Page 87 of Cruel Romeo

“Next time my vagina bleeds, I’ll be sure to notify you post-haste.” I speak the words directly into her face. “Now, if there’s nothing else, I need to study.”

I catch a faint twitch at the corner of her eye. Nerves, or maybe fear. Then it’s gone.

“But of course,” she answers, sweet as poisoned honey. “You should work on your backup plan. Get that degree before you’re booted out of here without a penny to your name.”

“Is that how you think this is gonna go?”

“Yes.” Her hips sway as she steps even closer, matching my challenge. “We both know how this works.”

I realize the smell of wine isn’t all coming from the glass—it’s coming fromher.She’s sloshed.

“Enlighten me,” I grit.

“Apakhanonly gets married for one reason.” Her smile turnscutting. “Heirs. And if you can’t give Petyr that… Well, he’ll just have to look elsewhere.”

I bite back a sharp laugh. God, is she for real?

She thinks this is about biology. As if I’ve got some kind of complex about my reproductive bits that she can feed into. She has no idea that Petyr and I already made that deal—and that we’re both perfectly fine with him going elsewhere if I end up not working out.

But are we?a small, treacherous voice inside me whispers.

I swat it away and let my lips curl. “Thanks for the advice,” I murmur. “We should do this more often. What do you say? Want to crack open your third bottle of the night and gossip about boys?”

Her eyes narrow. “Careful,sobachka.I don’t have to play nice.”

“Good,” I spit. “I like it much better when people call me a bitch to my face. Don’t you?”

With another twitch of her face, she turns sharply and leaves.

I drop back onto the couch. Today has been fucking exhausting. My mood to study has all but evaporated.

As I head upstairs, Kira’s words keep burning a hole in my head. What if this really doesn’t work out? What if Petyr does have to go to someone else for his heir?

Would I really be okay with that?

You have no choice.My rational mind sets me straight.This is a business arrangement.

Right. That’s all this is. I’m not here to stay. I never was.

So why do I feel like part of me wants to?

33

SIMA

I really don’t want to tell him.

God. This is all Kira’s fault. Her little performance rattled me more than I want to admit. I didn’t want to show it in front of her—didn’t want to give her the satisfaction—but now that I’m alone, her words are all I can think about.

“If you can’t give Petyr what he needs… Well. He’ll just have to look elsewhere.”

She’s keeping score. I have no idea why, but she is. And I just failed the first test: get a baby in me.

Maybe she thought I’dalreadybe pregnant. It would be one explanation for why Petyr would marry me instead of Polina Sidorov, or some other well-bred Bratva heiress.

In Kira’s eyes, I’m a nobody. Worse—I’m working class. I’m sure half the reason she hasn’t slapped me is because she didn’t want to get her manicure dirty.

The other half is, of course, Petyr.