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What will he do?
I hate the position he’s put me in, and I don’t know any way out of it. How do I prove myself to Isabella and Ollie without sentencing Ollie to death? It’s impossible.
Impossible.
A lump forms in my throat. I swipe at my eyes.
“Are you crying? Are you even serious right now?” He has the nerve to sound affronted.
“¡Cállate la puta boca!”I seethe through gritted teeth.
Ollie slaps his hand on my leg and squeezes. “You think I’ll let you talk to me that way when you’re my wife?”
Damn. I forgot he spoke Spanish, and I just told him to shut the fuck up.
“Oh, that’s right, you Romanov men are allheads of the houseand all that,” I say with as much disdain as I can muster. If I didn’t hate him right now, I’d have to say I kind of like it. They’re so dedicated to their wives, so steadfast and loyal. I’ve seen the way Mikhail, his older brother, half worships the ground his wife Aria walks on — he’s set the precedent for the rest of them.
“Whatever.” Very mature, Ollie. Very mature.
“What’s your problem, Ollie?” I snap, my frustration boiling over. He doesn’t respond immediately, his muscles clenched. I’d guess his jaw is clenched, too, but he’s decided to grow a beard again.
Whatever.
When I was back in The Cove, he was my caretaker. Mikhail assigned him to me… to keep watch over me and find out if I was trustworthy. I was the one who came from Colombia as an inside source to Isabella when she sought to overtake the throne from her brother.Iwas the one who put her life on the line for the Romanovs, who should be dead right now and would be if Carlos hadn’t gotten so greedy and decided he wanted to use me more than he wanted to kill me.
And this is my reward?
When he finally speaks, his voice is low and dangerous. “You really want to know, do you? Fine. I’ll tell you. I don’t dovulnerable.I don’t dolove,Renata, especially with someonelinked to my enemies. I’ve seen what happens to my brothers when they let their guards down. When they let themselves become weaker by falling in love, and I won’t make that same mistake.”
I snort. “You think loving someone makes you weak?”
“I don’t think it,” he snaps. “I know it. I’ve seen it happen over and over again.”
“And weakness is the ultimate failure in your book?”
He gives me a sidelong glance. I can’t help it, my heart does a somersault in my chest. I look away.
“Of course it is.”
His words hit me in the solar plexus. Why do I feel that bite so deeply? I need food and a good shower and some sleep. I feel like I’ve been put through the wringer and hung out to dry in the midst of a thunderstorm.
“So what am I to you, then? Just a means to an end?”
“Yes,” he says coldly, his eyes a good stare on the road ahead of him. “You’re beautiful, I’ll give you that. And cunning as fuck. But that doesn’t change who you are to me or the purpose of our marriage.”
With that, any candle I held for this asshole just wentpoofin the wind.
I won’t roll over and take this though. “You’re a fucking coward. Hiding behind your walls because you’re scared to feel. I know how this works.” I turn my head away. “I’ve done it myself.”
“Oh, you have me all figured out, do you?”
Not all, Ollie. Not all.
I don’t respond.
“Don’t pretend you know me, Renata. All you know is the man who kept you prisoner. That was back when I thought there was a shred of goodness still left in you.”
Now that stings.
