“I saved your life, Nika. I’d do it again if I could.”
“Great! You risked yourself for a big, fat wallet!” I try to shake him off, but his grip is iron. “Let me go.”
“No. Listen.” He seems frustrated. There’s a crack in his usually calm exterior. And the sick thing is, I like it. I love that I’m getting to him and pissing him off. I don’t usually have this kind of power over the people around me. All my life I’ve been hiding and shrinking. It’s not easy, pushing back against him right now.
I’m so pissed at his audacity, I can’t help myself.
“Why should I listen to you?!”
“Because I’m still your only option. My enemies might not realize you have control of the money, but they know you’re my wife. They know who your father was. And they know I think you’re important. That makes you a target.”
“God damn it, Gabe.”
“Nothing. Changes. You help me and I help you.”
I glare hate at him. I can’t believe this is happening. My whole life, I’ve been filthy rich. I didn’t have to stay in some shitty apartment, didn’t have to work a hellish job, didn’t have to get groped by my boss. Me and Aunt Yelena could’ve taken vacations. We could’ve bought new cars instead of driving beat up clunkers. I could’ve bought my own damn art gallery and ran it my own way. My life could have been easy, instead of what it has been.
Boring, routine, hard, and mostly painful.
“No more lies.” I face him, raising my chin. My lips are trembling. I want to break out in tears. I want to scream and thrash, but most of all, I want to disappear. It’s better when nobody can see me. Life is easier when I’m invisible and helpless.
But if I fall back on old habits, Gabe’s going to tear me to pieces.
“I haven’t lied to you yet.”
“Thatyetis doing a lot of work. You kept things from me. That’s just as bad.”
He tightens his grip, a sharp pulse, before releasing me. “Alright. Full disclosure.”
“Each and every dime goes through me first. You understand that? If you’re going to use my money to fight this war, I’m going to count every last penny.”
His jaw tightens. “That’s your right.”
“Good. Don’t forget it.” I’m dizzy and struggling not to collapse. This is way harder than anything I’ve ever done. Standing up to him is terrible?—
But oddly exhilarating too.
“That makes us partners now, doesn’t it?” He leans in close and slips his hand into mine. He tugs me against him. I swear, people are watching. Embarrassment floods me, but screw them and screw him. “All the fucked up, monstrous shit I’m going to do will be on your hands too. Unless you sign it all over.”
It’s tempting. Why not give him what he wants? It’ll be easier for me. And that way, I won’t have the moral agony of being wrapped up in the fight that’s coming.
But for once, I don’t want to take the quiet, easy way out.
“Partners,” I say, squeezing his hand tight. “Which means you’re as much mine as I am yours.”
We stay like that, standing inches apart in a crowded room, until he turns and steers me away. I stumble after him, jogging to keep up, until he pushes me back into the town car. “Get moving. I don’t care where, keep going. Stay in the city.” The divider between us and the driver rolls up as the car pulls away from the curb.
“What are you doing?”
Gabe pulls me roughly into his lap. He twists one of my arms behind my back and I yelp, whining as a stab of pain jerks into my shoulder and a pulsing, tingling need grows in my belly.
“Sealing the deal.”
He crushes his mouth to mine in a vicious, hungry kiss. I return it with a gash of lust, desire ringing into my core like an explosion. I hate this man—he’s a liar, a bastard, a violent thug—and I still can’t help the impulsive, overwhelming need I feel every time he touches me. It’s impossible, it’s unnatural, and I love it. I hate him too. I bite his lower lip, but that only seems to make him that much more eager, the sick freak.
“Hold on,” I say, gasping, pushing him back. “Who said I wanted this?”
He ignores my question. “All the shit I’ve done to get to where I am—all the bad choices, the violence, the hell I’ve been through—and now I have to deal withyoutoo.”
