AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Because I now know what it feels like to actuallylikethe man you’re touching. To surge with electricity when he’s around. To be bowled over by sheer physical chemistry.
Compared to that, touching Mikhail leaves me nothing but nauseous.
Mikhail pulls me onto the dance floor and spins me against his body. He has an easy smile plastered on his face. No sign of the monster that lurks just under the skin.
“What are you doing?” I ask.
“Dancing. Shut your whore mouth and follow along,” he growls, still smiling.
His hands slide to my waist and then my hips. He pulls me hard against him and twists and turns.
I lose track of where the table is. Which direction the bar is in. I know Anya and Jorden are out here dancing, too, but I couldn’t find them if I wanted to. Every time I try to get my bearings, Mikhail spins me again.
Then I look over and realize how close to the wall we are. How far from the center of the floor we’ve moved.
He’s leading me into the shadows.
I try to pull away, but he holds me with a crushing grip. “No more running away. Not this time.”
“What do you want?” I hate the edge of panic in my voice. I hate it even more when Mikhail smirks.
“I want what was promised to me.” He drags me against him and holds me firmly by the hips. His fingers dig into my skin. “Don’t even think about fighting.”
He glances back towards the dark alcove behind him. It yawns open like a cave. I have the feeling that if I go in there with him, I won’t be coming back out.
So I hold still and meet his eyes. “I never made you any promises, Mikhail.”
“Didn’t you?” He grabs my left hand and holds it up, twirling my ring around my finger. “I put a ring here once, too. Does Ivan know that?”
“It hasn’t come up.”
Lie.Ivan as much as asked me earlier today in bed. I told him as much of the truth as I was willing. Now, I wonder if I shouldn’t have told him everything. Yasha could have been on the lookout for Mikhail and my stepfather. He could have protected me from this. The way he has protected me from everything else.
I’m an idiot. I thought the past would stay behind me. I should’ve known it wouldn’t die so easily.
His jaw clicks. “How long have you even known him?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
Tell him nothing. I hear Ivan’s voice in my head.Tell him not a fucking thing. Keep him calm. Get away.
Mikhail glowers down at me. “It does matter. It matters a lot. Answer the question.’
“I’m engaged now. I shouldn’t even be talking to you.”
I try to take a step back, but Mikhail glues our bodies together. His cologne cloys my senses. “Are you worried you won’t be able to control yourself around me, Cordelia? Are you worried your fiancé will find out your heart belongs to someone else?”
“I’m just worried you’re delusional and I won’t be able to stop Ivan from killing you.”
I expect him to get mad and lash out. Instead, Mikhail trails a finger over my neck, tracing my jaw. I jerk my head back. “Ivan is the one who needs to watch his back. He took what was mine.”
“I was never yours! Whatever we had is over.”
I’m not Ivan’s, either. Not really. Not in the way I want to be.
But Mikhail doesn’t know that—and I have no intention of telling him.
He leans his head to the side and studies me, but when I look in his eyes, I see…nothing. They’re dark and vacant. Just black disks, as empty as deep space.
