Total pages in book: 106
Estimated words: 108119 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 541(@200wpm)___ 432(@250wpm)___ 360(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108119 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 541(@200wpm)___ 432(@250wpm)___ 360(@300wpm)
“Yes.” She clenched her teeth. “It really does.”
I leaned in and whispered in her ear. “Don’t burn my dinner tonight… Alice.”
She put a hand to her chest when I said her name out loud, like it did something to her heart, like she didn’t want to hear me say it, because it conjured up a reaction.
My instincts told me it was a way to control her.
While what was left of my heart, told me it was a way to win her.
“All right, then,” Bear pulled out a folder. “Here’s your schedule for the semester, you should report to Econ, it’s starting in the next ten minutes, right across from here in the tan building.”
“Okay.” She took the paper and stood. “Thank you, Mr. Bear.”
“Bear, Abandonato, whatever you wanna call me.” He smiled brightly while I felt her stiffen again.
“Thanks again.” I shook his hand and then escorted her back out of the office and down the hall. Her body was tense, too tense.
When we made it outside, I grabbed her hand and jerked her down the stairs and to the side of the building. “Listen,” I barked and gripped her chin between my thumb and forefinger. “You said you wanted something to do. This is better than cleaning toilets. Finishing your education, right in front of your enemy, they won’t suspect it and you’ve already passed the test with flying colors last night.”
“Why are you telling me this?” She licked her lips. “I’m not scared.”
My eyebrows shot up. “So, you’re petrified of being in my apartments back at the club, but here, in the middle of a swarm of enemies who want nothing more than to see you dead, you feel… fantastic?”
She just shrugged.
“Clearly, I need to try harder. Buy more clothes, offer more freedom, tell you how beautiful you are, is that what you want? Compliments? Things?”
“I want a life.”
“You can’t have a life,” I said through clenched teeth. “And what you have is what I give you. Do you understand?”
“Y-yes.”
“The minute they brought you through those doors, you lost every option given to you, the only ones that are left I control. Last night you chose me, don’t make me regret asking.”
She snorted out a laugh. “That wasn’t asking! That was threatening!”
“That…” I narrowed my eyes. “…was more efficient then begging you on hands and knees…”
“Perhaps,” She lifted a shoulder. “But one would have given you much more… pleasant results.”
It was on the tip of my tongue to ask her what she meant.
And then I realized she was smiling at me.
A dazzling, controlling smile.
Manipulation.
I leaned in and kissed the side of her neck. She went stiff in my arms, her hands shaking. “I’m the king of manipulation, of every single game you could possibly conjure up. The day I’m in front of you, on my hands and knees, will be the day I take my last fucking breath. I submit to no one.”
She leaned up on her tiptoes and brushed a similar kiss to my neck and then turned her head and pressed a soft kiss on the corner of my mouth and said. “We’ll see.”
I gripped her arm.
We both glared at one another.
“Don’t play games you can’t win, six thirty-two.”
“Don’t start what you can’t finish, Petrov.”
And then she was gone.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Alice
I was completely out of my element, my old friends had already graduated and were off to bigger and better things, and at the time I’d been so completely freaked out and isolated that even the teachers hadn’t known my full name.
I was that girl.
The one in the back.
Always in the back.
Or the one you waved at because she looked familiar but never really hung out with because she looked too lonely.
Fun.
But at least I was doing something.
And I was outside.
I smiled to myself as I made my way to Econ, partially because I was excited he was giving me what freedom I had, and partially because I felt the control between us slip, not by much, only enough for me to hear the slight intake of breath when I kissed him on the mouth.
Everything about Andrei said stand down and make sure you put at least three feet of distance between us, and every time I got close, he either physically pushed me away or yelled.
There was meaning behind everything he did, everything he wore, the way he spoke to people, the words he used. He was right in saying he was a master manipulator, and I wondered if anyone had ever been brave enough to utter the word no in his presence and actually mean it.
Yet another reason why when he claimed me as his wife, I knew I was stuck, and as long as it wasn’t real, I was fine.
I shivered. The very fact that he gave me his name enraged me, and then it filled me with a feeling I refused to acknowledge, one that told me I meant something. I was important enough for him to take an identity and place it on me, claim me as his.