Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 79211 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79211 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
“You’re brave, Harper. Resilient. This is unlike you.”
Goddamn, why is he so perceptive?
I swallow and lick my lips, looking away, but he doesn’t allow it. With his fingers on my chin, he brings my face back to his.
“Tell me,” he says, in the same voice he used tonight to clear the room, a tone that brooks no argument. I know then that there’s no hiding from Aleksandr Romanov. He sees right through me. With his fingers on my chin, he holds my gaze. “Who did this to you?”
A stranger in a crowded room.
Wrinkled sheets and muted screams.
Blood and pain and the knowledge I’d been used and discarded.
“Did — did what?” I whisper, hoping that if I stall, I don’t have to face this. Face him.
I’m lying on the bed, half naked. He’s fully clothed sitting next to me. I’m trying to hide the fact that I’m crying under a mask of bravado, and he’s trying to keep his temper reined in.
I’m tired of masks and lies and illusions.
So, so tired.
“You’re fucking terrified of being alone with me. Look at you. You’re practically curled into a fetal position, and I’ve barely touched you.”
A part of me wants him to touch me. Wants him to make me forget.
His brow furrowed he tries to guess. “Did your mother tell you to fear your wedding night? Are you afraid of what the first time will be like?”
I shake my head. It won’t be my first time.
“No,” I whisper.
What will he do when he finds out I’m not a virgin?
A muscle twitches in his jaw. He’s losing patience. “Someone hurt you.”
I lick my lips. “Yes.”
Leaning forward, he covers my hand with his big palm. “I’ll ask you one more time. Who did this to you? Why are you afraid of me?”
I stare at him. We’re married now. We share a name, and we’ll share children. I can’t tell him all of my secrets, not yet, but I’ll tell him the rest soon.
“I was at a party,” I say in a whisper. “Someone slipped something in my drink. I only remember bits and pieces.”
“You were assaulted,” he says in a voice I can’t quite decipher, but I’m reminded of a lion with velveted paws.
My mouth is dry, my voice hoarse. “Yes.”
He doesn’t speak for long minutes. Is he going to hurt me? I made a mistake telling him, I know I did. I know the consequences a mafia woman faces for losing her virginity. She’s damaged goods.
Miss High and Mighty.
Filthy piece of trash.
Fucking whore.
I’ve just revealed to Aleks that he was hoodwinked. He was tricked into marrying me, not knowing who I am or what I’ve done.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper. “I thought I could hide it. I didn’t want to tell you. If my mother knew I told you—”
He holds his hand up for me to stop. The words die on my lips.
“In your world, a woman’s virginity is her pride and joy. It isn’t the same for us. And even if it was an expectation in my family, I wouldn’t fault you for being assaulted. But I do have questions.” I’m shaking, unable to stop it. Wordlessly, he closes his hand around mine. The shaking stills. “Tell me. When your father found out, what was the blowback to your family for the justice he served? I need to know who our enemies are.”
I don’t quite understand the question at first. He thinks my father avenged me?
“Justice he served?”
Aleks’s lips are in a tight line. His eyes have gone black. “When he murdered the man who assaulted you, what happened?”
“He blamed me, Aleks. He never even looked for the man that assaulted me. We didn’t know who he was, and my father didn’t care.” I shake my head. “You don’t know how shallow my family can be. They didn’t care about me. They cared that one of their biggest bargaining chips was worthless.” I shrug. “My brother wanted to get rid of me. He made a deal with your brother, and here I am.”
You aren’t worthless.
It isn’t your fault.
Aleks looks momentarily shocked. It’s the first time I’ve seen a look like that on his face, but I’ve heard shock is one of the expressions nearly impossible to hide. “Even your brother didn’t seek justice?”
I shake my head. “No.”
His brows snap together and his voice is as low as the underbelly of a snake when he responds. “I’ll fucking kill them.”
I shiver because it isn’t a figure of speech. He will.
“Who?” I whisper.
“All of them. Your father should’ve known better. Your brother should’ve burned the world down to defend your honor. Your mother should’ve hired someone to find out who assaulted you and made it her life’s mission to make them pay.”
He really, really doesn’t know my family.
“You can’t make up fear like this,” he says in a lower voice, when the first thunderous rage begins to ebb away. “You’re afraid of me because you were assaulted.”