Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 96714 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 484(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96714 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 484(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
Rage stepped toward me and held me close. “Ive’s fine,” he said.
“What if they attack him? What if they hurt him? Kill him?” I didn’t want anything to happen to Ive.
Cassie took my hand and led me back to the couch. We sat down, and I sank, resting my head on her lap.
I knew our marriage was an arrangement and meant nothing to Ive. I was probably just baggage that Ivan insisted he have. It made no sense for me to react this way. Ive and I were not a love match. I didn’t even know much about my husband. I knew next to nothing, but I didn’t want him dead.
Rage and Hubert were talking but I ignored what they were saying. None of it made any sense to me in the first place.
This wasn’t the first time I’d been shot at. It was the first time with Ive and in such a social setting. The club had been attacked a few times while I’d been in it. I remember my dad had hoped I was dead. I lived to see the disappointment in his eyes every single time.
Time passed. I don’t know how long it was, but the moment I saw Ive step into his penthouse suite, I didn’t think. I just reacted. Leaving my sister’s lap, I ran across the apartment and threw myself into his arms. It was stupid and childish, and completely inappropriate, as he had Hubert, Rage, and my sister there. I also noticed another man with him, one I didn’t recognize, but I think he was at the restaurant tonight. Ivan Volkov was with him as well.
I shouldn’t hug him. I knew he had to let me go.
Get yourself together, Lottie. He’s going to hate you even more for making him look weak.
It took every ounce of strength to stop me from holding him.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
“I brought food,” Ive said.
“I’ve got to talk with Rage in my office,” Ive said.
I kept my gaze averted. Tonight, I couldn’t see his disappointment or his look of disgust. There was no way I’d be able to handle that.
I started to walk away from Ive, but he grabbed my hand, and I turned to see his hand in mine. He lifted my fingers to his lips and kissed my knuckles. “I got the report from the doctor. He said you might be in a bit of shock.”
“I’m fine.”
My heart had started to beat faster as he kissed my knuckles. I chanced a quick look at his face. I didn’t know what I expected to see. Ive was difficult to read, but I knew he wasn’t angry with me. He wasn’t disappointed or upset. This was good. Anything else, I could handle.
“Go and eat,” he said.
I nodded.
The food was placed in the kitchen and Cassie came with me.
It was good old traditional drive-thru food. Burgers, fries, even corn dogs, and I was suddenly hungry. I didn’t get a chance to eat earlier. Food hadn’t seemed important while waiting for him to return home, but now I was starving. My mouth watered for a taste.
“Are you okay?” Cassie asked.
In all honesty, I had no idea how I felt. Happy, sad, terrified. They were all working their magic on my body, and I couldn’t think, nor focus. “I’m fine.”
“Come on, Charlotte. I know you. I know you’re not fine.”
I looked up at my sister and took a deep breath. “I don’t know how I’m feeling. I, erm, I … have you ever had that feeling that something bad was going to happen, and you had no way of stopping it?”
“No.”
Shaking my head, I force a smile to my lips. “Forget it. I don’t know what I’m talking about.”
“Maybe, and this is just me watching you and Ive, but have you thought that you’re worried for your husband’s safety?”
“Ive’s fine.”
“I know he’s fine and can handle himself and all that, but maybe you have feelings for your husband.”
We grabbed some food and moved toward the dining room table.
I snort. “That’s not possible.”
“Why not?”
“Ive and I … this is not some kind of love match. He was forced to marry me and I had to marry him, to, you know, live.”
Cassie waved her hand in the air as if that wasn’t important. “Don’t think of it in those terms, because they’re not great things to think about.”
This made me frown.
“You asked me about sex. Are you wanting to have sex with Ive?”
I felt my cheeks heating. “Can we just eat good?”
“Charlotte, I’m being serious. You and I both know that being shot at is scary, it’s real fucking scary, but we’ve lived through it.”
“Yeah, we’ve been shot at but we haven’t been the main targets. I was a main target tonight.” I was trying to distract my sister.
“I know you were one of the main targets, but—and this is the big but—you weren’t the only target. Tonight, you weren’t afraid for yourself. You kept staring at the door. The moment Ive walked in, you threw yourself over to him. That means you have feelings for him.”