Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 97448 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 487(@200wpm)___ 390(@250wpm)___ 325(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97448 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 487(@200wpm)___ 390(@250wpm)___ 325(@300wpm)
If I weren’t scared about the baby’s safety, I would wrestle the asshole and pin him down.
The doctor finishes with him in record time and then says Viktor should be able to have it activated.
I leave the clinic first, my shoulders drooped and my steps forced.
Kirill catches up to me and wraps an arm around my waist. I try to push it away. “Don’t touch me.”
“Why wouldn’t I touch my wife?”
“I don’t know, maybe due to the fact that I want to claw your eyes out right now?”
“How will I look at you if you do that?”
I roll my eyes and focus on the horizon. “This is the last time you force me into anything. Do something like this again, and I’ll disappear to where you’ll never find me, even if I have to cut my damn arm off for it.”
His fingers sink into my hip, bruising me. “I wouldn’t have to do this if you didn’t think about nonsense like that.”
“Maybe I’m thinking about it because of your actions.” I shoot him a glare. “I won’t tolerate it if you don’t see me as an equal or value my opinion. I mean it, Kirill. I stomped on my feelings for you when I left for Russia, and I can do it again in a heartbeat.”
A slow smirk tilts his lips. “So you have feelings for me.”
“Seriously? That’s all you took from what I said?”
“Isn’t that the highlight?”
“You know what? Forget it. We’re just going down a closed path.”
“So feelings are a closed path now?”
“When I’m mad at you, yes, they are.”
We pause in front of the house, where a dozen suitcases are being loaded into the back of a van. Kirill only stopped because I did. He’s so distant from the situation that he doesn’t spare the car or the staff any attention.
I wonder if he always wanted to do this but kept Yulia around for his brother’s sake. Now that Konstantin is wary of her, Kirill probably figured it was time for her to go.
He probably let her live in the house in a ‘keep your enemies closer’ way, but he’s the Pakhan with stakes in the bank her family owns now, so he doesn’t need to do that anymore.
When we go into the house, a palpable tension lingers in the air. Karina stands by the stairs, hugging one of the railings for dear life.
Kristina grabs her by the shoulder, fingers stroking it with comfort. Yulia gets into Konstantin’s space, and while she looks as elegant as usual in her knee-length dress and with her styled hair, a destructive energy emanates from her.
“You, of all people, can’t do this to me, Kosta. If I’m leaving, you’re coming with me.”
“He’s a grown married man, Yulia.” Kirill strolls inside with me in tow. “Get the fuck over it already.”
She swings around, her venom instantly directed at him. “I should’ve known you were the one who planted this nonsense in his head, you damn devil.”
“What can I say?” He grins, even though his expression is closed off. “I’m a better influence than you.”
“It’s not like that, Mother.” Konstantin tries to salvage the situation, but I think it’s too late.
“Let her believe whatever the fuck she wants.” Kirill stares down at her. “Konstantin isn’t your flashy toy or a pet you tell what to do or want. Let him go, or I’ll make you. Believe me when I say you won’t like the second option.”
“If you think you can take my son from me—”
“I’m not taking anyone. He’s choosing to stay here of his own accord because I actually respect him as an individual. Something you’ve never done—”
She raises her hand to him, but I’m already capturing and twisting it, then throwing it back. “I told you not to do that again.”
Yulia snarls at me, then at Kirill, “I should’ve killed you and your demon sister when I had the chance. I should’ve ended your miserable lives before you were born.”
A hiccup comes from the other side of the room, and Karina shakes in Kristina’s hold. She was always the emotionally weak one out of the three of them and seems to have never gotten used to her mother’s treatment.
“Mother, stop.” Konstantin hauls her back with surprising force, his voice rising on her for the first time. “Stop. Just stop it already!”
Her lips part. “Kosta, what are you—”
“I’m done trying to find excuses for you, done being hated by my own brother and sister because they think I abandoned them all those years ago.” He stares at Kirill and Karina. “Mother said she’d send boats for you, too, if I went out of there first. Whenever I tried to explain that afterward, she’d threaten that she’d plot against Kirill’s next training mission or she’d have Kara sent to boarding school. The only way for me to keep you safe was to pretend I couldn’t care less about you anymore. Like you did when you tried to protect us from Papa, Kirill.”