Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 68931 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 345(@200wpm)___ 276(@250wpm)___ 230(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68931 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 345(@200wpm)___ 276(@250wpm)___ 230(@300wpm)
My loss. Right. For a second, I’d almost forgotten. I swallow thickly, my anger receding, and his expression softens further.
Leaning forward, he lays his hand on my leg, his touch impacting me even through the thick layer of my coat. “Alinyonok…” His eyes hold mine captive. “I’m sorry about the accident. I really am.”
Accident. Even he doesn’t know. I jerk my leg away, my anger reigniting. “So sorry you were going to force your way into my penthouse? Is that why you ran me off the road with your fucking fleet of cars? To express your condolences?” My voice rises with every word. “Why can’t you just leave me the fuck alone? It’s over. We’re done. Finished. This stupid contract is—”
“In force until I say otherwise,” he says, his expression hardening. Whatever warmth I imagined in his voice is gone, his face set in cruel, harsh lines once more. “I don’t give a fuck what Nikolai says. You were promised to me and—”
“I’m not a fucking object!” I shriek, all my emotions suddenly coming to an explosive boil. I shake from the force of them, my stomach churning violently. I can feel myself unraveling, falling apart strand by strand, piece by bloody piece. Like Mama. Like the bloody piece of meat that was all that remained of her at the end. Like Papa’s guts that spilled out under Nikolai’s ruthless blade. The blade that I can once again see flashing toward my face, cutting a fiery line down my arm… Stop! Stop! Stop! The word blares like an alarm in my ears, and I realize I’m screaming it out loud, my fists hammering against the only available object—Alexei’s chest. Somehow, I’m on him, fighting him, shrieking something incoherent. Distantly, I hear him curse, and then he wraps his arms around me, restraining me. It doesn’t help. His embrace only maddens me. I lose all control, screaming and sobbing and biting like a wild animal until I finally collapse against him, my skull imploding with agonizing pain.
I don’t know if I pass out or if my brain simply shuts down for a while, like a computer needing a reboot, but the next thing I’m aware of is being carried up the stairs and toward my bedroom. Angry male voices surround me, and I dimly recognize that it’s my brothers arguing with Alexei. That’s who’s carrying me, I realize with a vague sense of shock—Alexei. Gently, he deposits me onto my bed, where I curl up into a ball, clutching my head and moaning. It feels like a chainsaw is cutting through my skull, slicing apart my brain.
“Shh, it’s okay. Here.” A female voice now. Lyudmila. She shoves two pills into my hand, and I have just enough strength left to bring them to my mouth and dry-swallow. A glass of water with a straw is placed next to my face, and I suck up a few sips before squeezing my eyes shut against the awful pain.
“You see this?” Nikolai’s voice is hard and biting. It reaches me through the pounding agony in my head. “That’s your doing. She was already on the mend, getting off the meds, and now this shit again. You need to stay the fuck away from her, you understand?”
Alexei’s tone matches his. “What the fuck is wrong with her? Has she seen a doctor?” he demands, and I force my eyes open long enough to see him glaring at Nikolai, the two of them standing nose to nose. Konstantin is next to them, his posture tense, ready to intervene in case things go south—as is Pavel, who’s looming in the doorway like a human mountain.
“That’s none of your fucking business, but yes,” Nikolai says through gritted teeth. “Now get the fuck out before I rid her of you for good.”
Alexei’s posture shifts ever so slightly, but I’ve been around dangerous men enough to comprehend the lethal tension in his stance… to see the menace in the way Alexei’s muscles coil, like a cobra preparing to strike. My pulse spikes, anxiety twisting my stomach.
“Stop,” I whisper, pushing up onto my elbow. Then stronger, “Stop!”
All the men freeze and turn to look at me.
Alexei is the first to move. He comes toward me, his long strides bringing him to me in three steps. His face is tense, worried. “Alinyonok…” He sits on the edge of my bed and reaches for me. Instinctively, I shrink back, and he stops, his expression altering as he drops his hand from midair. Something almost like pain flashes in his dark eyes, and then Konstantin and Nikolai are there, grabbing his arms to drag him off the bed.
“Don’t!” I cry out as Alexei twists out of their hold with a swift, savage movement. The sound of my own voice sends a shard of agony through my eyeballs, and I fall back onto the pillow with a groan, pressing the heels of my palms against my throbbing temples.