Page 4 of Love to Defy You (The Dark Love #2)

Willow

The soft close of the window rouses me from sleep. When I open my eyes, the gauzy floor-length curtains billow once more before growing still, framing a dark silhouette haloed by the moonlight behind him.

“Alek? Is that you?” My voice is raspy with sleep.

“Yes. Go back to sleep, malishka .”

I lift my head off the pillows and brush my hair back, but my fingers catch on the tangles. “What time is it?”

“Late.” He strips off his clothes and lays them over the back of an armchair in front of the fireplace. As he turns his back to me for a moment, I catch sight of the scar on his ass—a scar inflicted by his father with a belt.

My heart clenches every time I see it.

Alek approaches the opposite side of the bed, and the mattress dips as he crawls in beside me. “How did your test go today?”

“Fine, I think. I got tripped up in the math section on a few questions, but we’ll see.”

His gaze falls to the small half-inch scar above my right breast, the one he gave me last year when he first began tutoring me. While unconventional, his teaching methods were effective, and I found a study system to attribute certain information to the scars he gave me.

“I couldn’t stand being apart from you.” He wraps his arm around my waist and pulls me flush against his chest, tucking my head beneath his chin. “Remind me to never go back to Moscow.”

His steady heartbeat thrums in my ears as I snuggle into his warm embrace. My silk negligee glides against his bare skin, which lingers with his comforting, familiar scent—pine bodywash mixed with cigarette smoke.

I touch his bicep and trace my finger over the raised scar from last year’s gunshot wound. “I’m glad you came back for me.”

“I always will.” He presses a kiss into my mussed brunette hair. A peaceful silence falls between us, and his breathing starts to even out.

Just when I think he’s fallen asleep, he speaks up, his soft voice caressing the quietude like velvet. “Are you happy?”

I smile and whisper against his chest, “Of course I am.”

He tucks a strand of loose hair behind my ear, brushing against the jagged cartilage from my own bullet wound. “You’re not having any... self-destructive urges?”

I lean away just enough to catch his gaze. “When we’re together, I don’t have those thoughts. As long as I have you, I’ll be happy.”

The crease between his eyebrows relaxes. “I swear to you, malishka , you’ll always have me. My heart is yours to do with as you please.“ He reaches for my hand and places it on his chest. “If you decide you want to trample on my heart and drive a knife through it, its final beat will be for you.”

Every so often, it hits me just how dependent I am on Alek for my happiness. It used to scare me how much power he had over me, but now I trust him so implicitly that I don’t mind that my mental health is contingent on him.

Maybe that’s why they call it falling in love. I didn’t just fall—I jumped headfirst into the dark depths of his possessive devotion, where he caught me in his arms and never let go.

I’ve placed my complete and unequivocal faith in him. The feelings we have for each other are so intense that they’re all-consuming, but that’s what I need to drive out the darkness inside me. To push out the urge to succumb to that darkness and end it all.

Alek replaced my darkness with his own, and he’s so deeply entrenched within me that I don’t know where I end and he begins. He owns me, mind, body, and soul.

He doesn’t just hold my heart in his hands. I’d willingly cut it from my chest and give it to him if he asked me to.

One Month Later

Brunch has become one of my favorite daily routines.

Every morning, Alek and I sleep in late—and fuck—before we start our day.

At every Kurochkin property we stay in, the staff prepare elaborate meals for us.

The foods vary depending on which country we’re in, but here in Saint-Tropez, the dining room table is covered in pastry trays, colorful fruit bowls, and small jars of butter and jam.

Carafes of coffee and juice are at my disposal, and I usually have three different beverage glasses going at once.

“I swear I’ve gained ten pounds this past year.” I glance down and squeeze my stomach at the table.

Alek glances up from his newspaper and smirks. “I love your curves.”

To be fair, I was a scrawny twig when we first met. After my mother got sick, I often forgot to eat because I was so busy taking care of her, and after she died, I didn’t have any appetite. Food tasted like charcoal in my mouth, and I found zero joy in eating.

I have a sneaky suspicion that Alek is pushing food onto me purposefully to gauge my emotional state. Or maybe this is just the happy weight they talk about when people fall in love.

After taking a large bite of my croissant, I turn back to my book and continue to read.

Alek and I spend our mornings in a comfortable silence at the table, with him reading his newspaper and me engrossed in my latest smutty romance book.

It’s like we’re an old married couple, and I love playing house with him.

My afternoons are usually spent poring over study guides, but after taking my test last month, I’ve enjoyed some free time to explore other pursuits, like sex. Lots and lots of sex.

But in between the intimacy, I like to catch up on reading whichever book Prisha and I have chosen for our weekly book club.

We met because both of our fathers are ambassadors to Andarusia, but what really bonded Prisha Agrawal and me was our mutual love of romance novels.

Well, that and hiding out from Alek and the Aristocrats in the janitor’s closet at school.

Even though we only met last year, our friendship has withstood the long distance.

Before I left Andarusia, we made a promise to each other to videochat every Sunday, and I’ve never missed a single call.

She graduated the President’s Academy of Olininburg last month, so we’ve both had more time to read during the summer holiday.

One of the housekeepers strolls into the dining room with a silver tray. “ Voici votre courrier, monsieur Kurochkin.”

“Ah, merci. “ Alek picks up the pile of mail from the tray and starts to sort through it.

The housekeeper approaches me next and offers the tray. “And for you, madamoiselle .”

I look up from my book, my mouth stuffed with bread, and swallow. “For me?” My brows knit together, but when she lowers the tray, I lift off a white packet with my name on it. “Oh. Oh, my God.”

Alek glances up with a sharp look. “What’s wrong?”

With trembling hands, I hold the packet and stare at the return address—Weltner College in Switzerland. “It’s either an acceptance or rejection letter from Zurich.”

He folds the newspaper and sets it aside. “It’s too thick to be a rejection letter. Open it.”

Weltner College is an elite private university in Switzerland, and it’s considered by many to be the Harvard of Europe. Many elite European families send their children there, and Alek has already been accepted.

I just don’t know if I’ll be attending Zurich as a student or his live-in girlfriend.

“I can’t.” I shove the packet into his hands. “You open it.”

When he accepts the packet from me, he smirks.

“I’m glad you find this amusing,” I snap.

Using his letter opener, he slices the flap open neatly and slides out the papers inside.

My fists are clenched so hard, my nails leave painful indents in my palm. Until I know what’s inside that envelope, I won’t be able to breathe.

I didn’t realize how badly I want this. It was always my dream to go to an Ivy League school, but after Mom got sick, my college vision board became a forgotten craft project collecting dust in my bedroom.

But this is my second chance, and I spent the entire year studying my ass off for the ACT to get in.

Alek clears his throat and begins to read the letter aloud. “‘Dear Willow, we are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to Weltner College.’”

“Fuck yeah!” I lurch from my seat with a high-pitched squeal and wrap my arms around his neck from behind. With a quick scan over his shoulder, I read the first line of the letter once, then again until it sinks in. “I can’t believe it!”

Alek sets the letter down and stands up to pull me in for a proper hug. “I knew you’d get in. I’m so proud of you, malishka .”

Before I can beam up at him, he descends upon my mouth, capturing it in a fervent kiss. It takes me by surprise, and I have to grab his shoulders to keep from bowling over.

He’s proud. I’ve somehow managed to make Aleksandr Kurochkin—a former “prince” of Andarusia and the world’s brightest student—proud... of me .

The bitter truth? Alek is out of my league. He’s hot, rich, and commands every room he walks into, not to mention he’s good at sports, school, and fluently speaks at least four languages.

And then, there’s me, the slutty girlfriend on his arm.

I’m good at blowing guys, and that’s pretty much my only skill set.

All I’ve done for the past few years is fuck up my life over and over, and until this moment, all I had to show for it was graduating high school by the skin of my teeth and a viral porn video on the internet. Not exactly boss bitch material.

But I made him proud today.

I pull away and grin. “I’m going to call my dad.”

Alek brushes a stray hair from my cheek. “I’m sure he’ll be thrilled by the news.”

After one last peck on his cheek, I gather my phone and acceptance packet off the dining room table, then make my way into the sitting parlor across the hall.

My favorite oversized reading chair sits beneath the window overlooking the blue Mediterranean, which stretches for miles into the distance and sparkles like glitter beneath the sun.

I dial my dad, who picks up after two rings, and his warm voice fills my ear. “Hey, kiddo, good to hear from you.”

My dad and I haven’t always had an easy relationship, and it took a lot of work to get here.

But after Alek, he’s the first person I want to share the news with.

I’m sure this need to please my boyfriend and my father stems from daddy issues, but I can unload all that in therapy one day if I ever go back.

“Actually, I’m calling with some news.” I take a deep breath. “I got accepted to Weltner.”

“What? Are you serious?” His smile is audible through the phone, and it’s infectious.

“Yeah, I’m serious. I start in the fall.”

He blows out a breath. “Oh, honey, I’m so proud of you. I know how hard you worked to get in. You’ve earned this.”

A stinging sensation burns at the corners of my eyes. “Come on, don’t get all sappy on me.”

“Hey, my kid just got into Weltner. I have the right to be a little sappy.” His voice wavers, and he sniffs before composing himself. “Anyway, now that you’re in, you’ll have to send me the dates for your spring break.”

“Spring break? What for?”

“Well...” He takes a dramatic pause. “Galina wants to get married in the spring. We found a venue, but we were waiting to solidify the date. We don’t want you taking any time off school.”

My cheeks hurt from all this grinning. “I’ll find out the dates and let you know.”

“Thanks. Anyway, I have to get back to work, but don’t worry about tuition, okay? Your college fund will cover it. I’ve been saving up since the day your mother found out she was pregnant with you.” He chuckles.

“Thanks, Dad. I really appreciate it.”

“I’m proud of you, kiddo. Your mom would be too if she were here.”

There goes that stinging sensation in my eyes again, except this time it’s accompanied by a lump at the base of my throat. “That means a lot.”

“All right, I love you. Talk soon.”

“Love you too. Bye.” I end the call with one hand and stare at my acceptance letter in the other. With the back of my hand, I swipe a stray tear from my face.

“That’s right, Mom,” I whisper. “I did it. Took me long enough to get my shit together, huh?”

Getting into college was the hard part. Now, I have to figure out what I want to do with the rest of my life and which degree program will get me there. But with the admissions hurdle out of the way, it feels like the pieces of my life are starting to fall into place.

I just need to make sure I don’t fuck it all up.