Page 52

CHAPTER 51

ANASTASIA

Song- Hymn To Virgil, Hozier

Frustration boils over as I pace the room, my finger slamming down on the dial button again and again, each press a stinging reminder of my mounting anxiety. When it connects to Mikhail’s voicemail, I let out a scream that echoes in my ears. My heart pounds in my chest as I stop, staring at the pregnancy test lying on the bed. The positive one.

Mila brought it for me yesterday, but I’ve been too scared to take it. I know something is off. I don’t have periods because of my pill, but I had a break after the kidnapping ordeal in Russia.

These hormones, tender breasts, nausea. I took a sex ed class in school. It’s enough to make me want to take a test to be sure.

And fuck me, I was right. Now I’m furious.

When I couldn’t find him in the house, I thought I’d check where Zoya was. Surprise, surprise, she also wasn’t there.

He told me he would get rid of her. All her shit is still there. Clearly she’s manipulating him yet again.

It clicks over to voicemail. Fuck. Him.

“Mikhail. You have five minutes to call me back, or I am packing a bag and leaving. I mean it. I need you.”

I swallow past the lump in my throat. I’m petrified. I don’t want to leave him. I love him. Hell, we are starting a family together. Why won’t he answer my calls? Where the hell is he?

The phone vibrates in my hand, a familiar buzz that makes my heart race. I answer on the first ring, and my anger starts to melt away as I hear his deep Russian accent through the speaker.

“Ana, baby. Are you okay?”

The sound of a woman’s laughter, giggling in the background, acts as a trigger, and my rage erupts, returning with a vengeance.

“Where are you, Miki?” I say through gritted teeth.

“I just had to take Zoya to get some shopping for G. I won’t be long.”

My vision blurs.

Her.

Whatever Zoya needs, she gets. I don’t trust her. And I don’t fucking like her one bit. I see the way she looks at my man. The way she tries to get her claws in and hit his weakness of caring for his little sister.

What if she is the one he really wanted all this time? I was never meant to happen. They’ve known each other long before I’ve been around. Maybe this is just some fucked up game that they’re playing?

“Ana? Are you okay? Talk to me.”

Tears roll down my face. Am I destined to live as the other woman? Even in what would be our family home? Wondering if it really is me he wants. Always having that bitch making orders.

I suck in a breath.

No. I want more out of life and love. I deserve more.

“Just come home. We need to talk.”

I cut the call before he can reply and sit on the edge of the bed, placing the little white stick on my lap.

“Well, maybe it will just be me and you, baby,” I whisper to my flat stomach.

How the hell is this even possible?

I let the tears fall. I love this man. Truly and deeply. But I can’t live without knowing if I own his whole heart. Even if the tiniest part belongs to Zoya, that isn’t enough.

No woman should feel like they are in competition with another for a man’s heart. I won’t allow that to happen to me. Even if it will kill me to walk away. I will put myself first and figure out the rest later.

I blow on the steam off my coffee, the heat warming my face, as the front door slams shut with a resounding thud.

“Iskorka.” His voice carries through the mansion.

“In here,” I reply quietly.

I turn and rest my ass on the counter, holding the mug in front of my face with two hands.

He stops opposite me, studying me. I raise my brows at him. I am Anastasia. I am a bad bitch. And I will either get what I want or I’ll hold my head up and walk away.

“You’ve been crying?” His brows furrow as he steps closer.

I hold up my hand to stop him from coming any closer and he tilts his head to the side.

“Where is she?” I ask, flicking my eyes towards the front door.

“Who? Zoya? I told her to go straight to her house.”

Of course. Maybe it’s so she can hide the freshly fucked look he gave her?

“What’s this about, baby?”

Baby. The word hits me right in the chest. I’m growing his. A new life in all this crazy.

I carefully place my coffee down on the counter and straighten my spine, looking up at him. I’m not scared of him, nor to challenge him.

“Do you love her, Miki?”

He squints at me, a look of skepticism on his face, and shakes his head, the movement a subtle but definite rejection. Yet, it isn’t enough.

“Hmm.” I’m not sure if I believe him.

“The fuck?” he mutters and takes a step towards me.

“Stay where you are and answer my goddamn question with words. Do you have feelings in any kind of romantic way towards that bitch?”

The rage starts to build in my chest, a tight, suffocating feeling that threatens to consume me. Her snide comments, the looks. She radiates such jealousy. The little ways she fawns over Miki to try to make me feel small. The constant interruptions. Reminders of his care for her.

“I’m going to need you to explain what the hell is going on here, Ana.”

I let out a laugh and push myself off the counter, closing the distance between us. His gaze pierces down, the darkness in his eyes almost consuming him, but I catch a glimpse of the amber specks that lie within. Those little bits of light in there.

My fingers trace the contours of his chest, and I offer him a smile that looks sweet and warm, the contrary to what I really feel. They say you have to scare a man sometimes to get them to reveal the truth. Mikhail is no different. Under this hard exterior, there is a man who loves deeply in there. A man who would be an amazing father, a protector. A perfect husband for me.

“I will ask you one more fucking time, Mikhail. I want to know, is my husband in love with another woman? Do you feel even a minuscule bit of what she feels for you?”

He strokes the back of his hand along the side of my face, and I pull it away.

“What she feels for me? Ana, where is this coming from? I’m yours, baby.”

I clench my fists against his chest, my nails digging into my flesh.

Not good enough.

“She’s in love with you. Do you love her back? It is a simple question. Because if you do, I can’t be here. I’m not competing with her for my own husband's attention. I know my worth. You are either all in with me or I’m out. Was I just someone to keep you entertained until you could have her? If you’ve played me… I swear to God I will break you, Miki.”

I see the creases appear around his eyes. He’s fucking smirking under his mask.

I push against his chest and he grabs both of my wrists, a small growl escaping from him.

“Break me? Please, enlighten me how. And then I will give you a lesson in breaking for this little outburst.”

The son of a bitch. My heart races, a deafening roar filling my ears as his grip tightens, preventing any chance of escape. Fine. I let a small, sadistic smile creep up on my lips. I want to slap the grin from his. I look straight into his dark, unblinking eyes, my words measured and cold.

“You want to know how I’ll break you? I’ll find a guy, I’ll let him fuck me, hard, on your bed, in your precious corvette, on your bike. Every fucking surface in your home. Even your desk at work. And then you know what I’ll do… I’ll hunt her down, drag her by her hair back here and slit her throat. To be honest, I will probably leave her on your cum stained bed for good measure. And then you will have neither of us. Because I will be gone, out of your life just a distant memory and you can wallow forever about how you let the one women who would love you unconditionally, who would give you everything she had despite your demons, how you let her slip away because you couldn’t answer a single. Fucking. Question.”

I’m almost out of breath by the time I finish. God, it felt good. It’s probably all true, I am crazy about this man. I’ve told him before I would fight for him, for us, and I am. And now even more so for our baby.

He lets go of my wrists and a sinking feeling washes over me. What if he isn’t answering because I’m right? He doesn’t want to upset me. What do I do?

“Sounds like you’ve really thought this through, beautiful.” He drawls out, reaching behind his head. He fumbles with the balaclava, his hands shaking as he pulls it free and throws it to the ground, the fabric crinkling as it lands.

I keep my eyes fixed on him. I’ve seen his scars. I love them because they are part of him. But I know not to stare. It’s his biggest insecurity and it will take time.

“Don’t sweet talk me. But yes. I have. I don’t get played by men, Mikhail. Even you. So tell me the truth… do you love her?”

I can feel every aggressive beat of my heart against my ribs.

“God, it’s a good fucking job I love you crazy,” he mutters, rushing forward, his arm wraps around my waist and his mouth just a breath from mine.

“No. Fucking. Way. Ana. I love you and only you. I feel nothing for her, she is just an inconvenience I am trying to get rid of as we speak. I’m protecting my sister that is as far as it goes. But love… Ana, my heart is all yours. I promise.”

I stare into his eyes, but he doesn’t blink, he knows what my witchy ass is doing.

I believe him.

“You might want to sit down, Miki.”

His brows furrow, panic appearing on his face.

“Nothing bad, big man. Just, umm, a shock?”

He runs his hands along my cheeks and presses his lips against mine.

“I’m sorry if you’ve ever felt anything less than the most important person in my life, baby. I will never let that happen again.”

I shake my head, almost feeling a bit silly for my reactive outburst.

He has never himself made me feel that way. He always shows how much he cares and loves me.

It’s her. Grating on me, picking at my insecurities with her digs, flirting around him.

And my little surprise doesn’t help. I am all over the place.

“Yeah, well, when I tell you the news, you might understand my outburst. Although, I appreciate your apology, Miki. I love you too.” I chew on the inside of my lip.

“Come with me.” I hold out my hand for him to take.