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)
My eyes pop.
Mikhail’s expression remains neutral.
“The club was emptied in seconds. You were clueless, though.” Another memory sparks when he closes my gaped mouth. “And you drool a fuck ton when you’re passed out.”
I take a moment to sort through the slosh in my head. “Vlad…?”
“Last I saw, he was hightailing it out with the rest of the survivor wannabes.” Mikhail looks annoyed. I understand why when he adds, “He didn’t even peer back in your direction, Sunshine, so you shouldn’t have thrown yourself on the fire for him.”
“I wasn’t doing it solely for him. It was also for me.” Since my reply is honest, it sounds that way. I blow another wayward hair out of my eye before plopping my backside on the closed toilet lid. “I found Andrik’s marriage contract last night.”
Air whizzes out his nose like he now understands the catalyst of my rebellion, and the genuine shock on his face announces he wasn’t the one who placed it in Andrik’s jacket.
“It implied that his marriage isn’t about love.”
Again, he makes an agreeing hum.
It shifts to a shocked huff when I murmur, “And Andrik hinted the same when we… spoke. He told me he hasn’t been with anyone since me.”
It takes him a beat, but eventually, Mikhail clicks on to the cause of my hesitation. “You don’t believe him?”
“I want to,” I murmur. “But—”
“You’ve been burned in the past?”
I nod before trying to make my ghosts appear less pathetic. “And it’s not like he has a monkey’s butt for a face. Even if his wife knows the terms, I’m sure she’s trying.”
“Trying…?” Mikhail appears utterly lost.
“To…” I make a hand gesture he immediately clicks to.
“You think she wants to fuck him?” He takes a minute to contemplate. “She could be trying, but that doesn’t mean he’s falling for her tricks.”
“He fell for mine last night.”
“Because you’re you.” He gives my ego a moment to bask in the glory of his stroke. “I told you that you changed him. You flipped his life plan on its head.”
“He said that last night too.” I breathe out slowly before nursing my thumping head in my hands. “And that I’ve had him backflipping on promises he made thirty years ago.”
For the first time since I’ve known him, Mikhail is quiet.
Several seconds tick by, and disgustingly, the silence adds to my throbbing temples.
After a lengthy deliberation, Mikhail asks, “Can I see his contract?”
Shocked by the unease of his question, I slowly nod. “It’s in my room—”
He’s out the door before all my reply leaves my mouth.
Either he can speed read or he skims over the prominent parts of the contract like I did last night, because in under thirty seconds, he races for the stairwell, taking Andrik’s marriage contract with him and leaving me to wade through my confusion alone.
Several hours later, a knock sounds at my door. Since I assume it is Mikhail, I don’t bother checking the peephole. I swing open my door, leaving myself defenseless to a brutal onslaught.
It isn’t Mikhail or his older brother.
It is their father.
What the?
“Mr.…” How do I not know Mikhail’s surname yet? My snooping best friend would be horrified.
“Ellis,” he introduces, letting himself in. “You can call me Ellis.”
“Okay.” I sound lost. Rightly so. I am. “How can I help you, Ellis? If you’re here seeking Mikhail, he—”
“I’m not here about Mikhail.”
He takes in the trinkets on my mantel in a manner his youngest son would be proud of before he turns on his heel to face me. He balks as sternly as I did hours ago when he takes in the massive teardrop diamond on the necklace Andrik gifted me last night. Its heaviness announces its intricate design is made up of a lot of carats. If it is real, it would have cost Andrik an absolute fortune.
I wish I would have realized that before I went gung-ho with a quest to be picked first.
Ellis’s voice is full of angst when he says, “I am here about your involvement with my firstborn son.”
I wait for him to elaborate, unwilling to tiptoe over the trap he’s setting, let alone stomp through it.
It is an extremely long thirty seconds that only ends when I break it. “Andrik—”
“Is married.”
I swallow to ease the burn that didn’t fully soothe even after emptying my stomach’s contents into the toilet seconds after Mikhail left.
That’s one part of my conversation with Andrik I haven’t been able to brush aside as easily as my jealousy. I thought he was married as implied by Ellis just now, but last night, Andrik spoke as if he’s not yet exchanged vows.
I’m so confused it takes Ellis growling at me to remind me that he’s standing across from me.
“I am aware of that.”
“Yet you still throw yourself at him at every available opportunity.”
His tone is offensive, so naturally, I take offense.