“Says the man who went down on me while I was unconscious?” I snap.
“Do you trust me, Yelena?”
“No,” I say flatly.
“Why is that?”
“Are you serious?” I yell. “You fucked me and then disappeared!”
I turn toward him, shivering at the intensity in his steely gaze but forcing myself to keep glaring at him. “I’m not naive enough to think that screwing you means we’redating!” I snap. “But you took my virginity…and youknewit…and then youblocked me,” I spit venomously. “For the record, that's pretty fucked?—”
“Do you still have feelings for him?”
My brow furrows. “What?”
Achilles’ jaw sets. “I told you I wasn’t going to be your tour guide or your experiment,” he growls. “Maybe I should have added that I had no interest in being your fucking backup plan.”
I gape at him. “What the actual hell are you talking?—”
“Is my being the new head of Para Bellum part of it?” he mutters. “Or is that just a nice coincidence?”
“I have no fucking idea what we’re even talking?—”
“We’re talking aboutKyle fucking Santoro!” he roars.
I go still.
“I—” I shudder. “What?”
“Iknow, Yelena.”
For a moment, I almost vomit.
He knows what happened. He knows my cowardice.
He knows I’m avictim.
So… Why is he looking at me with so much rage?
“I know you and he hooked up over the summer,” he growls. “And I know you’ve had a hard time letting go of it?—”
“Are. You. Fucking. Serious?!”
Even Achilles seems surprised by the ferocity in my roar.
“I didn’thook upwith him!!” I scream. “He?—”
No.
I’m not telling thisassholeabout the worst day of my life.
I swallow, rage surging in my eyes. “I did nothook upwith him!” I snarl.
Achilles’ jaw tightens. “Your fathers work together. You went out for sushi?—”
“Yes, to talk about the project!” I bark. “I went out to dinner with Kyleonce, to talk business. Because, guess what, fuck-face, I might actually want to do something with the empire I was born into! You think I’m here at Knightsblood killing myself to ace a degree in international finance so I can look pretty for a fucking husband?!”
Achilles says nothing, and I bark out another cold laugh.
