“You’re to accompany me to a charity gala tomorrow, as my fiancée.”
“Does that mean that I get to accompany you everywhere you go as your fiancée?”
“You’ll find out.
“Anything else?” She asked.
“Yes. You’re to keep your mouth shut until I tell you not to. That means you don’t utter a word to the press when they question you. These aren’t too hard, are they?”
“Yes,” she shrugged. “I think you’ve mistaken me for someone else. I’m not the type to play by the rules.”
“If you mess up, you’re as good as dead.”
“Oh, I don’t mind. I think if you were capable of killing me, you would’ve done it already. Admit it, you only desire to use me, and when you get whatever it is that you want from me, I’ll be nothing to you.”
“You’re crazy,” I hissed, and she stood up to walk closer to where I stood until we were only a few inches apart.
“Define crazy,” she said.
“You’re out of your head. Mental.”
“Then tell me, Roman, what do you call people who kidnap women and forcefully take them to their home, giving them rules as though they’re slaves without any reason to live but to satisfy their every desire?”
Liza’s breath tickled my face, and I felt my hands ball into fists. Her lips shone in their neutral gloss, her eyes flickered at mine, and all I wanted was to grab her by the waist and kiss her into submission.
Instead, I take a step back while keeping my eyes on hers. Liza definitely needs to be broken, but she isn’t ready for that yet.
She moved a little to the side and sighed. “I need my things from Russia, including my phone.”
“I can arrange for your things to be brought from Russia tomorrow.”
“And the phone?” She asked inquisitively.
“I don’t think I can trust you with that yet.”
She walked a little bit closer to me and looked me in the eyes. She always looked me in the eyes and didn’t breakeye contact. “Look, I know that you forced this marriage on us, but I’m not asking you to punish yourself or me for anything. I willingly gave myself to you. Trust me, I have no intention of sabotaging you, nor do I mean harm to the rest of the Lobanovs.”
“I’ll need time to think about it.”
She stood up, pacing to and from the bed, trying to look unconcerned.
“We both know what you’re capable of doing, Liza. But you are also aware of the consequences. We are not saints here.”
She stopped and faced me. Our bodies are only inches apart, close enough to read every small movement in the other’s face. Close enough for the kind of tension that makes people do stupid things. The air stiffened between us, and I felt it. I only wondered if she wanted me the way I wanted her.
“You’re not the right person to tell me about consequences,” she said.
“And why’s that?”
“Because you act as though you are the law. Only those who break the law can speak of consequences. But you…I wonder if you’ve had to live with any consequences yourself.”
I didn’t think I owed her an explanation of the many things I had done that made me feel regret and shame. I’ve had to face countless consequences in my life, she being one of them, but she couldn’t know this because her mind was clouded by judgment. So I stepped closer, and for a moment the urge rose from my ankles to my loins, reaching the peak of my head. The urge to press my mouth to hers, feel her skin on mine, and kiss her intensely.
But no. That would only make me look submissive to her, and that could never be.
I stopped, not because I was incapable of losing my control around her, but because I knew my duty to her, and I honored my reputation more than anything in the world.
Liza’s face lit up. Her lips curled, and it made me suspicious of her. She seldom smiled, and now, it felt oddly weird.
