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Her eye suddenly darts to the man standing behind my chair and she barks a command in Russian.
Immediately, rough hands haul me up to my feet.
Before I can protest, my robe is yanked away, exposing my body for everyone in the room to see.
I yelp in surprise and try to cover myself up, but several tattooed hands wrench mine away, pinning them at my side and holding me still until I’m exposed before Alla.
Her one good eye rakes my naked body, going over every inch in methodical detail like I’m a horse on sale.
For a moment, I have the absurd notion that she’ll even ask me to open my mouth so that she can count my teeth.
She says something else in Russian, and I’m turned around for her to examine.
A few seconds later, I find myself flipped around to face her again. The robe is draped haphazardly over my shoulder and I quickly wrap it around myself.
What thefuckjust happened?
My lower lips start to tremble, but I know better than to show her any sign of weakness.
Pushing my fears deep down to somewhere I can’t reach, I stand up just a little bit taller as I meet her hateful gaze.
“Do you imagine that just because of the ring on your finger?” she says softly, venom dripping with every word. “It makes you one of us?”
My heart pounds. “Doesn’t it?” I ask back.
“No.” Alla shakes her head. “Your ink-less skin is proof that you are not. You are an outsider.” She leans forward, and exposes her shoulder to reveal the tattoo of a five-pointed star. “And your marriage is asworthlessas you are, you gold-digging whore.”
Worthless …
Whore …
Her word stabs at me like needles, and all I can think of is memories of Olivia as she stood before our parents as they berated her in the same tone.Useless. Ungrateful. Worthless.
“I’m not a gold-digging whore.” I whisper. “I amnotworthless. This marriage is real! Konstantin told me so himself.”
But even as I say those words, they feel hollow.
The only way my grandmother will release my inheritance is after I put a baby in Emily’s belly.
Wasthatwhy he asked me to be his real wife?
I asked him about babies from the moment I arrived in this castle.
I should’ve known that his silencewasan answer!
I’ve been reckless with him in bed since the wedding, having sex without any protection.
Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!
Alla smirks as if she can read my mind. “What did you hear through that door, little whore?”
The room spins around me, growing colder by the second.
My mouth opens, but no sound comes out.
“Answer me.” The smirk on Alla’s face twists into a cruel smile as she spares a glance at a guard standing by her side. “Or I’ll have Styopa beat it out of you!”
The man cracks his neck menacingly, and I gulp down my fear.
