabbing his coat. "I have business." His tone was sharp, final.
The door slammed behind him.
Left alone, Linda pressed her hand to her chest, steadying the furious rhythm of her heart. For the first time, she wondered if the real danger wasn't just the village… but Daniel himself.
DANIEL'S POV :
The night streets were cold, shadows wrapping him like an old cloak. Daniel slipped back into his other life with practiced ease — the one Linda could never know about.
At the edge of the marketplace, Daniel spotted one of his dealers lounging against a broken cart, smoke curling lazily from his lips. The man's grin widened when he saw him.
"Well, well. If it isn't the golden businessman by day, ghost by night. Heard you had quite the show at the festival." He chuckled, low and mocking. "Your wife? Standing up to the elders like that? Bold little thing."
Daniel's jaw tightened, but he didn't respond. He hated giving fuel to parasites like him.
The dealer smirked wider, pushing off the cart and circling closer. "Tell me, Daniel, how does it feel? To have a wife with more spine than sense? Doesn't fit the image of the perfect, obedient bride, does it?"
"Watch your mouth," Daniel warned, his voice low, dangerous.
But the man only leaned in, whispering with venom. "Maybe you like it. Maybe you enjoy a woman who makes you look weak in front of your people. Or maybe…" his grin sharpened, "…maybe someone else –
That was it.
Daniel's fist connected with the man's jaw so hard the sickening crack echoed in the alley. The dealer staggered, spitting blood, but Daniel wasn't finished. He grabbed him by the collar, slamming him against the wall with brute force.
"You ever speak about her again," Daniel snarled, his voice trembling with barely contained fury, "and I'll tear your tongue out myself. She's mine to deal with — not yours. Not anyone's."
Daniel's boots pounded against the dirt road as he stormed away from the dealer's pitiful laughter. His fists still ached, knuckles raw, but it wasn't the pain that unsettled him.
It was the truth buried in those mocking words.
He despised Linda's fire, her reckless defiance, the way she challenged the chains everyone else accepted without question. He had sworn to crush that flame, to mold her into the quiet, obedient wife the village demanded.
And yet…
The image of another man sneering about her, claiming she needed to be "taught" her place—it twisted something deep inside him. Rage unlike any he'd felt on the battlefield. The idea of anyone else laying claim to her, even in words, was unbearable.
Daniel stopped, dragging a hand through his damp hair. His chest rose and fell heavily, caught between anger and something far more dangerous—something that felt like possession.
"She's mine," he muttered under his breath, the words tasting like both a vow and a curse.
But even as he said it, a sliver of doubt cut through him. If she was his, why couldn't he control her? Why did her eyes, burning with rebellion, haunt him more than the blood on his hands?
Daniel clenched his jaw, forcing the thought away. He had no time for weakness. By morning, he would return to his role, sharper and colder than before.
Still, as the night swallowed him, one truth gnawed at his soul—
he could silence the world's insults with his fists, but Linda's voice?
That was a battle he wasn't sure he could ever win.
PLEASE SUPPORT,
LOVE FROM ,
♡LINDA AND DANIEL♡