Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 89985 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 450(@200wpm)___ 360(@250wpm)___ 300(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89985 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 450(@200wpm)___ 360(@250wpm)___ 300(@300wpm)
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Niamh
Two Weeks Later
I was bored.
Peter was out doing whatever kind of job he had to do, and I was stuck in here, in his penthouse apartment suite, and yes, it was nice. I’d been stuck here since before the wedding, and now I was stuck here again.
I was sitting on the pristine white sofa, aware that less than five feet away were three guys. I had tried to get to know the men who were on my guard duty, but none of them were willing to talk.
Did they even realize how scary it was to have three men staring at me? This was why I was on the sofa, staring at the blank TV screen. I could see them all, perfectly poised, ready to strike if someone even knocked at the door.
With my hands on my thighs, I took a deep breath and allowed the flow of boredom to wash over me once again. According to Peter, my life was at risk because my father was still alive. I didn’t know why Ivan was keeping him alive, or what reason he had to see me married.
I hated this confusion.
I hated this kind of boredom.
I’d attempted to talk to Peter about the men, but he wouldn’t hear of it. The men were here to stay. It didn’t exactly fill me with confidence that it took three men to watch me.
When the main door opened and all three men aimed their gun at the door, stepping closer to me, I was a little startled. I didn’t need to be, as seconds later, Ivan Volkov appeared.
“Are you going to shoot me?” he asked.
I’d moved onto my knees and I now looked toward the scene unfolding. The men put away their guns.
“I’m here now, I can take care of Niamh. You can all wait outside,” Ivan said.
I expected them to argue. There were multiple times I’d tried to order them to leave, and none of them would listen to me. Don’t get me wrong, I knew they couldn’t listen to me, and that sucked.
They were following orders. Peter’s orders.
Now they were following Ivan’s orders.
One by one, they left the apartment, and I turned my head back toward Ivan’s. “Is there any way you can teach me that?” I asked.
“I can teach you, but it is never going to work.”
“Try me.”
“First, you have to become me, and then everyone has to bow down to you,” he said.
I wrinkled my nose. “I think I’ll pass.”
“You don’t think you could be me for a day?” he asked.
I remembered him in the hospital. It was a vague memory but one I still had. He’d been so broken. Even though the man who stood before me now was a strong, self-assured, confident specimen, he hadn’t always been.
“Why doesn’t anyone know you’ve been married?” I asked.
Ivan looked at me. “Have you told Peter?”
“No. It’s not my news to tell and if you wanted them to know, you would have been the one to tell them.” I glanced down at the brown paper bags in Ivan’s hands and my curiosity got the better of me. “What do you have?”
“Lunch.”
He moved toward the dining room.
I was tempted to ignore him and just stay kneeling on the sofa. Ivan was too much of a temptation.
My guards didn’t talk to me. I didn’t have a lot of conversation and I was still pissed at Peter.
Climbing off the sofa, the temptation to run to the dining room just so I could keep talking to him, was strong. What kind of loser did this make me?
I arrived at the dining table, and Ivan was setting it for not just two people, but three.
“Who else is joining us for lunch?” I asked.
“Peter will be along shortly.”
“How do you know?”
“I have my ways of knowing what irritates husbands. I seem to have that effect on people when they want to keep their wives close.” Ivan did that wink thing again.
I rounded the table so I was on the opposite side, and lowered down into my chair. I didn’t know if I could trust Ivan.
“You enjoy irritating other men?”
“I do,” Ivan said.
Truthfully, I was surprised.
“You’re not going to answer my previous question.”
“No.”
“Do you always get what you want?” I asked.
“No.”
He finished unpacking the lunch, and then sat down in the seat opposite me. Neither of us broke eye contact. “With how the two of us met, you know I don’t get everything I want.”
I pressed my lips together because he was right. He’d lost someone he loved.
“I’m so sorry,” I said.
“Don’t be. There is nothing I can do to change it. All I can do now is look forward to the future. So, you and Peter, when are you trying again?”
He nudged several wrapped packages toward me.
“Are you kidding me?” I asked.
“Not at all. That food is for you, and seeing as you’re not eating, I’m going to make sure you start doing so.”