Total pages in book: 187
Estimated words: 177397 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 887(@200wpm)___ 710(@250wpm)___ 591(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 177397 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 887(@200wpm)___ 710(@250wpm)___ 591(@300wpm)
He’s married. There’s no chance of us being anything, so why does my heart believe differently? Why is it making out like he wants me to stay?
“I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to be with you.”
His lips brush the shell of my ear when he asks, “Why?”
The calm, collective way he asks his question skyrockets my anger.
“Because you’re married,” I answer through clenched teeth, stating the obvious.
Mikhail talks louder when my angered whisper almost regains me the focus of our dressed-to-the-nines co-rider. Her neck cranks my way, meaning he has to get up close and personal with an elderly neighbor.
Once he has her utmost devotion resecured with a heap of attention I’m skeptical she’s ever received, Andrik says, “As I stated earlier, it is a contract. A business transaction. It’s not worth more than the piece of paper authenticating it.”
“Then why did you cancel the annulment?” I sound desperate, and I hate myself for it. But you can’t feel the tension brimming between us. It is electrifying. I’ve never experienced such a crazy range of emotions, and not all of them are based on anger.
Andrik’s fingers flattened on the lower half of my stomach drum as frantically as my heart thrashes my ribs when he mutters, “Because I need answers. I deserve them.” The sheer honesty in his voice drops it to barely a whisper. “And Dr. Hemway announced yesterday that you can’t help me get them.”
It takes several floors for the reason of my inclusion in his reply to smack into me. It makes me sick to my stomach.
Mikhail said Andrik’s marriage was so fresh he didn’t know about it when he colluded for us to meet at his penthouse. That can only mean one thing.
Andrik wasn’t at Dr. Hemway’s office yesterday to support his wife through fertility challenges. He was there for the exact reason my legs were forced into stirrups when I became of age—to purchase a breeding-approved wife.
Andrik’s grip on my arm loosens when our elevator’s arrival at the foyer of Mikhail’s building presents the perfect solution for me to be free of him.
“I can’t give you what you want, so you can either let me go now, or after I tell anyone who will listen that your marriage isn’t worth the piece of paper authenticating it.” I nudge my head to the group of paparazzi attempting to barge past the security personnel keeping them out of the foyer. “Starting with them.”
My threat sounds legitimate since my throat is burning with anger. I’ve never felt more ashamed than I did when Andrik announced he was no longer getting an annulment. That shame isn’t one tenth of the anger I’m currently experiencing.
Not all of it centers around Andrik’s betrayal.
My sights are set on someone I’ve known far longer than him.
“That will make a lot of people angry.” Andrik walks around me until his suit-covered body shelters me from the numerous camera flashes bright enough to illuminate the walls of the elevator even with it being in the far back corner of Mikhail’s building. “Are you sure you’re ready for that level of animosity, Лисичка?”
My immediate nod shocks him, much less the honesty in my tone when I reply, “I was born ready for it.”
It isn’t time for coyness. Despite his best efforts, the smallest grin tugs on Andrik’s lips before he steps aside so I can walk out of his life without so much as a backward glance.
17
ANDRIK
My jaw throbs as manically as my cock when Zoya glides past a conglomerate as focused on the bottom line as the federation is. A handful of heads twist her way. They’re all male and will be dead by the end of the day if they don’t shift their focus off her ass before Konstantine scans their credentials into my database.
Once they’re on my radar, they’ll only be removed one way.
With a bullet.
Don’t misconstrue. I understand their instant fascination. Zoya has a body that should be worshiped for twenty-four hours of every day, but her defiance deserves an equal amount of attention yet seems forever overlooked.
I’ve always been good at reading people. Zoya’s story would have most men backing away with their hands held in the air.
It’s a pity for her I’m a stubborn fuck who always gets want he wants.
I want her, so I will have her.
No contest.
I just refuse for it to occur under the eyes of the puppeteers controlling my grandfather’s and father’s every move. They’re coming out of the woodwork faster than I could have imagined when I orchestrated my scheme, making me hopeful it won’t be as lengthy as first perceived.
Though I doubt anyone would see a lifetime commitment as a brief proceeding.
After slanting my head to hide my words from my father, who is approaching me as fast as Zoya is endeavoring to get away from me, I say, “She’s coming out the west entrance. Mikhail is hot on her tail.”