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Even if she looked tired and ready to surrender, it was evident she wasn’t. It was clear that the Levov princess wasn’t a preened house cat, but a lioness prepared to fight for what she wanted.
“Are you finished?” I asked, testing the waters.
“No,” she muttered, straightening up in place. Her expression never changed from that flat look of disgust. “So long as you keep me in this room, in this house, I will not be finished.”
“And how do you expect me to let you out when this is how you treat the space I offered you?”
“You did this to yourself the moment you decided to kidnap me,” she snarled, reminiscent of a wild animal.
With a sigh, I leaned against the doorframe and tried to maintain whatever patience I had left. She was making it incredibly difficult. “This isn’t what I want for us, Anastasia. It was supposed to be a new start for us.”
Her brows furrowed as the rage moved through her, and slowly, she stood. Her arms were rigid at her sides. “Us? This has nothing to do with us. It has everything to do with you.”
“Once we’re married—”
“I’m going to stop you right there,” she began, eyes focused squarely on me. Venom dripped from her words. “I won’t marry you after what you did. After you terrorized a lecture hall full of innocent people, took me, and now you want to ruin my life entirely. Why would I want to be with someone as conniving and mean-spirited as you?”
Recoiling at the accusation, my heart settled on the latter. “Mean-spirited? You think putting myself in the middle of a feud with your family and my boss to keep you safe is mean-spirited?”
“If you don’t like that one, I can come up with other words that describe you,” Anastasia spat, showing no signs of giving up. “Like selfish, arrogant, stupid, cowardly, pathetic—”
“That’s enough,” I fired back at her, growing more tense as she reawakened the anger I had worked hard to suppress. “You’re in my house, under my roof. You are in no place to talk to me like that.”
“Oh, I’m not?” Anastasia asked, feigning innocence. “You should’ve thought of that before locking me in here!”
Incredibly aware that we were only going in circles, and having no doubt it would continue, I decided to cut my losses. The wound was too fresh, and there was no way she could be convinced to see any sense.
“Congratulations. For all of this, you get to stay in here all night,” I said, gesturing vaguely at the mess around her before growing more serious. “You might want to try being more civil. It’ll get you farther than pulling tantrums, but as a Levov brat, I suspect you’re used to getting your way.”
During the additional moment I stood in the doorway, Anastasia’s face turned red with her wrath. It swelled within her as she gritted her teeth and reached for a picture frame near her.
“Go to hell!” she screamed, chucking the broken frame right at me.
In a smooth save, I slammed the door shut, only to hear the frame smack the other side and further shatter the glass panel as it hit the floor again.
Even as I locked the door and continued down the hall, I could hear every curse she threw at me, seemingly with a second wind thanks to my bright idea of wanting to appeal to her.
Clenching my fists, I tried to tune her out as that mutual rage pumped through my veins.
We had something special once, but it seemed that the woman I knew was someone completely different. I never really knew her at all.
Despite having gone too far to turn back at that point, I couldn’t help but wonder if I had bit off more than I could chew. If I decided to mess with the wrong woman.
As far as I could tell, Anastasia was prepared to make my life a living hell. As much as I wanted to break her down, she was working even harder to do the same to me.
It was surprisingly effective.
Chapter 7 - Anastasia
An entire day went by, and there was no sign of any opportunity for me to leave that room.
After spending the entire night thrashing around the space and letting out that sheer anger, I slept for most of the following day. It wasn’t rejuvenating in the slightest, more fitful than anything. My dreams were bleak and fragmented, overshadowed by the reminder of where I was. Of the situation I unwillingly found myself in.
Food had been placed at the door like an offering, but I didn’t even look at Nik when he dropped it off. My stomach was in knots, and as much as I needed to eat, I couldn’t bring myself to.
I could only think about wanting out of that room, and how Nik deceived me.
After he turned me away in Europe, claiming he wanted to protect me from his dangerous lifestyle, I assumed that would be it. Of course, I knew he was from New York, but the city was big enough that our paths crossing naturally seemed unlikely. I thought I’d continue on and never see him again.
