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“But he can fight a bear,” Isabella says. “He told me so.”
I frown. “That’s… good for Stefan.”
The man smirks at Isabella. There’s genuine affection there. I don’t blame him—bear fighter or not, it’s hard not to love my daughter. She’s an angel.
“Can I take the car everywhere, Mama?” she asks. “Please?"
I muss her hair, which makes her wrinkle her nose. "You don't have a license yet. The car has to stay in the ballroom."
She starts to pout, but then she catches sight of Adrik standing behind me.
“Can I take it everywhere?” she asks him. “Pleeeeeease?”
“Excuse me,” I say, waving my hands in her face. “Who’s the mom here? Who makes the rules?”
I hear Adrik snort behind me, but I ignore it. Not the time.
“Me,” I answer for her. “I’m the mom. I make the rules.”
Isabella frowns. “But it’s Adrik’s house. He makes rules in his house.”
“She has a point,” Adrik says, sounding far too pleased with the turn this conversation is taking.
“And we live here now,” Isabella continues. “So he makes some rules.”
I frown deeper and bend down in front of her. “Honey, we don’t live here. We’re staying here for a little while, but—”
Isabella’s eyes go round and her lower lip quivers. “He said I was going to live here!”
An eerie kind of calm settles over me. I turn slowly to Adrik. “Oh, did he now?”
The smile stretched across his face is lethal. The kind of smile that weakens knees and lowers inhibitions. It’s arrogant and confident, and even now, I can’t quite decide if I should slap it away or kiss it off of him.
"Actually, I told her you were the one who made all of this happen,” he says.
The double meaning isn't lost on me.
It's decided: I'll slap the smile off his face, consequences be damned.
"Thank you, Mama! Can you—I want a hug." She bends her head towards me the way she does whenever she needs a cuddle.
I want to explain to her that this is all a big mistake, but… I can't. I can't crush her hopes, can’t confuse her.
And Adrik knows all that perfectly. He knew I wouldn't be able to. That's why he told her what he told her—because he knows I’ll do anything to make Isabella happy.
Anything up to and including going through with this facade of a marriage to a vicious man who kidnapped my daughter.
He found my weakness and he’s extorting it for all it's worth.
Well, two can play that game.
"You're welcome, honey." I walk over and wrap an arm around her little shoulders, squeezing her close. "But did Adrik tell you the best part?"
She gasps. "What? No! What is the best part?"
"You didn't tell her?" I ask him mockingly. "Were you waiting for me to give her the news?"
Adrik doesn't respond. He just eyes me carefully. Wondering what card I’m about to play.
Isabella wiggles around in her chair, practically vibrating with excitement. "What? What is it?"
"Well, you know how you always wanted a service dog?"
I can barely get the question out before she starts shouting. "I always wanted a puppy! Will it be big? A big one? I want a big, fluffy one! Remember? Like the pictures?"
Isabella made me cut out far too many pictures of dogs from newspapers and magazines so she could tape them to the inside of a cardboard box. It was a child's version of a dream board. All of the dogs were retrievers or sheepdogs, ginormous beasts we never could have kept in our tiny apartment.
I nod. "Just like the pictures. I'll show them to Adrik before he picks out your doggy so he knows which one to get."
Adrik is stone-faced and quiet. Triumph washes over me. Followed quickly by guilt.
Isabella is still doing a little happy dance in the seat of her go-kart. I’m smirking… but Adrik could yank this all out from underneath us at the snap of his fingers.
I feel instantly guilty. In an attempt to yank back on this sick game of tug of war we’re embroiled in, I offered up my daughter's dream as a sacrifice.
What kind of mother does that make me?
Who am I becoming?
Cool dread snakes around me, squeezing tight. Isabella will forgive me when this all comes crashing down. Eventually, she’ll forget about Adrik and the go-kart and the dog that never was.
But I won’t forgive myself.
And I will never forgive Adrik.
He’s making me crazy. Turning me into a version of myself I don’t recognize, someone who lashes out violently and acts recklessly. We haven’t even known each other for twenty-four hours, and I can already sense how he is stripping me down to my baser instincts. I’m a bundle of rage and lust, and I can feel the coming implosion imminently.
I might be a lost cause.
But I can’t take Isabella down with me.
Adrik clears his throat. “Why don’t you go show me those photos right now, Emery? I’d like to see them.”
“You mean, you’re—right now?” I ask.
“The sooner the better.” He smiles pleasantly.
To Isabella’s eyes, it’s just a smile. Nothing more.
But I see it for what it really is: a feral beast baring its fangs.
Isabella beams back at him and then turns to me. “Can I keep playing?”
I want to squeeze her to my side and never let go. God knows what will happen if I do. But she’s happy here. And I have a feeling that, wherever Adrik is taking me, the conversation won’t be fit for little ears.
“Sure, honey. I’ll be back in a little while, okay?”
Isabella doesn’t hear me. She’s already tearing away into the ballroom, Stefan close behind her.
My heart thumps hard against my rib cage as I get back to my feet. When I turn around, Adrik is already walking out through the doors.
I follow him out into the hallway, but I don’t immediately see him.
Then the floor comes out from under me.
Or rather, I come up from it. I’m so shocked that I can’t even muster up a scream. I go stiff as I’m flung through the air and then, once again, pressed against a wall.
Adrik is in front of me, on top of me. His full lips are pressed into an angry line and his eyes are zapped of their usual blue. All that’s left is a frigid silver.
“This is not a game, kiska,” he growls.
