But what I want is to have him look at me with desire again. To feelaliveagain.
We finish our dance and everyone claps for us. I avert my gaze. Looking at this many people is overwhelming. I don’t want to pass out and risk Alek spanking me all over again.
“I need to use the restroom,” I say.
He tightens his hold on my waist. “Are you going to try and run?”
“I just need a moment to myself to breathe. Please understand that.”
He hesitates for a moment before letting me go. “All right. But I have guards around the place. They’ll see you if you try to run.”
“I won’t run.” And I know I won’t. I doubt I’d get far and I don’t want to risk Alek’s wrath. So far, he’s only spanked me but what else will he do to me?
I don’t want to find out.
I glance at Nina and Susanna as I head for the ballroom doors. They both sneer at me, with Susanna’s sneer more pronounced and Nina’s sneer a bit softer like she doesn’t want to do it but she goes along with it anyway.
I leave the ballroom and rush to the nearest restroom. No other women are inside, thankfully. That will give me time to think. Time to breathe.
I lean over the counter and suck in deep breaths, trying to calm my pounding heart. The wild thing is, the more I’ve been out of my room, the less I miss it. It’s starting to get easier interacting with other people. Talking to Alek is almost… effortless. It doesn’t make sense.
An idea hits me. I could wait in the bathroom until a woman comes inside and I can borrow her phone and call Dimitri, tell him where I am. Even though I don’t want to return to my room, I want the safety of my brother. He’s always protected me from the evils of this world and I know he can do it again.
But the longer I wait and no women come inside, I know I’m running out of time. Alek will eventually come into the bathroom and pull me out if I take too long.
I give myself another minute…
Still, no one enters.
After splashing water on my face, I head for the door when it opens. I suck in a breath. This is it.
But it’s not a woman who enters the restroom. It’s a man.
A man I don’t know.
He has plain features. Unremarkable. But the grin on his face is dark and full of danger. I can feel it in my bones.
“So, you’re Alek’s new wife.”
“Who are you?” I whisper, startled that he clearly knows who I am. He must be one of Alek’s guests at the wedding. It’s a sea of faces to me that I can’t even recognize this man.
“I’m Jack. A good friend of Alek’s.”
“Right. And what are you doing in the woman’s bathroom?” My gut is screaming at me to run away but he’s blocking the entrance. The only option I have is to talk to him. Maybe he’s not a bad man.
Then again, anyone who knows Alek is probably bad. Most mafia men are. Even my brother is (of course not to me but I know he’s done bad things, even if he’s never told me what. I just know).
“I wanted to talk to you. Away from your husband. I wanted to know if the story is true. If you’re really Dimitri Ivanov’s sister?”
“We share the same last name.”
“I know. But no one has seen her… ever. And yet, you show up one day and marry Alek? It just doesn’t make any sense.”
“He kidnapped me.” No point in lying to this man. I don’t know what he wants from me yet.
“Sounds like Alek.”
I stand up straighter. “He kidnaps a lot of women?”
