Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 86238 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86238 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
For the fear I might vomit, I nod instead of speaking.
“And?”
I almost lie until I spot a flurry of blonde in the corner of the space.
Sofia is a part of the celebration.
“It was positive.”
When Kirill spins to face the men, his excitement oddly elevated, I return my focus to Alek. While Kirill shouts, “To the Bobrovs!” I nudge my head to the pocket of Alek’s jacket so forcefully I look like I have an undiagnosed twitch.
He shoves his hand into the navy-blue material a second before Kirill’s focus returns to Ghost and me. “I guess you better make an honorable woman out of her.” My skin crawls when he snivels out, “We don’t want the Bobrov name being tainted with a bastard.”
Ghost acts as suave as a man with nothing to lose. With his grin unblemished and his head angled to hide the scarred side of his face, he drops to one knee and produces a box from his pocket.
I’m already struggling to hold back my emotions when I spot Alek’s surprised expression as he pulls the positive pregnancy test out of his pocket, so you can picture how hard it becomes when Ghost cracks open the ring box.
I’ve seen this ring before. It is the one I pointed out to Alek when I told him one day I’d marry a man rich enough to buy it for me. It was ridiculously priced, hideously ugly, and way above anything I’ve ever owned, but I acted as if it was the only thing I wanted in the world because I was angry he had turned me down the night before.
With everyone’s focus on the ginormous diamond ring, I take a moment to bring my eyes back to meet Alek’s across the room. I nod when he nudges his head to the test in silent questioning. Everyone takes it as my answer to Ghost’s unvoiced question, then they sigh in sync when absurd, idiotic tears stream down my face unchecked as Alek finally awards me the three little words he’s kept from me all these years. “I love you.”
21
ANASTASIA
“Congratulations. You must be thrilled?”
I dip my chin in thank you to the stranger offering her fake felicitations before veering to my right. I’m so over the forced niceness in the room I want to vomit.
“Two Bobrov heirs only months apart. How lovely,” a lady with an ugly hat murmurs before I’m finally freed from the phony parade by the last person I expected.
“Anastasia, come.” Kirill waves me over to his group, his smile friendly yet still slimy. When I join him, albeit hesitantly, I am introduced to two of the three men. “This is Dr. Marc and Professor Irving. Dr. Marc specializes in obstetrics. I was just telling him about your news.”
“Congratulations,” Dr. Marc offers. “How far along are you?”
As I spot Alek moving close, I answer, “Only a couple of weeks. This is all very new.”
A private exchange between Kirill and Dr. Marc doesn’t appear to go in Kirill’s favor. His jaw tightens when Dr. Marc inconspicuously shakes his head, but before tension can become strangling, Professor Irving tries to save the day. “There was an interesting study conducted a couple of years back that said the level of HCG can drop significantly from the morning to the evening. We’ve been wanting to debunk it for a while now. Would you be interested in being a participant in a new study?”
“Um…” What the hell? “What would you require me to do?”
His smile is more sleezy than welcoming. “Just a simple urine test morning and night.”
That’s it? Alek made out their tests are far more invasive. “Oh. Um… yeah, I guess I could do that?” I don’t know why my reply sounds more like a question than an affirmation.
“What’s going on?” I startle when Ghost arrives out of nowhere. For a man of such height, he shouldn’t be as agile as he is.
While he devotes his attention to me like a husband-to-be would, I say, “Profess Ir—”
“Irving,” he fills in, smiling like he gets pleasure from my tongue twist.
“… was wondering if I would like to be a part of an experiment.”
“Not an experiment.” Kirill tsks me as if I am a child. “A study on the fluctuation of HCG levels during varying stages of pregnancy.” Something he said ticks Ghost off. His blood pressure surges as his grip around my waist tightens. “Dr. Marc is adamant that fluctuations are normal. Professor Irving is on the other side of the spectrum. I figured we may as well settle the debate since we have a willing participant for our study.”
Ghost pffts him. “You have plenty of women to test your theory on. You don’t need mine.” I swear I can hear Alek’s jaw ticking from a distance. There was a ton of possessiveness in Ghost’s tone, but since I am as confident his stamp of ownership has more to do with Katie as Alek, he doesn’t respond. “Come, Anastasia. We have plans to finalize.”