After that intense scene in the bed last night, with Andre so savage as to make me come and push my limits with that kinky stuff I was still warming up to and learning how to handle, he’d left me to sleep solo.
No.
That wasn’t true.
I woke in the middle of the night, and he was still there in bed then. He was asleep, but not spooning me like usual. That was an indication that something was shifting between us. His angry question was the catalyst for this rift I couldn’t forget.
He wasn’t in bed this morning.
As I lay there and wiped away the sleep from my eyes, I knew he wasn’t gone. He wouldn’t be with what he had asked me and how I’d hedged answering. I must have fallen asleep and passed out after he’d come. Knowing him, though, he would follow up andask me again if I was spying. That was the thorough man and devoted soldier to the Orlov family that he was.
I can’t stay.
Stomaching the agony of knowing he suspected me of anything was too horrible to bear.
I hadn’t done anything to hurt him. My loyalties had only ever partly fallen to Uncle Roberto to the extent that I’d play along just as much as it would take for him to put a roof over Esmeralda’s head.
That was the bare minimum he’d stuck with. And now, I was done with him jerking me around, using my compassion and goodwill as leverage.
I’m out of here.I hated the heartache with the thought, not wanting to lose Andre or these friendships I was forming.
And you’ll be out of there too, E.It wouldn’t be easy to get my cousin out of Uncle Roberto’s house, but I was determined to try.
Today is the day.
I’d leave Andre and spare him the hatred he’d feel for me. I wouldn’t make him look at me and know I’d betrayed him. I cared too much for him to endure that.
Today has to be the day.
The longer I let Esmeralda stay in that basement and suffer, I was failing her, too.
Before I could figure out a diversion, a lie to get my uncle and his most loyal soldiers out of the house for as much time as it would take to get her away, I had to handlethisagain.
“Ugh.”
Nausea erupted in my stomach. It didn’t merely unsettle me. It forced an instant panic.
“Not again…” I moaned.
My mouth felt funny. Thick saliva sat on my tongue. A roiling need to vomit gripped me.
“No, no, no.”
Yesterday, I made it to the toilet in time to empty my stomach.
The day before, I’d caused a mess all over the bathroom floor, thankful Andre wasn’t there to witness it.
Today…
I cringed, covering my mouth with my hand as I flung the covers off. I was still naked from last night. Only the bite marks and other signs of Andre fucking me so good showed on my skin as I sprinted to the bathroom.
This time, I made it as well. I reached the basin and clung to it as I lost the contents of my stomach. My already mostly empty stomach. I hadn’t eaten much last night because this funky stomach bug was impacting my appetite as well.
“Ugh…” I clung to the toilet and closed my eyes, breathing through the ache and muscle cramp of vomiting so harshly. Heaving was a workout.
Thinking back to what I had eaten last night and when this stomach bug started, a prickling sense of reality smacked me.
“Wait.” I whispered it to myself.
