Total pages in book: 112
Estimated words: 106312 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 532(@200wpm)___ 425(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106312 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 532(@200wpm)___ 425(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
Alek stands beside a chair and pulls it out for Jewel. He looks bored, and I know it’s only because of our families’ close ties that the killer is even pretending to have any manners. The elder Ivanov twins are wild cards. Then again, other families say the same thing about my own, so who am I to throw stones?
When Alek leaves and I sit beside Jewel, she leans into me. “Isn’t he married to Lena Love?”
I’m not surprised that she’s done her research on my family members, close friends, and our dealings with both. But I don’t like it either. I drag her chair closer to me and pull her to sit on my lap.
“Is this really necessary?” She tries to break from my hold.
“Extremely. Look around you,” I say, brushing the back of my finger against the pulse at her neck. Her breath hitches, and my cock begins to thicken, with her simply sitting on my lap. “Everyone is watching you.”
She looks around and then, as if not even realizing, wraps her arms around my neck as she says quietly, “They’re not looking at me. They’re looking at you.”
“They’re looking at us,” I correct her. Attending an event such as this is a public announcement of my engagement. I make a point to hold her hand to my lips and slowly kiss the ring. Realization dawns on her expression.
“Did you bring me here to show me off like some brood mare?” she hisses under her breath, looking wildly pissed.
“No, I brought you here to let you buy whatever you like. Some women might like jewels. Others lingerie. But you, Kitten, love guns.”
She looks around again. “And remind me why I have to sit on your lap for that?”
“So you’re reminded of the gun you’re sitting on that’s kindly paying for all these gifts.”
She laughs then, and I hate every fucker who turns our way and looks at her. “Did you really just refer to your cock as a gun?”
I thread my fingers through her hair possessively and pull her lips closer to mine. “I don’t know how long I can contain myself if the word cock falls from your lips again.” I rub my thumb against her lips thoughtfully.
Her gaze intensifies, and I can’t look away. I want her again. But I want her to come to me willingly. To crawl to me and show her loyalty.
Some of the most powerful and lethal men in the city are in this room tonight, but it’s her I can’t look away from. She’s more lethal than all of them combined.
An announcement is made that the auction is about to start, and she pulls away. That’s when we notice a waitress wearing lingerie, standing a few feet away, seemingly too nervous to interrupt. How long has she been standing there?
“Drinks are on the house,” she says with a smile, unable to meet our gaze. She places a whiskey on ice and a champagne flute down in front of us.
An announcer steps onto the stage, leading several men wearing suits and carrying briefcases. They each place a case on separate tables, then flick open the locks and lift the lids to reveal the weapons inside.
Jewel leans forward, her eyes growing wide, and I grin as I watch my fiancée light up like it’s Christmas Day.
No, jewelry and lingerie are definitely not going to woo my fake fiancée. But anything that could kill me will.
CHAPTER 29
Jewel
Ten million is how much tonight cost my fiancé, and I’m not the least bit sorry. Especially not with the two gold-plated guns I’m now gleefully holding in my lap as we leave the Ivanov’s estate. They were the only ones I could walk away with today. The others I giddily bid on to be delivered to the Monti mansion, and Eli promised to wrap them in a bow and hand them to me. Fuck the bow, just give me my guns.
The gold plating, although seemingly impractical, I fucking love.
I love them so much that I’ve allowed him to stroke the inside of my knee the whole ride home. And I try my hardest not to focus on his fingers against my skin.
When he pulls over at the front of my apartment building, the tension between us is palpable. I make a point to study one of the bullets.
“Tomorrow night, I want you to meet my parents,” he says.
I swallow as I polish the bullet with my thumb. “You’re really set on this, aren’t you?”
“A deal is a deal, is it not? You play perfect fiancée, and you’ll get your money and your guns back. After meeting my parents, we’ll start planning the wedding. The sooner it’s done, the better, wouldn’t you agree?”
A tightness constricts my throat as the wild thought of walking down an aisle to anyone suffocates me. He’s acting as if the fact I have a contract to kill him isn’t relevant anymore. I open my mouth and then close it again. I can’t even speak. I clear my throat and frown at the bullet as if it’s the problem I have the issue with. “I have a shift tomorrow.”