Page 9

I find myself standing outside her bedroom door again. Leaning my head against it and sighing in frustration. I should never have kissed her. I knew she didn’t trust me and kissing her like that made it worse. Now she won’t even come out of the room when I’m at home. The guards tell me she walks around when I’m out—that makes it worse. That means that the reason she’s hiding is solely to avoid me.

She’s locked herself in there and hardly says two words to me through the closed door.

Aly thinks I’m the bad guy and I have no idea how to show her that I’m not. But from her point of view it’s no surprise that she sees me that way. I kidnapped her and forced her to marry me.

I’m holding her prisoner in my home and exposed to her some crazy and scary truths about her own family that she didn’t know.

But none of that is what is constantly plaguing my thoughts lately.

It’s the kiss.

I can’t believe how intense that kiss was.

I knew, even before our lips touched, that I was making a mistake, but I couldn’t stop. I lost all control of myself at the thought of having her. She is intoxicating to me. A drug I’ve barely tasted but desperately want more of.

Too beautiful, too fierce, too smart and too sexy.

It’s dangerous for me to be around her so maybe it’s better that she stays in the room.

But for her own well-being I want her to have the freedom of the mansion. She’ll go crazy alone in there.

“Aly come down for dinner. It’ll be ready in a few minutes,” I say through the door.

There is no answer. Again.

I sigh heavily.

“I’ll be waiting for you downstairs.”

After a long moment and another silent reply I push away from the door and walk down the passage towards the staircase. Behind me I hear her bedroom door opening and I spin around, eager to see her. She peeks her head out, sees me standing there and scrunches her nose in annoyance. Then slams the door closed again.

My shoulders go tense.

I guess I just have to accept that she needs space and I need to back the hell off.

I’m getting nowhere trying to force her out of her room. She obviously doesn’t want to be around me. I can’t change that by making demands. I have to be patient.

I walk down to the dinner table heavy with frustration. Sitting down, I finally accept that I will be eating alone for a while. It’s not like I haven’t been eating alone for most of my adult life, so it shouldn’t bother me—even though it does.

And I should start accepting that I will never be anything but a monster to her. That thought aches inside me. I wish she had a different view of me. I’m not the monster here. I am only trying to save my sister.

What does it matter anyway? She’s nothing to me. She’s just a tool I’m using to get my sister back and when I have her back—Alyona will be out of my life forever. She can hate me as much as she wants.

The thought of her hating me cuts into my heart.

I don’t like it.

Again, I can’t figure out why it would matter—but I never intended to harm her in any way. I didn’t mean for any of this to happen like this.

I sigh and scoop up some chicken chow mien and set it down on my plate. Then I pick up my chopsticks and sit down to eat.

When I’m done, I’ll take a plate of food up to her room like I do every night. At least I know she’s eating.

Twisting the chop sticks into the noodles I can’t stop thinking about her.

Her lips, her sweet taste, the way she moans against my mouth and how she feels beneath my hands.

I shove a wad of noodle into my mouth and chew as though I’m angry with the food.

Why can’t I stop thinking about her?

It’s pathetic. She’s just a girl. Like any other girl.

Just a girl.

But she’s not. And I know it.

She’s been glaringly different from the moment I met her.

She’s made me feel different too.

The more time I spend with her, the more obvious it becomes. But again—it’s all irrelevant because soon she will be out of my life and I’ll never see her again.

I swallow and shove another mouthful of food into my face. Getting angrier at the situation. Chewing faster and scowling at nothing as I glare out the massive window into the garden.

“Why are you eating that food as though it was a punishment?” her voice makes me turn towards the door and I swallow the half chewed food in fright.

“You’re here. You came down,” I mutter, standing up and pulling a chair out for her, in her usual spot, next to me.

She ignores it and walks around the table to sit across from me instead.

For a moment I consider going and picking up her chair and moving it here but then I think better of it. It’s not good for her to be right next to me. My body does not obey me when she’s too close. Besides, it’s a freaking miracle she came downstairs and that she’s talking to me. I shouldn’t push my luck.

I watch her dish up some noodles into a small round bowl and pick up a pair of bamboo chop sticks. She drizzles soy sauce over her noodles and then gently pushes the chopsticks into the bowl and twirls them.

She eats elegantly. I look down at my own food.

I force myself to change pace and eat as slowly as her.

The anger is dissipating. I don’t feel the need to take out my frustration on the noodles anymore.

We don’t speak.

She hardly even looks in my direction. But my heart is racing because she’s here. She’s eating with me after days of ignoring and avoiding me.

A win is a win.

I finish my bowl and dish up some more food. Not because I’m hungry but rather because I don’t want to leave the table yet, and I need to stay busy. Eating gives me something to do. Alyona is eating slowly. She looks like she has a lot on her mind, but she isn’t sharing it with me. I was never good at being patient, but now is as good a time as any to learn.

Aly scoops up the last piece of chicken from her bowl, chews it slowly and then pushes the bowl away from herself.

I reach over and pick up one of the fortune cookies sitting on the table by the take away packet, handing it to her.

She narrows her eyes towards me but takes it.

I watch her pull the packet open, crack the cookie in two and slide it apart to free the little slip of paper inside.

She chews on half of the cookie while she reads.

Then she grins and sets the fortune aside.

“What did it say?” I ask, dying of curiosity.

“Rigor, I have a proposition for you,” she says curtly.

“Oh. And what might that be?” I chuckle at her sudden professionalism and change in posture. She tilts her chin upward as though she has the upper hand.

“I am willing to come downstairs and eat dinner and lunch with you. I will interact, and be normal, under the circumstances—whatever normal is—I won’t lock myself away in the bedroom anymore—if—”

She bites her lip.

“If what? The suspense is killing me here.” I’m leaning forward in my seat, filled with anticipation.

“If you teach me everything I want to know about the Bratva mafia.”

Immediately, every alarm bell in my body goes off. “No,” I snarl.

“No?” she utters in shock. “You aren’t even going to discuss it as an option?”

“No, Aly, I can’t expose you to all of that. You were never meant to find out what you already found out from me—now you’re asking me to show you even more. I can’t do it,” I sigh, throwing my hands in the air in frustration.

“It’s too late for all that. I know enough for it to be dangerous to me—and not enough to keep myself safe. Knowledge is power, and it’s the only thing that will help me find my way through everything.”

“Aly—”

Her face scowls in anger. Her brows knotted together in frustration.

“You started this, Rigor. You are the one who has to help me with this.”

I clench my jaw and the muscles feather across my cheek.

“I have a right to know,” she pushes.

I stand up and start pacing around the dining room, running my fingers through my hair and pulling my mouth tight in frustration. She’s right. I did start this. But that doesn’t mean I should be responsible for making it worse.

“I can’t put you in danger, Aly,” I sigh.

“How will I be in any more danger than I’m already in? I’ve been kidnapped and forced into a marriage with a guy I don’t know anything about in a world I know nothing about. My back is against the wall. I have no control over my own life and no control of my own future from this point. I’d say it’s pretty bad for me right now.”

I chuckle. Damn she’s good at arguing her point.

“I can see why you picked the career you chose.”

“Paralegal?” she asks, confused.

“Exactly,” I sigh.

She is watching me closely. Her shoulders starting to relax as she sits back in the chair and folds her arms across her breasts.

I pace for a while longer but the smug expression on her face tells me she knows she’s already won.

I don’t want to give in so easily, but she’s right.

I pulled her into this world. The least I can do is show her what it’s about. Otherwise all she’ll have to go on is what she’s seen in movies or read in books. She needs to see all of it. And I can’t trust her brother to show her anything seeing as he has lied to her for her entire life.

“Fine,” I say after a long moment of thought. “I’ll show you what you want to know. But—it requires leaving the mansion and that requires trust. I need you to promise me that you’ll behave when we’re outside of these walls. You won’t try to escape—Aly I won’t tolerate you breaking this promise.”

She narrows her eyes towards me.

“Fine,” she shrugs.

“Fine,” I sigh.

“Good.” She’s getting sassy.

“Indeed.” I smirk.

She glances down at the table and I remember her fortune cookie.

“What did it say?” I ask again.

“That’s none of your business.” She grins.

“I can make it my business.” I glare at her.

She picks up the little slip of paper and holds it tightly in her hand.

I step around the table and move cautiously towards her. “I just want to know what the fortune cookie said, Aly,” I say calmly, stepping close to her.

Her fist grips tighter closed, and she stands up as well.

She giggles softly, and it sends a shiver of delight through me.

I bolt towards her and grab her waist as she tries to run away from me.

I’m about to grab her hand when she shoves the little piece of paper into her mouth and presses her lips closed.

“What the?” I crack up laughing, staring down at her and that beautifully mischievous grin.

My body sparks against hers and the same lack of control begins to creep in. Her breathing becomes faster and heavier and my hand presses harder into her waist. Her body against mine. The heat is building between us. Her lips part slightly as she takes in a soft breath.

Her eyes suddenly go wide, and she pushes away from me, spitting the paper back into her hand and licking her lips she turns her back on me. Her shoulders back and her spine straight. She takes a deep breath.

“Ok, well, thanks for dinner, I think I am going to bed now,” she says quickly, trying to sound casual but far from it.

“Yeah, sure,” I mutter, rubbing my hand over my pants trying to push my cock down.

Aly runs out of the dining room and up the stairs to her bedroom—out of my sight.

I shake my head, rubbing at the tension growing in the back of my neck.

Fuck. That was close. My muscles feel taut with expectation and my body is alive with need. My cock won’t go down.

I have to be more careful around her. It’s crazy how quickly things shift. All I did was joke a little about the fortune cookie and it almost ended in another awkward and stupid moment that will have her locking herself in her bedroom for days on end.

I can’t go doing something risky like that again when we are just getting back to the talking stage.

I take a moment to pull myself together as best I can then set about clearing the table just to give myself something to do.

Once I have packed the leftovers in the fridge and wiped the table down I head upstairs to shower and get ready for bed too, but my thoughts are still on her and that gorgeously naughty look in her eyes.

I wish I had met her under different circumstances. I think we might have become something more than whatever we are now.