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I scowled at him but didn’t contradict him.
“I mean,” he said, for some reason feeling compelled to go on, “you wouldn’t want to put your family’s good name at risk, would you?”
“No, I definitely wouldn’t want to do that,” I said on a deep sigh.
“What’s the matter?” he asked, his eyes narrowing slightly as he studied me.
I could feel his gaze boring into me, practically compelling me to speak. But I held my tongue.
My father would be too embarrassed to say anything about what he called my “accusations.” And I didn’t want to confess what I had done to Davit.
Both because being disbelieved by the one person who should have had my back stung, and because I didn’t want to force Davit’s hand or see how he would react to my disobedience.
At that thought I sobered and looked at his face.
I was still attracted to him, and there was no way I could deny it. But it hit me again that I was in an incredibly vulnerable position.
I knew I couldn’t count on my father, and even if I could, I would still be at Davit’s mercy.
I might try to convince myself I could handle it, but I knew that I couldn’t.
And the only way I was going to make it out of this at least somewhat intact was to be smarter.
And that would start right now.
I straightened slightly, and Davit noticed the change.
Then I met his eyes and nodded. “Okay,” I said.
He knitted his brows. “Okay?”
“Yes. We need to keep up appearances, so I’ll stop avoiding you at work. But don’t come to my home again,” I said.
He gave me a slight smile. “Why not?”
“Because anything between us other than you blackmailing me is a mistake. I don’t have to like you. I don’t have to talk to you. I just have to make it so that you can do whatever the hell is it is you’re doing. Anything else is not a part of this arrangement,” I said.
I felt a twinge of regret, knowing that in the deep recesses of my heart and mind, I could admit that I would miss him. But that didn’t matter.
I was alone in this. Truly alone. And with only myself to rely on, I needed to ensure that I kept my wits.
Distancing myself from Davit was one of the ways I was going to do that.
“If you insist,” he said, finally relenting.
“I do. And if you don’t mind…”
I tilted my head toward the door, and I again got the sense he wanted to argue, but he didn’t.
“We’ll have lunch tomorrow,” he said.
“Tomorrow is Saturday. Coffee on Monday,” I countered.
“Fine,” he said, agreeing with me, though I could see that he didn’t want to.
He left, and I was alone.
The headache had lessened, which was good, but I felt like a rag that had been wrung too tightly.
