AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He’s serious.
I tear myself away from him. “You’re out of your damn mind.”
“This is about your safety, Laila. I’m trying to protect you.”
“That didn’t turn out so well for your first wife. Is her body even cold yet?”
“She was born cold.”
My eyes feel like they’re going to pop out of their sockets. “You’re making jokes? She’s dead, literally not even in the ground yet, and you’re insulting her?”
Is anything sacred to this man?
“Take a breath?—”
“No, you take a breath! You’ll have plenty of time for deep breathing starting right this very second, because I’m not marrying you.”
I turn to run out of the room, but as I pivot, searing hot pain shoots down my leg. I wince and clutch my thigh as I fall to my knees, cracking hard against the stone floor.
Of all the times my broken body has betrayed me, this has to be one of the worst.
Instantly, Arsen is there, grabbing my elbow to keep me from face-planting as a fresh wave of muscle cramps tear through me. “What’s wrong?”
“Everything.” I shake him off and grit my teeth against the pain.
I know I won’t make it all the way back up the stairs—not without a good stretch and a roughly eight-hour nap—so I struggle to my feet and limp as fast as I can for the patio doors.
As soon as I breathe in the fresh air, it feels like the right decision.
I need air. Space. Distance.
On instinct, I cut across the lawn and make my way to the willow tree along the fence, dragging my all-but-useless leg behind me. I drop into a chair, but even once my breathing has evened out, the wind through the trees and the owl calling from the highest branches do nothing to help me relax.
“Laila…”
And there’s the source of all of my problems now. “Go away.”
“No.”
“Are you insane?” I whirl on him. He opens his mouth to answer, but I keep going. “I already know the answer. You are. You must be. Because your wife just died, and you’re already taking another one. Literallytakinganother one. Against her will. That is textbook insane behavior. Scientists ought to study you.”
“I’ll make note of your concerns.”
I snort. If there was a Human Resources department for Arsen Adamov, they’d get an earful and a half from me. Binders couldn’t contain my complaints.
“Also,” I add, “if you want to get married, you’re supposed to propose first.”
He slides his hands into the pockets of his suit. Even in the dark, I can see how well it fits him. He cuts a clean line against the midnight blue sky. Darkness layered on top of darkness. “You wouldn’t have agreed.”
“Correct! Which brings me to another vital part of a wedding: mutual consent.”
“The problem is,” he growls, “that you don’t like to give your consent even when your life is on the line. Am I supposed to sit back and let you get hurt because you’re too stubborn to let me help you?”
“I’m not stubborn; I just don’t like being kidnapped and forcibly married. Guess I’m just quirky like that.”
He lets out a weary breath. “You know who I am now, Laila. I’m a powerful man with a powerful empire. That comes with complications.”
“Complications for you,” I clarify. “I want fuck-all to do with any of this.”
