AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I have no backup, so I don’t need to go into detail how this will most likely end.”
“You can wait,” I say when I finally find my voice.
“Wait for what? For those bastards to shame me more. I will not.”
“Your pride will get you killed,” I snap, shaking my head at his stubbornness. But what he says next has me realizing what a hypocrite I am.
“Didn’t yours nearly get you killed? You knew there was a risk defying Saint, and me, but that didn’t stop you. So surely you can understand why I must do this.”
He’s right. Goddamn him.
“And if you succeed? If, by some miracle, you defeat them all, what happens then?” I question, refusing to see the parallels between us. “Another girl takes over from where we left? You get another Zoey? Another Sara? Is that it?”
Alek seems offended I would ever think that of him. “Things will be different.”
But I just don’t believe him. “Will they? You say that now, but money, power it does things. I’ve seen it. I thought you’d learned by now.”
Alek stands abruptly, marching over to where I am. “What did you think? I would go back to America with you and Saint, where we could reminisce about the good ole days?”
I scoff, refusing to be belittled. “Of course not.”
“Then what? Maybe I could buy a nice little cottage somewhere, find a wife, and pop out a few rug rats?”
“Don’t patronize me,” I spit, not appreciating his sarcasm.
“There is no other way for me. Just as there isn’t for Saint.”
I take a step back, eyes narrowed. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
But that doesn’t stop Alek. “You’ve neutered him. Taken away what is rightfully his.”
“I have done nothing of the sort.” But a small part of me is nodding her head because she agrees with Alek. That part can go to hell.
“If you wanted me dead, you should have just killed me on that yacht.”
“What?” There is no point masking my surprise because it seems Alek was privy to everything this entire time.
He takes his time, strolling toward me. “You think I didn’t know that you loved him, and he loved you? Or when you asked me to move into his room, you believed I didn’t know it was because his room had no cameras?”
I am rooted to the spot, stunned.
“I allowed this because my feelings for you…they’re real.”
“Why didn’t you punish me?” I manage to push out in a whisper.
Alek stops a few feet away from me with his hands in his pockets, and he sighs. “Because I’m not the monster you believe me to be. I thought you’d see that and maybe feel something for me too.”
Nothing I say could ever reflect how I’m feeling right now because I believe him. I’m allowing a man to be slaughtered. So tell me, who’s the monster?
“Do you think I want to feel this way for you? I hate it. You destroyed my life.” With a hesitant touch, he runs two fingers down my cheek.
I should recoil. But I don’t.
“It doesn’t matter. He won. A virgin’s blush no more.”
His words are the wake-up call I needed. “This was never a game.” I turn my cheek, breaking our connection.
“You’re right. It never was. But I will always wonder, why did you choose him when you could have had me?”
