Both of them turned rigid. I couldn’t explain the satisfaction I felt even when my marriage was crumbling in front of me before it even had a chance to start.
In the three weeks leading up to the wedding, I psyched myself up to believe that I was going to be okay. I knew the score. That Kirill could be his agenda-driven cold self and use me to further his ambitions because he didn’t deny that I was a suitable wife for his purposes.
What I couldn’t accept was him running to comfort another woman when the ink was barely dry on our marriage contract.
“Sorry to interrupt this intimate interlude,” I said, proud that my voice was steady and clear. I stared at Kirill. “Margo wants us for the cake cutting.” I gave a disgusted huff. “Afterwards, I don’t care if you twofuckeach other’s brains out.”
I spun around and stalked back to where I had come from.
I heard brief, harsh arguing, but I was busy staring ahead, glancing briefly at the slatted roof of the portico to prevent tears from falling, but blazing fury burned them dry.
I was stepping into my shoes when Kirill caught up with me. I didn’t acknowledge him.
“Eavesdropping never?—”
“Save it,” I snapped and spun around and poked him in the chest. “Eavesdropping on you has saved me from your lies.”
“Lies?” His brows drew together. “You'd better have proof before accusing me of lying.”
I laughed sarcastically. “The lunch after the cake tasting. You didn’t have to go that far to find out my favorite things when all you needed was a cover to meet with an associate.”
For once, Kirill was stunned into silence. He regarded me not as the woman he had just married, but as an adversary who had backed him into a corner—exposed his lies—and he was re-strategizing ways to get out of it.
“You heard,” he rasped.
“Unfortunately, I didn’t hear anything damning to put you in jail,” I taunted. “Just that I’m a perfect cover to anyone following you, and that I’m gullible to all your manipulations. Well, if you think all my sweet smiles and compliance since then were me falling in line, then you’re the gullible one, not me.”
When my revelation continued to rob him of speech, I sneered. “What, no comeback?”
“You’re an excellent actress.”
I made an elaborate wave to acknowledge his conclusion.
“Now what have I gotten myself into?” he muttered.
I leaned in. “Your worst nightmare.”
His eyes gleamed. “Looking forward to it.”
“What the hell are you two doing there!” Margo’s voice broke through our locked stares. Behind her was Sato. Belatedly, I wondered where Sato had been, that no one had stopped me from discovering Kirill with Anya. Maybe Kirill had intended for me to find them. I wasn’t going to break. “And where the hell were you, Kirill?”
“He never passes up an opportunity to do business,” I said sweetly. “Come on.” I tucked my hand in his even when the contents of my stomach threatened upheaval for merely touching this treacherous prick. If I vomited on his shoes, it was nothing less than this fucker deserved.
I wanted to be as far away from this asshole and leave with my family, so it was a struggle to say, “Let’s have some cake.”
“Should I be worried?” he drawled.
I glanced up at him. “That I would smash cake in your face? No, that would be a waste of cake. Besides, that would also mean I give a damn.”
Chapter
Thirteen
Lucy
The rain lashed downin sheets.
Thunder rumbled above us just as we reached the gates of Kirill’s residence. His mansion loomed ahead, and its forbidding structure weighed heavily on my shoulders. I was exhausted. It was exhausting to force a smile when all my lips wanted to do was snarl or snap my husband’s head off.
