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Which is exactly what Saint wants.
“A virgin’s blush,” Aleksei says in awe. “She’s telling the truth. I know a liar when I see one, and you, sweet Willow, are not a liar. You really are a virgin…and you are mine.”
Saint instantly recoils, ending our little peep show.
Humiliated, I wrap my arms around my body, needing to veil my nakedness. I feel so dirty, which is ironic seeing as something pure has led to these feelings of shame.
“As you can see,” Saint very matter-of-factly states, “she is modest. Over the years, we have been forced to weed out the liars, but she is not one. What she says is true.”
Aleksei nods in agreement. He looks at me as though he’s just witnessed the second coming of Christ.
“Shall we drink to your good fortune?” Saint suggests, planting the seed and hoping it’ll grow. And it does. Just as he said it would.
“Yes, we shall. I think there is much to celebrate, don’t you?” Aleksei runs the back of his fingers down my cheek. I flinch, which only seems to excite him all the more. “Get dressed, ???????.”
I don’t even want to know what that means.
Making a beeline for my dress, I slip it over my head in haste, keeping my back turned to Aleksei and Saint. I’m unable to face either of them.
“You’re a rarity. Thank you, Saint, for protecting my investment.”
I close my eyes, sickened.
“You truly are a diamond in the rough. But we will work on that to unearth your true shine.”
A tear slides down my cheek.
I expect him to touch me, but he doesn’t. He leaves the room to no doubt gloat to his disciples about his virgin hostage. I don’t know how I feel right now. Numb is probably the best word.
But I eventually find my voice. “So other women?” I whisper, shaking my head in defeat. “You left that part out. Did you, did you sleep with them?”
Saint exhales heavily. “Of course not! It’s not like that. Alek picked the girls he wanted. I was to make sure they…behaved. What do you want me to say?”
“Nothing,” I reply honestly.
“Don’t do this. He did what we wanted.”
But at what cost?
“How many?” I press. I don’t know why it matters. It just does.
“I don’t know!” he exclaims, his boots pounding along the floor as he storms over and turns me around to face him. “Hundreds. Thousands. I’ve lost count! But I never had…thiswith them.”
With a scoff, I jerk out of his hold, scowling because I don’t want his hands on me even though he professed what we have is different. “Thousands?” I ask, unable to hide my disgust.
Something ugly passes between Saint and me, and I don’t like it. I knew he wasn’t a knight in shining armor, but I can’t stop thinking about all the lives he’s destroyed—like mine.
Saint can read my thoughts before I have a chance to mask them, and a wall, the one which took me so long to break down, resurrects quickly. “You know what I am. I never said I was the hero.”
And there it is, the truth. Saint is right. He never offered me anything but himself, but now…I don’t know if it’s enough. How can I even think about having a future with him knowing what I do?
Looking into those eyes which held me captive long before I was bound, I’m heavy with regret when I confess, “I know. So what does that say about me?”
I’m waiting for Saint to make it better, just as he’s always done, but when he doesn’t reply, it’s apparent the silence says it all.
Having my head elsewhere is a dangerous thing, considering what I’m supposed to be doing very soon. I just can’t stop thinking about Saint and his harem of “other” women.
His actions will never be excused, and the fact he’s done this to other women—even though he said he never slept with them—has me wondering just who he really is. It shouldn’t matter because I know it was done against his will, but it does. I thought I knew who he was, but I’m realizing I don’t know anything at all.
