Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 106541 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 533(@200wpm)___ 426(@250wpm)___ 355(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106541 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 533(@200wpm)___ 426(@250wpm)___ 355(@300wpm)
“No,” Alek answers, his voice low.
“What is it?” I can read him like a book. He doesn’t hide his worries well, not even when mass murdering as ordered.
“Sofia.” My breath catches at the mention of my sister’s name. “She is late.” I work my jaw side to side when he announces, “The maids advised Kirill this morning that her sheets haven’t bled for over two months.”
“When?” I could say more, but I don’t need to.
“End of the week.” Before I can instruct to be advised an exact date and time by the end of the day, he adds, “I’ll go with her.”
“No—”
“You lose your cool, he will kill her. Is that what you want, Ghost?”
“You know that isn’t what I fuckin’ want,” I reply, yelling.
“Then let me handle this.” My silence agitates him. “Ghost—”
“Fine.” I warn him in Russian that I won’t respond kindly if Sofia is harmed before disconnecting our call, getting dressed, then heading to the kitchen to fetch Katie’s breakfast.
My blood is still hot when I enter her room twenty minutes later. The guards don’t look at me when I walk by, but I can smell their fear. It is leeching from their pores.
I’m not called Ghost for no reason. Most people are only in my presence for minutes before they become a ghost. That’s how triggered my moods are. I can be calm and collected one minute, the next, I’m a raging lunatic.
Drugs don’t help the matter, but I can’t remember the last time I functioned without them.
My attitude doesn’t know which way to swing when my eyes lock on a red smear on the right-hand side of Katie’s bed. She’s bleeding, and for some stupid reason, I’m as relieved as I am annoyed.
“Bring napkins and a maid,” I instruct the closest man to Katie’s room. “We need clean sheets.” When he appears as if he is going to reject my request, I bark out, “Did I sound like I was asking a question?”
He shakes his head quickly. “No, sir, but He—”
“Doesn’t talk on my behalf.” I step closer to him, dropping his shake from his head to his body. “I told you to do something.” My breath hits his cheeks when I sneer, “So fucking do it.” I’m already pissed about the tightness in my balls I didn’t relieve this morning. He’d do best not to test me.
“Yes, sir.” He bows his head before scuttling away.
Two minutes later, I enter the bathroom where I hear water running. Katie is in the shower, washing her hair as she has done twice a day for the past month.
The front of my pants tightens when I follow the water careen down her tight and appetizing body. She has put on a few pounds since we arrived at the Bobrov home compound, and her tits have grown substantially. I may have ordered her mashed potatoes to be prepared with cream instead of milk solely for this benefit.
I’m glad, for once, my plan is working.
So accustomed to being degraded by vile pigs, Katie doesn’t flinch when she spots me in the doorway of the bathroom. She also knows better than to hide from me, so instead of covering up, she lowers her head and acknowledges, “I got my period overnight.”
“I am aware.” I don’t mention her stained bedding that is in the process of being removed. “Are you in pain?” I don’t mean to take in the welts on her wrists when I ask my question. My eyes just naturally veered to them. Other than the burn-like marks on her wrist, her body’s scars are mostly hidden by enticing curves and mouthwatering assets, unlike mine.
Water splatters on the glass wall of the shower cubicle when she shakes her head. “I was given paracetamol this morning.”
Her reply angers me. “What did I tell you about accepting anything from any man in this compound.”
She grabs a towel on the rail before spinning around to face me. “That I am not to accept anything unless it is given to me by you.”
“Then why did you take it?” I’m not angry at her. I am furious that Kirill knows she is bleeding, yet he still demanded that I inseminate her today. She can’t get pregnant. He just wants to fuck with my head.
“I didn’t.” She marches to the vanity to highlight the two white pills sitting on top of the marble. As suspected, they’re not marked with a manufacturer’s imprint. They’re homemade and look like a mix of a pain relief medication and a hallucinogenic.
After flushing the ‘drugs’ down the toilet, I ask, “Do you require something for the pain?”
Katie shakes her head.
“Don’t lie to me.”
I’m looking for a fight, for a way to ease some of the tension, and Katie gives it to me. “I’m not lying. You asked if I require something for the pain, not am I in pain.”