I perk a brow. “Got a knife?”
Her nostrils flare. “No.”
“Then you should thank me.”
Her jaw clenches, but she gets out anyway.
Inside, I escort her through a private elevator and up to a suite on the twenty-third floor. It’s not opulent—she wouldn’t appreciate that right now—but it’s comfortable and clean.
Expensive in a quiet way.
There’s wine chilling in a silver bucket on the bar and soft jazz playing low on the built-in speakers.
She takes one step inside and turns around. “I’m not staying here.”
I sigh. “Why the fuck now?”
“I want to stay inmyapartment.”
“I thought we’d been through this.”
“I don’t want to be here.”
“Sienna—”
“Whyshould I be punished for whathedid? I didn’t borrow money from you. I didn’t make a promise I couldn’t keep.” Her golden eyes shimmer with unshed tears, pleading for me to takeher back and leave her be. “I want my life back, Benedikt. I don’t want to be a prisoner.”
She is.
I can’t even lie about it or try to soothe her in any way because Sienna is paying for her father’s debt. That’s how this world works. I allow her freedom, but I’m back to square one with my father. I figure something else out, she’s already sucked my cock, and I want more.
Addiction is a problem.
I don’t want therapy, nor do I want to get attached. What we have is platonic and a business deal, nothing more.
“I’ll do my best to make your stay with me as accommodating as possible, Sienna. However, when I do need you to play loving wife, I’ll need you to put on your best show. In the meantime, my fiancé won’t be living in a shack with?—”
“It’s a one-bedroom apartment, you snob,” she shoots back. “Not exactly the streets.”
Don’t insult what she’s worked hard to get.
I clear my throat. “I apologize. I just want what’s best for you and what would make it look real. If this were, in fact, real, you would have the best of everything. And that’s what you’re going to get.”
“I’mnotquitting my job.”
Geezus fucking Christ.
“You haven’t read the contract yet,” I reply flatly. “Once you have?—”
“I think you’re here to trap me. To make methinkthis could be grand and wonderful. You can’t blind me with shiny objects, Benedikt. I’m not that shallow. I won’t be cornered?—”
“You already are.” Her eyes narrow into sharp slits. “Calm down, princess. You’ve worked all day. You’re tired. Let me take care of?—”
“Out.” She points at the door. “I want yououtright now.”
She lets out a frustrated sound, balling her fingers at her sides like she wants to hit something.
Me. I’m getting used to that.
