Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 66833 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 334(@200wpm)___ 267(@250wpm)___ 223(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66833 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 334(@200wpm)___ 267(@250wpm)___ 223(@300wpm)
If some guy came to me with questions about her, she’d be the first to hear about it—and I certainly wouldn’t tell him anything without her okay.
Then it dawns on me, why she looks so flushed and guilty. “He paid you for this, didn’t he? He didn’t just ask; he gave you something for the information.”
That’s why she said he “forbade” her to tell me.
Because he has some kind of hold over her.
Fuck. This is Alexei we’re talking about. Of course he has a hold over her.
Natasha looks like she wants to cry. “It wasn’t like that. He didn’t pay me anything, I swear. It’s just…” She sucks in a breath. “Well, my father was trying to enter this highly exclusive investment consortium, and Alexei said he’d get him in if I answered a few questions about you. He told me the two of you had been secretly dating, and he wanted to buy you gifts you’d like, maybe surprise you with a weekend getaway. I thought it was so nice and sweet of him, you know? And look at you two now: married and happy! So it all worked out, didn’t it?”
I manage to keep my voice even. “For your father too, I presume?”
She bobs her head. “It was a huge break for him. Really took his business to the next level. But that’s not why I did it. I just… wanted to help bring you two together. The way Alexei talked about it, like the two of you were fated, like you were meant to be—it was so freaking romantic. Even your birthday is on the same day as his, right?”
I draw in a breath. “Right.”
I honestly don’t know how to react, what to say to her. Answering a few questions about my preferences does sound harmless, except that she was indirectly paid for it. To the tune of billions, most likely, given the dramatic improvement in her family’s fortunes in recent years.
I knew her father’s business had started doing better, but I didn’t think anything of it. I couldn’t have imagined that Alexei had had a hand in it, that he’d go as far as to bribe my friend into being his spy.
“I have to digest this,” I tell her, and she winces.
“So you are mad?”
“I’m… ambivalent,” I say, and it’s the truth.
If she’d told me this a couple of months ago, I’d have regarded her actions as a stab in the back and would never have spoken to her again. Alexei was right about that. But it’s different between the two of us now.
The man she sold me out to is not my enemy anymore. He’s the love of my life.
Does that excuse what she did?
I don’t know.
I don’t think I can ever trust her again.
Then again, maybe I never fully trusted her. After all, I didn’t tell her about Alexei and his decade-long pursuit of me. Why didn’t I? Come to think of it, why didn’t I tell anybody that he was stalking me, not even my own brothers?
Maybe they would’ve helped.
And maybe that’s what I was afraid of.
As much as I feared and dreaded Alexei’s obsessive interest in me, a part of me liked it. Reveled in it. Wanted it.
That tiny, twisted part of me was thrilled each time I caught a glimpse of his men watching me as I went about my life.
It was terrifying to know he was out there wanting me, waiting for me. Yet, in some perverse way, it made me feel safe. Like nothing out there could hurt me… except him.
Yeah, I’ll need to dissect that during my next therapy session. Or the next dozen.
Natasha is babbling apologies now, all teary-eyed, so I take pity on her. “Why don’t we have some sushi?” I say gently. “This place I ordered from makes excellent veggie rolls.”
With that, we finally go to the kitchen, where we eat and talk about everything under the sun except for the full, complicated truth about my relationship with Alexei.
I don’t think I’ll ever tell her about that.
Chapter 28
Alina
I contemplate confronting Alexei about Natasha’s revelations, but I decide against it. What would be the point? Bribing my friend into revealing personal but fairly innocuous information is far from the worst thing he’s done. If anything, his goal was to please me, to make me happy and comfortable—which he continues doing in so many big and small ways.
A month into our new life together in Moscow, I’m the happiest I’ve ever been. I’m making tremendous progress on my game, my health is improving by leaps and bounds, and it feels like Alexei and I are growing closer together… even though he still hasn’t said those three little words.
I ignore it. Or try to. Instead, I focus on making him happy, or at least distracting him from his grief. Though he doesn’t talk about it, it feels like his father’s death has greatly impacted him. We haven’t been together that long, but I can tell he’s different these days, not fully himself—which makes sense. He’s lost his remaining parent. But I can’t help feeling that there’s something more to it, something he’s not telling me… something he doesn’t want me to know.