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“Hi, Konstantin.” His name came out strained. The glare he gave her sent a shiver down her spine. He didn’t like her for some reason; she was going to ask him why when they were alone later. “Do you have time to drive me to the mall? I won’t stay long.”
“I’m here to serve you,” he simply said—no smile, no softening expressions, and definitely not an explanation.
That was enough for Zia. She got to her feet and went upstairs. She brushed her hair and allowed it to fall over her shoulders, then she wore some perfume and put on a red lipstick she always had in her bag.
She found Konstantin pacing the foyer when she joined him downstairs.
He stopped pacing when he noticed her come down and looked at her. “You ready?”
She nodded.
“Let’s go.” Apparently, the phrase “ladies first” didn’t apply to him as he walked out of the door without bothering to hold it open for her or wait to see if she was tagging along.
Arrogant ass!
If she were going to be with Lev, she would have to be around Konstantin, too, and God knows she couldn’t stand grumpy, snobbish men. Her patience for them was delicate and hanging by an edge.
It took just one misstep on their part, and she would explode. She needed to tackle it once and for all.
She followed him to the parking lot and her eyes widened at all the flashy cars parked in it. They were all the latest versions of expensive car brands. Rolls-Royce, Porche, Mercedes, Bugatti, Bentley.
Did Lev have an obsession with collecting expensive cars or something? She knew he was rich, but this was… a lot.
Konstantin led her to a black SUV. Opening the car, he slid into the driver’s seat, and she sensibly climbed into the backseat. The last thing she wanted was to sit next to a grumpy man for minutes or even an hour, depending on how far away the shopping mall was from here.
The engine came alive, and Konstantin steered into motion, driving out of the long driveway and into the quiet road.
The first couple of minutes were awkward and painfully quiet. Her gaze and Konstantin’s collided in the rearview mirror a couple of times, but he didn’t say a word to her.
When it happened for the seventh time, anger flared in her chest, and she decided she’d had enough. “Is there a problem?”
“I don’t know. Should there be?” Konstantin asked with a gruff voice.
So he wasn’t just grumpy, he was also the annoying time. “How about you tell me? You’ve been glaring at me like I did something wrong since the very first time we met. Do you hate me? If so, why?”
He sighed and navigated the car to the road by the left. “I don’t hate you. I have no reason to. Not yet, at least.”
Her face scrunched up. “What does that even mean?”
“You and Lev coincidentally met on the same night we were attacked. He saved you, and now you’re married to him. I don’t know what to make of it.”
Zia snorted in derision. “You don’t know what to make of it?” Did he think Lev was somehow the victim here and she was the bad guy? She hoped not. He’d be a fool even to think that. “You know what is funny? I’m twenty-two and I meet this thirty-eight-year-old man in a club. There’s a shoot-out; he protects me, and I follow him home. We have sex and the next thing he’s forcing me into a marriage. I’m sure you know Lev better than anyone else. Don’t act like he’s a child who had no idea what he was doing.”
“I know him well enough, and that is why I’m worried about him. He trusts you, and he shouldn’t trust you. Who knows if you work for the enemy and have some plan to hurt him?”
“Trust me, if I had such plans, you’d be the first person I’d kill. You’re getting on my last nerves,” she shot at him, clearly exasperated. He could suspect her all he wanted; she didn’t owe him any explanation as to why she was entangled in this mess. She admired Konstantin’s loyalty to Lev, though.
She must’ve imagined the smile that flickered on his face. His eyes softened now, and somehow, he no longer looked like he might push her off a cliff if he got the chance.
What was the sudden shift in his expression?
“You have a sharp tongue for someone so tiny,” he mused. She didn’t imagine the smile this time.
“I’m not tiny, Big K,” she teased, resting back and shamelessly staring at him through the rearview mirror. “What kind of man is Lev?”
Konstantin looked into the rearview mirror. “What do you want to know about him, Tiny?”
“Anything. I’m married to a stranger; I should at least know something about him.” She drew in a breath, thinking of a way to explain herself without sounding desperate. “I know he’s cruel and all, but that’s that.”
