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I thought of all the men outside the changing room, not only Max and the made men watching over us, but Kirill, the devil himself. I wasn’t dressed to make a break for it, but it might be worth the risk.
I felt like I was collapsing in on myself.
I’d been sleepwalking through a dream since I’d returned to New York City. I’d been reassuring myself that at some point, I’d know what to do. I’d understand how to proceed with the pregnancy, with Kirill, with all of it. But the wedding dress was like a huge, ringing slap across the face. Reality was coming for me, and there was no escape. Was I about to marry the man who had abducted me, not once, but twice, knocked me up, chipped and drugged me?
The hysteria in my chest was growing in a hot wave.
“I’ll take it from here,” Kirill said, his deep voice coming from right behind me.
His hard chest pressed against my back, trapping me.
I found my head shaking back and fro, a sudden, unexpected plea bubbling up in my throat. “Please, Magda, was it? You need to call the police right now—”
“Leave us,” Kirill snapped.
The assistants scurried to comply as Kirill pushed further into the changing room.My hand flew toward his face before I could stop it. I slapped him hard enough for my palm to catch fire, but he barely moved. He stared down at me, and I met his anger inch for inch.
“What the fuck is going on?” I demanded.
“I might ask you the same,” he retorted.
“I’m not marrying you,” I stated flatly.
Kirill’s mouth twitched with grim amusement. “We’ll see, Princess.”
“You haven’t even asked me. You don’t care at all about what I want?”
“I care about keeping you safe, so no, in this case, I don’t care. And whether or not you admit it, you were always going to marry me, Molly, and you will eventually forgive me, too. I’m just moving the timeline up.”
“You could have warned me!”
“And have you try to run away again? Tell me that wouldn’t have been your go-to move?”
His words sent my rebuttal flying from my head. Wasn’t that my first instinct? To run? “Idon’t have to tell you anything. I don’t want to marry you,” I bit out.
A muscle ticked in his strong, taut jaw, betraying his upset.“You used to want to. You used to love me more than anyone and forgive me anything. What changed?”
“You went behind my back and made decisions for me.”
“What the fuck, Molly? This again? If you haven’t noticed, I’ve not repeated the unforgiveable act of coming inside you since you came back. No matter how much I wanted to, no matter how desperately I longed to—I haven’t. You’re not pregnant, so no harm, no foul, right?”
His words were like ice water across my skin, leaving me gasping for breath in their wake. His eyes, usually dark pits, looked hazel in the artful changing room lighting. His winged brows drew down as I struggled to find a comeback.
“Right, Molly?” he repeated, a frown line creasing his forehead as he smelled my deception in the wind.
Damn my fucking expressive eyes and my complete inability to lie to this man.I turned my face away. “It’s not that simple.”
His hand tugged my chin back, tilting my face toward his. “Why are you so angry, Princess? I fucked up, and I’m trying to make it up to you. There’s no reason for you to still be so angry.”
“There are plenty of reasons,” I snapped, but even I could hear the lie in my words.
He was right. I’d forgiven him all the rest, but not this. There was only one reason I couldn’t let it go, and it was growing inside me—my secret and mine alone. But it looked like a secret that was about to be exposed. My heart raced with fear at the thought of Kirill knowing, but there was something else.
Excitement. Relief. Curiosity. All of them warred in me. I didn’t know which would win, and I never got to find out.
Kirill stared at me with such intensity, it was like he was trying to peer inside my head. Then, to my horror, his eyes slid down. I’d forgotten my current state of undress when the puffy piece of wedding attire had sent me over the edge. His eyes dropped to my belly, and he stared.
Fuck.
