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It makes the tightness in my chest even worse.
Gripping the edge of the chair hard, I try to fight off the torrent of emotions that threaten to drown me every time I watch that incredible light sparkle in Alina’s eyes as she eats and moans with every bite.
“You’re not eating?” she asks, raising her eyebrows in question.
“No.” It’s the only word I can manage to press out because it feels as if steel bands are wrapped around my chest, squeezing the air out of my lungs.
She watches me curiously, and licks sauce from her bottom lip.
The bloody chair almost cracks from how hard I grip it.
Thankfully, she doesn’t say anything else.
I focus on trying to breathe while she finishes eating and drinking her water.
Once she’s done, I’ve managed to get myself under enough control to speak in full sentences again.
“Now, what the hell was that all about?” I demand.
At first, she just blinks at me in surprise and confusion. Then realization washes over her features. “Oh, that guy back in that alley.”
“Yes. And don’t give me some bullshit excuse about how he was some random creep. He was acting like he owns you. Why?”
“Because he did.”
Rage pulses through me like a lightning strike. Bracing my forearms on the dark wooden tabletop, I lean forward and say very slowly and very clearly, “He what?”
Alina just leans back in her chair and crosses her arms over her chest.
“You’re not leaving this room until you tell me who the fuck that was and what the hell you mean by, because he did,” I warn, my voice dropping lower.
“You could try asking that without the threat baked into it, you know.”
“Just answer the damn question.”
“He was my fiancé,” she snaps. Keeping her arms crossed, she glares at me from across the flickering candlelight.
Shock still rings inside my skull like giant bells, so I only manage to echo, “Fiancé?”
“Yes. His name is Eric Wilson, and I was engaged to him.”
“Why?”
“Because my father wanted to forge an alliance with his family.”
“And what about you?”
She frowns. “What about me?”
“What did you want?”
“Freedom.” The response is immediate. No hesitation and no time to consider.
My heart clenches painfully at the stoic expression she keeps on her face as she stares back at me with her chin raised. There are a thousand other things that I want to say, but I can’t.
So all I say is, “What happened?”
“He treated me like a glass trophy to be put on a shelf.” She says it so casually, as if it’s an everyday occurrence in her life. “So I begged my father to call off the engagement. And he did. Thankfully. But it won’t be long until my family arranges another marriage for me.”
