Page 71 of Cinderella and the Daddy

"Do I look like I'm joking?"

No, he definitely doesn't. He looks like he's two seconds away from putting a bullet in someone. The problem is, I'm starting to think that someone might be me.

"I'm not emptying shit," I say, crossing my arms. "This is my apartment, Luka. Mine. You don't get to storm in here and?—"

"Your apartment?" He laughs, but there's no humor in it. "The apartment you're not supposed to be in? The one you lied to get to?"

Heat floods my cheeks. "I didn't lie."

"No? Because Grigori thinks you're at a pharmacy picking up medication. So either you're lying to me now, or you lied to him then."

I lift my chin defiantly. "I did go to the pharmacy."

"Bullshit." He takes a step closer. I can feel the violence coiled in his body like a spring wound too tight. "You want to explain the GPS tracker I found on my car this morning?"

My stomach drops. "What tracker?"

"The one you planted while you had the Mustang."

The accusation hits me like a slap. For a moment, I can't even process what he's saying. Then the fury comes, hot and clean and absolutely devastating.

"You think I planted a tracker on your car?" My voice rises with each word. "Are you out of your fucking mind?"

"Someone did."

"Well, it wasn't me!" I shove him hard in the chest, but he doesn't even budge. "Dammit, Luka. After everything—after last night, after what we—you really think I would betray you?"

Something flickers in his eyes, but the cold mask doesn't crack. "Prove it."

"Prove it?" I laugh bitterly. "Always the same with you! How exactly am I supposed to prove I didn't do something? Should I take a polygraph? Swear on a stack of Bibles?”

"Are you a spy?" he asks, his voice flat and emotionless.

The question is so ridiculous, I actually laugh. "A spy? A fucking spy? Are you listening to yourself right now?"

"Answer the question."

"No, Luka. I'm not a spy. I'm the mechanic you kidnapped, remember? How many times are we going to have this conversation?" I throw my hands up in exasperation. "You dragged me out of my life, brought me to your compound, and now you're acting like I'm the villain in this story?"

His jaw ticks. "Where were you today?"

"I told you?—"

"Don't." He cuts me off with a sharp gesture. "Don't you dare lie to me again. Where the fuck were you, Cindy?"

The demand in his voice makes my spine stiffen. I'm not going to be intimidated. Not by him, not by anyone. "I'm not telling you anything."

"Wrong answer."

"It's the only answer you're getting." I step closer to him, matching his energy with my own. "You trusted me last night, Luka. I came back. I could have kept driving and never looked back, but I came back to you. To Leo. That should tell you everything you need to know about my loyalty."

Something shifts in his expression—a crack in that icy composure.

In the back of my mind, I’m begging him to believe me. I want to tell him I’m going to have his baby, and I want him in our child’s life.

But pride has my lips sealed.

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