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)
I had my spies on her. She was a fucking whore who was blowing through the funds her parents had given her. As for her parents, their company was still struggling to hold itself together. They were draining funds and losing viewers faster than anything.
“Yes, their little girl,” I said.
“Andrei? What’s wrong?” she asked.
“Nothing is wrong. I just … it’s good news for them.”
“Are you disappointed I’m not pregnant?” Adelaide asked.
She had started her menstrual period that very morning, and I knew there was no chance of another baby right now. I wasn’t disappointed, not really. I saw that she was in pain. Running fingers through my hair, I saw the sadness in her gaze, and I couldn’t live with it. I went to her, cupping her face. “Look at me. I am fine and I don’t care if we’re pregnant or not.”
“What if … what if I can’t?”
“You can.”
“I heard what Ivan said, within two years.”
“Don’t worry about that.”
“You might get a new wife.”
“Not going to happen.” I kissed her hard.
I wanted to say more, but as I started, my fucking cell phone rang, pissing me off. Annoyed, I tried to ignore it, but Adelaide pulled away.
“You need to answer that.”
What I needed to do was be there for my wife, not constantly be at the beck and call of everyone else around me. It was Ivan, though, so she wasn’t wrong. I did need to take the call.
“Andrei,” I said.
“I know it’s you. Why say that?”
I rolled my eyes. “What’s wrong?”
“I need you to arrange the meeting with Rage. Have him come to your penthouse suite.”
“Not fucking happening,” I said, stepping away from Adelaide.
“Pardon me?”
I close my eyes, realizing what I just said. “I’m not having him come anywhere near my wife.”
“She loves the house, doesn’t she?”
I glance back at Adelaide who’d gone to sit on the bed, giving it a little bounce. “I don’t know.”
Ivan tutted. “You clearly didn’t sell it well enough.”
There were moments like now, where I would have gladly throttled Ivan Volkov. The man could be so fucking annoying and I knew he did it on purpose. He was a meddling fucker. He’d not gotten to where he was in life by not meddling. I was so fucked off with it.
“I’m talking with her.”
“Tell her how nice it would be raising a family. How she can have Aurora come to visit. Their kids could be friends and all of that.”
I step out of the bedroom so she doesn’t hear. “Ivan, that’s not the best course of action. I’ll deal with it, but we can’t meet at the penthouse suite.”
“Rage needs to know we mean business. He also has to think we trust him.”
“Which we don’t.”
“I trust him more than I do Demon. Now, if he comes to your penthouse suite, that is a sign of respect and trust.”
“It’s a sign of stupidity.”
“So, get Adelaide loving the house and we’ll see how everything else plays.”
He hung up, of course. That was what Ivan did—gave instructions, and left me to deal with everything else. The guy was exhausting at times.
I dropped my head, taking several deep breaths. Adelaide had been attempting meditation. Since the attack, she occasionally had panic attacks. She didn’t know what they were driven by, but I’d heard the methods and started to use them myself.
Anything that stopped me from killing my boss was a fucking bonus.
I enter the bedroom again but Adelaide is nowhere to be seen.
Seeing as I already paid for the house, I had the keys and there was no need for a realtor. Leo and Terrance were out front. No one else should be in the house, but fear raced down my spine. I called out her name, but she didn’t respond.
Rushing downstairs, calling her name again, expecting the worst, I heard her calling out that she was in the kitchen. Breathing a sigh of relief, I made my way into the kitchen and found her with her hands spread out on the counter.
“This is a nice space,” she said. “It’s big. You could host family dinners. Invite some friends over. Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
“Fucking you on every single counter?”
She giggled. “No, we’re not thinking the same thing. I’m thinking Thanksgiving and Christmas. How about Halloween? We could decorate this place for when or if we have children.” I close the distance between us and wrap my arms around her.
“When, Adelaide. When we have kids.” I’d not been one for special occasions. I’d never celebrated a single Christmas or Halloween, or Thanksgiving. None of them had been important to me. Survival had. Kissing the top of her head, I breathe her in.
“I love the place, Andrei.”
“Good.”
“But you need to go, don’t you?” she asked.
“Yeah, I do.” I don’t want to let her go.
This is crazy. I’m not the kind of man to act this way, but the thought of leaving my wife fills me with regret.