Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 92133 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 461(@200wpm)___ 369(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92133 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 461(@200wpm)___ 369(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
His voice sounded way too smug.
Dropping my hands, I looked into the smirking face of my husband. I didn’t care. Glancing to my left, I saw the tall glass of water and the white pills. They looked like the kind for migraines and for now, I was willing to take them. Would Andrei kill his wife after having a party?
His liquor had been so gross but once I started, it was like the monster just wouldn’t stop. One sip had been two, then three, then four, then five, and well, half the bottle had gone. I wasn’t a drinker. I hated wine and beer. At dinners I drank it, and by drank, I meant sipped, and often asked the waiter to change it for water.
I don’t know what happened yesterday. One moment I’d been lonely, trying to figure out how to meet up with Nathan. I missed my best friend and wanted to see him so desperately, but Andrei had been colder and more aloof than ever before. Something was going on in his life. I got it, and to a point, I understood it. He was an important person in the Volkov Bratva. He had a lot of important things to deal with. I wasn’t important. I’m the wife, the annoying person he didn’t want in his life.
I swigged back the painkillers, one after the other. I hated taking pills. For some reason I felt like they were three times larger than they were. I knew I swallowed more in a mouthful of pasta than I did in a single pill, but that was beside the point. After the pills went down, I finished the glass of water, needing something to take the taste away.
I winced and looked at Andrei. “Did I vomit?”
“Yeah, you did, and even though I took care of your feet, I didn’t think you’d appreciate me attempting to brush your teeth.”
I pulled the blanket off, hoping to go and clean my mouth, but I was in a pair of panties and bra. Gasping, I grab the blanket, trying to hide my nakedness, but that didn’t help.
He chuckled. “I’ve seen it all yesterday.”
Vague, hazy memories filtered through, and I knew I’d made a fool of myself. Odd conversational pieces of where I compare myself to Bethany come to mind.
I drop my head into my hands. “Oh, God, I was … did I come on to you?”
“Unless you count demanding a divorce as a come-on?” Andrei asked.
This made me lift my head. “I … asked for a divorce?”
Andrei moved from the chair to the bed, toward the edge.
I moved my legs out of the way to make room for him. Licking my dry lips and hating the taste in my mouth.
“Adelaide, you’re not getting a divorce. The only way out of this marriage is by death, or old age.”
I nod, pressing my lips together. “I know you wanted Bethany. You were supposed to marry her.”
“Bethany was a piece of shit and a slut. I didn’t want her. I was doing what Ivan wanted me to.”
“You don’t get to call my sister a slut.”
“She’s a piece of shit and that’s acceptable?” he asked.
“You didn’t live a celibate life. You don’t get to call her anything.”
“Your issue here is the double standard?” He tilted his head to one side.
I frowned, running fingers through my hair, and groaned. “It’s a lot of things. Just ignore me. Bethany and my feelings about her are complicated. She is still my sister.”
“Yeah, and she hates your guts, Adelaide. You don’t have to pretend for me.”
“I don’t…”
“She was the one who made sure your dress was too small at the wedding,” Andrei said. “On the night before the wedding, she took your room away from you when she realized I was the one who arranged for you to be waited on.”
“What?”
Andrei pursed his lips. This was news to me.
“Bethany and your parents knew what they were getting themselves into. You did not. Binding you to me, I can imagine would be difficult for any woman, and I figured if you had … the night before you were due to marry me, I’d arranged an all-spa treatment for you, to help you to relax. Bethany found out, and she took it.”
“I had no idea.” I nibble my lip. That was kind of sweet, and now I’m pissed off that once again, Bethany was there to take something that didn’t belong to her, as usual. Taking a deep breath, I exhaled slowly.
“I was hoping to avoid the panic attack you inevitably had at the wedding.”
“That was … I was able to marry you but it was what Bethany said afterward.” I looked down at the blanket.
“What did she say?”
When he asked me this on our wedding day, I’d avoided talking about it. Pushing some of my hair, which had to look a mess right now, out of my face, I looked over his shoulder. My stomach was not happy right now.