AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Knocking the back of my hand against the door once, I unlocked it and pushed it open.
My heart squeezed at the thought of seeing her after a long day, feeling hopeful that she might finally come around.
But the moment I found her lying on the floor in a pile of white fabric, that hope dissolved from within my chest. The cover for the dress I had dropped off earlier was unzipped, and the dress wasn’t on the hanger anymore.
It was easy enough to piece together. The gown I chose for her was in pieces, scattered around the floor, and completely destroyed. It was unsalvageable.
Anastasia ruined it, all likely out of spite.
I tried reminding myself that I needed to be calm, but that went out the window.
Staring at her in complete disbelief, completely lost at how she managed to create that much damage, I didn’t know what to say at first.
But as she lifted her head away from the pile of tulle, Anastasia looked at me plainly, as if she hadn’t spent the afternoon shredding the thousand-dollar dress.
My blood was boiling.
“What did you do?” I questioned, struggling to keep my tone level. Blinking through my bewilderment, I absently placed the sandwich and drink on the nearest surface and kept my eyes locked on her.
Apathetic, Anastasia barely managed to sit up from her place on the floor. Even if she looked defeated, there was no mistaking the slight twist of satisfaction on her lips, and the lingering anger in her eyes.
“I gave you my final answer.”
All of that hope I previously had suddenly felt like it had been for nothing, and that defeat began sinking into my bones. I wanted things to be easy, but Anastasia proved to me time and time again that she wouldn’t let it happen. So long as she could move and breathe, she was going to be difficult.
As much as I wanted to be calm, there was no stopping the sharp edge in my tone. “Why must you fight me at every turn?”
“Because you won’t listen to me!” Anastasia shouted, regaining some of her strength to argue, it seemed.
“I have listened long enough. I listened while you tore this room apart. I listened while you insulted me and described exactly how you felt. But I’m done listening. Now, it’s your turn to hear what I have to say,” I began, feeling rigid as I did my best to keep the brunt of my fury locked within me. “I cannot take back what I’ve done, or the choices I made. And now, to keep us both alive, we have to follow through with it. The time for you to freak out and damage everything that crosses your path is over. You are going to pull it together, and we are going to get married to save both our asses. Do you hear me?”
Anastasia’s face hardened, appearing like she was prepared to explode all over again. Yet, her voice came out small but terse. “You can’t make me. I won’t do what you want.”
“You’re forgetting that I can do exactly that, but I’d prefer to have you participate. Hostility never made a good foundation for marriage.”
She narrowed her eyes at me, looking at me like I had multiple heads. “You’re making jokes right now? You have the audacity to joke about this?”
“Would it make you feel better if I said it was a coping mechanism?” I sneered back at her, growing more tired of her unwavering stubbornness.
Anastasia scowled at me. “You never cease to amaze me with how ignorant you are.”
“Get used to it. Better yet, help me help you. Cooperate, and this will be easier for both of us to stomach,” I said, losing the willpower to prove myself to her, despite being aware of how important that was.
“What you’re not getting is that I won’t. I won’t!”
Sucking in a breath, feeling tested at every turn, I reached for that shred of patience I had left. “You can refuse me as much as you want, but it won’t change anything. I know you want to believe that I’m the bad guy here, but this is paradise compared to the alternate fate Erasmo would have for you. If it were up to him, you wouldn’t even be in New York anymore. He would exploit your name in whatever ways he could, all to fuck with your family.”
Stunned by the harsh words coming from my mouth, Anastasia blinked back at me. Finally, she didn’t say anything.
“Worse fates have come to women with lesser names than yours, and you need to realize that I am the one person standing in between you and whatever sick punishment he’s capable of cooking up. I don’t want anything to happen to you, and if you just stopped to think for one minute, you might see that I’m actually trying to help you,” I explained, urging her with my serious tone. “If it wasn’t me abducting you that night, it would’ve been him eventually. You are his prize right now—his most significant form of blackmail to hold over your family. To keep you safe, we need to make this legal.”
That disbelief glimmered in her eyes, only for a familiar wrath to sneak back in. Pushing herself back to her feet, she met my gaze as intensely as she could manage.
“You’re forgetting that none of this would’ve happened without you. I am a Levov, and that is the only immunity I need. In case you didn’t realize it, my cousins and brothers run this city. Not you, and certainly not Erasmo.”
And just like that, we were at another stalemate.
Chapter 9 - Anastasia
