“Please don’t do that.”
“Repeat what I said.”
I struggle to dig through my brain. So much has happened already. Does she really expect me to pay attention?
Maybe she isn’t mean at all. Maybe she’s just stuck like me. “I’m sorry. I don’t—”
I howl when she pinches my upper arm. A welt rises instantly like a mosquito bite.
I rub the screaming flesh of my upper arm. She’s old, but she’s got sharp nails. “I think you broke the skin.”
“Get tougher skin.”
I glare at her. “You don’t know what he did to me.”
“I can tell you what hewilldo to you if you don’t shape up.”
That shuts me up quickly. I stare at the spot she pinched as she continues, “If you play your part right, Pavel Sergeyevich will only be in your life a little while. Okay,krolik?”
“What does that mean? A ‘little while’?”
She sighs and nods. “When you get pregnant and have his heir. That’s a little while.”
I cringe. “That’s not happening.”
She laughs bitterly, eyes closing with amusement. “Whatever you say. You’re the boss, right?” Her laughter fades as she drifts into another room, leaving me by myself. “Little rabbit thinks she can do what she wants. Ha!”
Panic rises as I glance around. While everything looks like a wonderland of dazzling luxury on the surface, I see this place for what it is. There’s no denying it at this point.
It’s my prison.
The designer clothes in the closet are my uniforms. The silk bedding is my cot. These cream-colored walls are the iron bars. The only thing missing is the warden.
I stare at the empty doorway where Viktoria once stood.
Well, actually...
I’m three seconds away from fainting when Pavel walks into the bedroom. It’s odd seeing how his dark suit contrasts everything.
Like a demon entering a heavenly place.
He’s the devil. My eyes flutter to his forehead, expecting horns. Big red ones or spiraling tall black ones? Which would he choose?And this is my hell.
I swallow hard, putting on a brave face to ask, “What’s going to happen to me now?”
I whimper when he focuses on me, frosted green gems burning like hot coals into my flesh.
“Viktoria outlined your duties. You’ll be my wife and produce an heir. We’ll be married within forty-eight hours.” He says all this matter-of-factly.
Can it really be that simple?
I blink rapidly. “You can’t be serious.”
“Do I look like I’m joking, Liya?” He steps toward me calmly, the flirtatious man from the bar vanishing with each passing second. Was he ever there? He’s inches away from me now, pure energy brimming from his stance. “I don’t like repeating myself.”
My thighs twitch instinctively, and I almost hate how my body responds to him.
Is this really the same guy who took my virginity?