Chapter 3

Tears were outlined on my face when I awoke the next morning.

"I shouldn't expect him to be here when I wake up. Not the way I used to" he wasn't there when I woke up, but sun was peaking through the curtain as I lay there alone yet warm as something heavy covered the length of my body.

I was still naked from the night before. The same heavy sheet that he'd used to cover me was still there, but now there was something on top of it. As soon as I touched it, I knew what it was. It was a fur, something I had always wanted, but I had never owned one of my own. It brought more tears to my eyes as I looked at it, gently stroking the warm gray fox until holding it to my chest, I knew Theo had given it to me. Just knowing that made my heart skip a beat. In that moment, I couldn't let it go, and the love I felt for that man seemed to swell in me. He had never stopped loving me this way. He had always bought me little trinkets this way and yet, this had been the most luxurious he'd ever gotten. Theo had always known that I longed for a fur, but I'd never believed he'd purchase one for me. Yet, here it was, and as the fur ran through my fingers I rose to give in to a long thought of temptation. Despite being naked, I stood up allowing the coat to envelope me, and a chill went up my spine.

I had always wanted a fur, my mother had always worn furs, and standing there, I couldn't deny that Theo had touched something deep within me. Because he had not only given me this but given me a bittersweet reminder of when we had been happy. This was before we were married, before I'd heard him say those words which had ruined our marriage in so many ways, but back then I had been madly in love with him and he with me. We'd been dating then, for a year and a half in fact, and on this night, Theo had taken me to a grand ball. It was the fanciest place I'd ever been with Theo. He had never taken me to a place filled with so many people, he always made it just us two, but on that night, Theo was one of a million important people in a giant room, and because I was with him, people looked at me like I was important too. Whenever I was with him, he said I was beautiful, but that didn't mean I didn't try to impress him every time I saw him. That night was no exception. I had worn a red dress with sequins across the whole thing. I had let my cleavage spill out of the halter top. I liked it when Theo looked at me and when he touched my bare skin. It excited me to see the way he looked at me, the way his hands would subtly caress me in front of everyone, but always in a way, so that they knew that I was just for him. I had looked amazing that night, so much so that my mother had let me borrow one of her furs. She had never let me do that before, but just as I was about to descend the stairs, she had placed it around my shoulders. It was black and so large it covered me up altogether, and yet, I had been so proud as I met Theo at the bottom of the stairs.

He had been looking out the window as I stepped down and looking at me, he had approached me very slowly. It wasn't until he was right in front of me that he had reached out to hold me by the waist and he hadn't said anything. He had simply leaned down to kiss me. As we kissed, I felt his hands always moving up the length of my body until he was holding me by the throat, and deepening the kiss, I felt as he put something around my neck. When I looked down, there was a new necklace around my neck, and looking at him, I smiled. It was first time anyone, except my own father, had ever given me something so extravagant.

"I saw this, and it made me think of you. A pretty little thing, for my pretty little thing" he fingered the ruby necklace as he spoke gently kissing my cheek before pressing himself closer to me.

I felt him nip at the hollow of my neck as he wrapped his arms around me to lift him off the ground. He carried me to the car this way and when we were in the car, his arm stayed around my waist, and sitting close beside him, he kissed me feverishly. It didn't stop until we had pulled into the driveway of the party and as he drew away from me, I couldn't help looking at him, and for the first time, I knew I loved him. That was the first time I was ever scared. When a woman allowed herself to love someone, it opened her up for pain, and looking at him, I feared he'd never love me back. My money meant I could have any man I wanted, and I wanted him. I didn't know how our future would play out, but on that night, I lacked my usual courage. I wouldn't be able to tell him until the night was over. Because it wasn't until then that I realized that I was more then just a pretty thing to him, at least, I thought I was. It wasn't until much later that everything changed.

"Don't go wondering off with all the other ladies, my dear, I can't bear to be away from you" his arm had snaked around my waist holding me close as we exited the car his voice low as we walked around the party that night, Theo kept me always there, and when he suddenly pulled me away from the party, it was the last thing I was expecting.

"What are you up to?" the question never received an answer as we entered what looked like an office, but on that night, it was being used as a coat room, yet, as I looked out the huge bay windows for the first time Theo left me alone.

"I was getting bored with the useless conversations and this house is so big, we could hide anywhere, and no one would find us" there was a certain seduction in his voice as he placed my mother's fur around my shoulders and when I looked at him, he was pressing me back into his chest.

"You're so beautiful, tonight especially" Theo whispered it so softly as he drew me back into the plains of his chest.

"You look very handsome tonight too. I'm an incredibly lucky lady" I could feel it as his lips descended over my neck until I finally dared to look at him and without words, he captured my lips to kiss me.

There was something in the way he kissed me then, in the way, he kept me pressed to his chest my head tilted up to arch into him. Theo always had an arm around my waist as his other hand held the back of my neck. I had become completely lost in him, I didn't realize he had moved us until I felt the hard wood of the desk knock into my knees, and when he drew away, we were no longer in front of the window.

My mothers fur left my shoulders as he took it suddenly to lay it out in front of me on the desk.

"Theo, someone could find us…we have to be careful" even as the words were leaving my lips, I knew there was no walking away, and as he laid me facedown into the wood of the desk, I knew I was at his mercy.

"Should we be doing this right now?" I heard myself whisper it, but there was never any response as my body was bent over the desk as I used my hands to hold myself up as I looked back at him.

"I thought you like to dance with temptation, my love?" there was a challenge in the way he said it, his hands still touching me seductively until suddenly he stopped, and with only a moment's pause, he was lowering the zipper at the back of my dress.

I hadn't worn anything under my dress. I stood before him naked then as he looked at me with a hunger that I recognized as his hands reached out for me. He drew me back until his clothed hardness pressed into the swell of my ass. In that moment, I turned my head, so I could look at him, but he was already looking at me with a lustful gaze that made me sure that we were both about to dance with temptation.

"I don't care about anyone at this infernal party anymore. I just want to be with you. I can't resist you another moment, I just want to sink into you, and have a moment between just us" his voice was soft, almost sacred as he spoke, as one of his hands touched my stomach as another came up to gently caress the warmth of my skin.

"I want that too. No one's ever made me feel the way you do" I instinctively leaned closer to him.

I had accepted his challenge long ago and as our eyes burned into each other, I was tempted to admit my love for him. I had always been the rich old dragon's daughter, someone everyone sought to claim, but no one really cared for. I was too crass, to strong willed, not to mention, strong minded, and yet this man had embraced all of that in me, so unquestioningly. I had never met anyone else like him in all my life and as I fell into the temptation he presented; I knew that just accepting this moment would spur something inside of him. I knew it would spur him on and I felt that then especially as the hand on my stomach moved to cup my breast as he held the back of my neck, so he could kiss me. As we kissed that hand left my neck though as he brought it to open his pants and when he was pressed into the small of my back, I moaned.

"Theo, I want you inside me…I want you to fuck me, right now" I whispered it louder then I meant to something in the words seeming to make him jump into action.

Our kiss broke apart in an instant and before I could say another word, he was positioning me the way he wanted me. He pressed me forward into the fur, my body laid over the desk as he spread my legs, and as his hands found a secure grip on my waist, I knew my wish would be granted. Theo had never been gentle with me, but he had never been cruel either. That moment was no different as he immediately did as he pleased. He was rough as he filled me. He didn't treat me as if I would break, but he thrust quickly into me. Slowly, an exquisite feeling began to fill me as his hands held me in place, and I heard something incoherent as it slipped passed my lips. There was something in the way he filled me over and over, in the way he thrust up into me with a claiming presence that thrilled me as I angled my hips to move with him. I could feel my body sliding across the desk, the fur pressing into my naked breasts even as my hands reached out to hold it close, but that wasn't good enough. I knew I would have bruises on my legs, yet, as I reached out to grab the ends of the desk nothing stopped him. Theo kept rocking into my body, and I could feel the sweat from my body as it squelched across the wood as he filled me with his roughness. My hands came to grip the ends of the desk as a strangled scream left my throat. Theo didn't try to quiet me. We both knew that no one could hear us as the music from the party played in the background amid our love making. I knew otherwise that someone would have discovered us, but still we were not any louder. I bit down on my screams even as Theo grunted his pleasure behind me. Nothing else mattered except this moment and we both felt that as we indulged in each other that night.

Theodore was not the first man I had been with, nor was I the first one he had been with, but there was something about the way we were together. When we were together, when we had sex, it wasn't like it had been with the others that had come before. There was a surety in the way he touched me. There was a certainty in the way he looked at me. Every time we came together this way it was as if we were connecting. As if he was claiming me for himself in a way that no one had ever dared before. Yet, I had never lost my control with him even as he used my waist to have me as he pleased, I was not some doll for him to control, but his equal. Together, we were bold and ruthless, and in that moment, I knew it was those qualities that made me so sure I wanted to spend my life with him. Yet suddenly, I felt those hands as they curled beneath me until I was held to his chest once more.

"I could stay like this with you" Theo had said it under his breath, so that I had almost not heard him, his hands still holding me to him.

One cupping my breast as the other flicked at my clit. We were both close, I knew that, but I didn't want to lose this moment.

I turned my head then to capture his lips, the kiss becoming more passionate when we came.

"Theo" my voice sounded strangled, a gasp of something desperate leaving me as my head fell onto his shoulder as he pressed me close.

We didn't say anything for a long time then as the sound of our breathing seemed to fill the room. I got a certain satisfaction from making him lose control this way. I'd never seen him lose control in front of anyone else, but when he was like this with me, he was vulnerable. There was something special about having him this way. As our breathing settled, I felt him touch my face, and when I looked at him, I once again knew just how deeply I loved him. He could be so many things, cruel, unwavering, and downright spiteful. Yet, when Theo was with me this was what I saw. He was tender, a man who knew what he wanted, and when he leaned down to kiss me there was a soft passion to him that I enjoyed. I liked that no one would ever see this side to him, but me. That kiss was soft and sweet, and, in that moment, I never wanted to be without him.

When he left my body, he didn't leave me to fix myself up again the way another man might have, but after our kiss broke, he dressed me. Slowly, he pulled my dress back on gently zipping the back again, and when the fur covered me again, I felt him kiss my neck. When I turned to look at him, he was smiling at me, and neither of us had a hair out of place. No one could tell what we had just been doing and as it became our secret, he took my face in his hands. When he kissed me then, I made up my mind to tell him I loved him.

"Someday, I'll buy you your own fur, and you'll never have to borrow one again" Theo had whispered it for only me to hear his eyes looking deeply into mine.

I wanted to say it in that moment, and it had taken the inner dragon within me to do it.

"A nice fur would be nice, but there's something else I want. I want you, all to myself, for the rest of my life. I love you, Theodore, and…I don't expect you to say it back. I just want to be with you for as long as you'll let me" I was completely vulnerable before his eyes then as I looked up into his eyes without wavering.

He seemed to smile at me then as he suddenly drew me close. He didn't say it back. That was better than if he had, for I don't think it would have meant as much. Instead, we left that party then, with his arm around me, and mine around him.

I wasn't worried that he hadn't said it back.

"You already have me" he had said it out of nowhere as I was about to get out of the car after we had just arrived at my house, the words had made me look at him, and the second I did, he had taken the opportunity to kiss me in a way that tempted me to go home with him instead.

I didn't. Not on that night, but it wouldn't be long before I saw Theo Galavan again. He came to see me the very next day. He always had a way of surprising me, but that day would change my life. It would change our life and set us on the path that led us both to Gotham city. I hadn't been expecting him, but one of the servants told me he had just arrived. I found him standing in the courtyard at the front of my home.

"Stop" there was something in the way he said it that instantly made me freeze as I moved to cross the courtyard towards him.

"Stay right where you are. I want to be able to see you" I could feel him looking at me, appreciating me, once again my hair was loose down my back, my dress red, and yet he kept looking at my face in a way that instantly made me nervous.

"Theodore Galavan, what's going on? Is something wrong?" I was smiling then, working to hide my nerves as we stood six feet apart our eyes never leaving each other.

"Fine, I just came to a very important decision, and I thought I should make you aware of it" there was a playfulness to the way he said it then, he was acting strangely, but I went with him as he continued.

"I've decided I want you to be my wife…that is if you will have me for your husband?" He said it softly as if he didn't think I would accept him, it was the most vulnerable I had ever seen him.

He stood there waiting for my answer and all I could do is walk towards him and wrap my arms around him.

"Yes, I'll marry you, I'd kill you if you even dared to ask someone else. I'm madly in love with you" I couldn't hide my excitement then as he held me in his arms.

I had wanted this, I knew I had even if I'd never really thought of it, and it didn't matter that he hadn't said the actual words. I knew somehow that he loved me then and when he said the words, they were sweeter than I expected. He picked me up and spun me around as we kissed then not seeming to stop until he set me back on my feet.

"You are the only woman who could ever safely put up with me. I don't think I could love anyone else, Vivian, you are my equal and my heart. I love you, so very much" Theo kissed the shell of my ear as he whispered the words in my ear.

I couldn't stop smiling then as he held me then as if refusing to part us for any reason until his words died away. That was when I turned to kiss him. We stood there, in that spot, kissing that way for who knows how long until we knew we had to leave to tell my family. Those times had left us long ago and now, I was all too aware of that. Yet as I stood there in that moment, my new fur around my naked body that memory made me shiver.

It hadn't been that way in a long time, and I didn't know if this was a piece offering or a sign somehow that there was something in his heart still reserved for me. There was a time when I would have walked out of the room wearing this fur and nothing else just to show him how much I appreciated my gift, but not that day. I found myself hanging it gently on a hanger and opening the closet, I let it stand alone. I found myself looking at it as I dressed. I knew I couldn't just ignore his gift. I had to say something or do something, but I didn't know what. Looking at myself in the mirror, I didn't know if I could bear to show him my love especially as I questioned my existence in his heart. I just wanted it to be the way it once was. I didn't know how to be with him now, yet, I had to push that all aside.

"I have to be his fearsome queen today" I was all too aware of what was expected of me now that he had brought me to Gotham city.

He wants me to impress these Maniax he had recruited to his cause, and I dressed to do just that. I wore my hair in a tight bun with a tight black pencil skirt with a matching belt.

I wore a blue blouse above that with the black stiletto heels that I knew he liked me to wear when introducing me to the world. I made sure not a hair was out of place when I left that bedroom. I heard my husband and the Maniax before I saw them. When I walked into the room, they were just ending a game of Russian roulette and as I stood in the doorway, one of the Maniax, a boy with red hair came towards me with an unsheathed samurai sword in his hand.

"Who's she?" called the boy making as if to run me through.

Theo stood behind him smiling, already aware of the mistake that had been made, and he was not disappointed.