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“It’s fine. You don’t have to explain; you don’t owe me anything.”
I add. “I owe you, apparently, so I’ll do what you say until you release me.”
“If I release you.” He says out of the blue, and I gasp as I stare at him in shock.
“If?”
He smirks, rolling my thumb with his.
“I want you, Lilli. I’ve made no secret of that, and you want me too.”
“Keep telling yourself that.” I attempt to pull my hand away, but he’s too strong and says in a low voice. “You are angry that I’m not taking you to the party. You hate that I’m taking another woman and, in your eyes, consider it a betrayal.”
“I suppose.” I’m not even going to try to deny it. I do feel betrayed, and I also know I have no right to think that.
I lean forward and stare him right in the eye.
“I never asked to be here, Mikhail or for any of this. I’ll admit you saved me from making a mess of things and have been nothing but considerate since we met. You helped me escape one life but are holding me ransom before I can start the next. I don’t feel very good about myself if I’m honest and I may as well call myself Iris Mahoney and be done with it.”
“Is that what you think? That you’re my whore?”
I am slightly mollified by the concern in his eyes and say sadly, “I kind of think I am.”
He sighs and drags me even closer and whispers, “If you were my whore, you would not be traveling on this aircraft. You would have been sent home the minute our business was concluded. As I said before, it’s a onetime offer and I use sex for release and nothing else.”
He glances around him, and I smile inside. He is probably hoping that nobody will overhear him and it’s strangely endearing.
Then he whispers so softly I strain to hear him.
“I am obsessed with you, Lilli flower. I have never met a woman who I can’t stop thinking about. You will have to excuse me while I deal with that.”
“We don’t always have that luxury, Mikhail.” I shake my head and sigh. “In the real world, you must work hard to get what you want. I don’t know a lot about relationships but I kind of guess the same rules apply. Money can buy you a lot, but a person’s heart is priceless. It takes more than hard currency to get that and I’m not sure it’s what you want, anyway.”
I lean closer and smile, staring into his eyes with a gentle sigh. “I understand because I’m the same.”
He says nothing, there is no reaction at all, and I say carefully, “I should hate you, but I don’t. I should demand to leave, but I don’t want to. When you’re with me, every nerve ending in my body stands to attention and when you’re not, I’m counting down the time until you are. I don’t want to feel like this. You called me an obsession. I kind of think that’s rubbed off on me and I’m worried that in figuring this out, one of us may decide it’s not for them leaving the other one to pick up the pieces and remember when they had it all.”
“I can’t offer you reassurances, Lilli.” He raises my hand to his lips and kisses it softly. “I can only offer you my truth. Trust that I won’t treat you badly or do anything to embarrass you. Know that I want the best for you and understand that I’m a selfish bastard who always gets what he wants, even if he gets it by unusual means.”
“So, what am I supposed to do while you play your father?” His eyes glitter as I return to the elephant in the room, and he says roughly, “Enjoy my wealth. Do what makes you happy and accept that it is you I will come home to that night.”
The attendant approaches and Mikhail says firmly, “We’ll have the steak, medium rare. Salmon to start and tiramisu for dessert.”
The attendant moves away, and I glare at his amused smirk.
“You are such an asshole, Mikhail. Would it kill you to let me choose for once?”
“One day, Lilli flower. One day I will let you choose, and I would advise you to choose carefully because that decision will be the most important one of both our lives.”
CHAPTER 39
MIKHAIL
Our town house in Belgravia is one of the most luxurious we own. My family are frequent visitors to London, especially my father, who always loved it here. Now I’m second guessing his reasons for that, and I don’t like how it cuts me deep inside. It’s as if the memories are now sharpened and hidden objects are revealing themselves in the picture. He was always a secretive man anyway, but now I’m questioning his motives behind that.
The Romanovs are a family before anything else. Everything we do is for the good of that and yet my father apparently protected a secret that didn’t involve my mom. I need to discover who this woman is and why my father spent so much time with her. Was she a whore or something else entirely? A mistress, perhaps. That would be the most logical explanation.
Lilli has withdrawn from me and despite all my efforts to reassure her, she is deep in thought and her silence hangs heavier in the air as she gazes around our home from home. It’s a lot to take in when faced with extreme wealth. Not many people have the privilege of living like this, and I am waving it like a tempting flag in her direction and then will probably take it all away when I’m bored with the game.
