Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 80942 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80942 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
I take it with a huge grin on my face. I’ve always watched everyone who dances with envy, wishing Adrian and I were among them, but I’ve never had the guts to ask, not even when we were on good terms.
My husband wraps a possessive arm around my waist and I place a palm on his strong shoulder as we slowly sway to the music.
“I didn’t know you danced, Adrian.”
“I don’t.”
“You are right now.”
“Because you look beautiful.”
“You’re dancing because I look beautiful?”
“It’s a perfectly good reason.”
“Is that really all?”
“No. I need to stake my claim so that no fucker looks at you.”
“You haven’t done that before.”
“I thought I was protecting you before, but fuck that. If you’re going to be in the limelight anyway, I’ll be by your side every step of the way.”
“And…you won’t try to hide me away again?”
“Believe me, I would if I could. If it were up to me, I would’ve worshipped you away from onlookers, where you’re safe, but you’re not happy with only that anymore, and I would never drive you to the edge of a cliff again, Lenochka.”
Moisture gathers in my eyes and I hug him, resting my head against his chest. Because I know, I just know that something different just blossomed between us.
Trust.
31
Adrian
While I planned this all night long, executing it is complicated.
I might have escaped Sergei’s wrath the other time, barely, but this one is entirely different.
He’s not the only one involved.
There’s also Lazlo, and judging by the way he made Lia do the rounds of meeting his family members, I have no doubt that he’ll soon announce to the world that she’s his daughter. The only reason he’s pulling back is because she probably asked him to. However, Lazlo Luciano was never a patient man, especially when it comes to things he considers his right.
He’s known to be brutal and unforgiving when it comes to family matters. And for that alone, I don’t have time to waste.
So as soon as we finish dinner, I stand. Lia stares up at me with those huge imploring eyes. She’s so beautiful, it physically aches sometimes.
Like right now.
I spent the entire dinner observing her every movement; the flutter of her long lashes, the twitch of her lips when she talked or ate. I even let Damien address her just so I could hear the tenor of her voice and the newly-found spark in her words.
My Lenochka has been slowly but surely evolving, and I don’t want to miss any second of it.
Is this a new form of an obsession? Possibly. I have no doubt that just like her character, my obsession with her will keep growing to match it.
Lia gracefully gets to her feet and slips her hand through my arm. Usually, she wouldn’t touch me in public—or in private, until recently—but my Lenochka is changing.
It’s not only about how she went to her father and faced that part of her life or how she put her foot down to protect my men and Winter. She’s been slowly integrating herself into the criminal aspects of my life, which she used to abhor. It’s like she’s finally accepting her role as my wife without my having to force her.
If anything, she’s the one who’s been demanding things.
“What are you doing?” she murmurs, flattening her small frame to my side.
The scent of roses fills my nostrils and I breathe her in, engraving her to memory. She’ll always be my lone rose—the resilient rose that I’d pluck from the side of the road over and over again, even if her thorns caused me to bleed.
She’s my rose.
Her thorns as well as her exotic scent are mine and mine alone.
After taking my fill of her scent, I say, “I need to talk to Sergei, Lenochka.”
She shakes her head, her delicate throat bobbing with a swallow. “Not yet. He’ll kill you.”
“Do you have such little faith in me? Hmm. It seems that I haven’t punished you thoroughly enough lately.”
Her cheeks turn a deep shade of crimson. “Stop it. And you did last night.”
“Not enough apparently.” I stroke her hand that’s looped in my arm. “I’ll be fine.”
“I want to go with you.”
“No. Sergei doesn’t react well to you.”
“Rai told me it’s an act and that he appreciates how you showed loyalty to me.”
I raise a brow. Seems that Rai genuinely likes Lia if she went out of her way to placate her. But then again, she wouldn’t have gone against me and risked my wrath to help Lia escape if that wasn’t the case.
“He appreciates my loyalty, not yours, Lenochka. I don’t want you there when he learns who you are.”
She pouts. “Because I’m a woman and my existence doesn’t matter?”
“Because you’re my wife and I’d rather die a thousand times over than put you in danger.”
I can tell she’s not convinced, but she doesn’t press the matter. However, she hesitates before she releases my arm.