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I take a deep breath. “I want to feel like apersonagain and not some trinket you hang on your arm to show off to the world whenever you feel like it.”
Andrei is silent, but it’s different this time as his brow knits together and he looks around the room. His concentration lands on a painting on the wall behind me. I know the one he’s looking at. A wild white mustang runs through a forest of dark trees, trying to escape an unseen predator. I wonder what he thinks about it when he stares at it.
“You’re right.” He gets out of bed, and his cock bounces against his thin cotton pants as he walks toward me. He stands too close, but I won’t back away. “But no tricks, Paige. That’s the only rule.”
His authority rolls off his skin in waves, making me shiver. His lips part, and a tingle races up my inner thigh until it awakens my clit. I pause, wondering if I should kiss him. If I should wrap my arms around his shoulders. I want to wrap my legs around him and rub my hungry body against his. The moisture between my legs pools, and I feel myself slick and ready.
But he doesn’t want that.
He wants obedience, not sex.
“Thank you.” My voice sounds as distant as his. “That’s a start.”
“You will not leave me, Paige.” He leans toward me, his breath on my cheek. “Understood?”
Does he mean until it’s over, or forever? He doesn’t wait for a response. I stare at him as he pulls on a robe. Andrei leaves the bedroom.
And true to my demands, the door remains unlocked.
I crawl back into bed alone. My fingers touch the lamp as I debate whether to keep it on. The silver base is etched with a silhouette of interlocking trees. It’s the only object in the room that I like. I turn it off; I can’t want to stay here. I almost drift off to sleep, but the door opens again, and Andrei switches on the overhead light.
Slowly, I sit up as he holds a black box toward me.
“A phone?” I ask stupidly. I tug off the cover and inside is a new phone covered in plastic. Andrei reaches into his pocket and hands me my old one with all my contacts.
I smile at him for the first time in forever.
He doesn’t return my smile, but he nods to acknowledge me. “Keep it on at all times.”
Immediately, I text Emma, and barely a second passes before I receive a reply.
It’s awful news. Dad has been admitted to the hospital. My emotions spin into conflict and knot my gut into a tight ball. I hate myself for not being there, but how could I know? I hate Andrei for keeping me a prisoner, but he left the door unlocked, and I went back to sleep.
“My father is in the hospital.” I look straight ahead as I speak. “I don’t expect you to understand, but I have to go.”
He’s silent, but it’s not the same. It’s as if he’s thinking about something.
Then he speaks. “You can go in the morning after breakfast. Oleg will drive you.”
Chapter 38
Paige
In the morning, I’m too nervous to eat a bite of breakfast, settling for a cup of burning hot black coffee instead. I haven’t seen Dad or Emma since the day I was taken. My chauffeured Rover idles in front of the door as I walk down the steps to the driveway.
Andrei insists that I sit in the back. It feels odd to be driven around.
“You are my legal wife.” Andrei holds the back door open for me. “And you must act the part appropriately.”
Dumbfounded, I stare at him as if I’m the one who made a list. I demanded to be treated like the wife of a powerful man. And today, Andrei is laying it on thick.
He helps me into the back seat as my steps totter in my designer heels, and I hold down the hem of my silk dress as I slide into the back seat. Eva insisted I wear an upswept style that matches my high-end clothes. I look and feel like a clueless, tarted-up Cinderella in a twisted fairy tale filled with monsters too scary to face except in the dark.
The only difference is that I won’t change back at midnight. I won’t ever go back to the life that I knew. This is it until the bitter end.
Standing in the open door, Andrei catches my wrist. “Your ring, Little Ms. Lucky.”
I extend my hand as he slips the ring back on my finger, and the weight of it all reminds me of the farce of our wedding. At least I don’t have to pretend to be in love. I stare at the ring as if it doesn’t belong there.
