"Any more bastards I should worry about?" he asks.
I gulp. Should I tell him? Should I not? If I lie and he finds out later, the volcano in his veins will eat him alive. But if I tell him now...
In the end, I decide to just lay it out.
"There were... two others," I whisper.
The words barely leave my mouth before the color drains from his face, replaced instantly by a furious red. The veins in his neck bulge.
"Viktor, calm down," I say. His entire frame is vibrating with a terrifying level of tension. "Before you... before I met you, I had fuck buddies. Three of them, total. Including Julian tonight. It was purely casual."
"Three," he repeats. He loses his mind right then and there. The possessive madness in his eyes returns tenfold. "Three bastards who think they have a right to you?"
"They don't think that—"
"Hand me your phone," he barks, extending a large palm.
I hesitate for a fraction of a second, but the dark promise in his eyes makes me reach into my clutch. I press my thumb to the scanner to unlock it and place the device in his hand.
No one has ever searched through my phone. Ever.
It's invasive. Disrespectful. Demeaning.
And yet, when Viktor demands it, it does nothing but set my vagina on fire.
Viktor snatches it, his chest heaving as he navigates straight to my contacts. "What are their names? Tell me right now, Valentina."
"Julian, Mike, and Liam," I mutter.
I can’t believe I’m allowing this to happen. How am I allowing this to happen? My own father didn’t used to search my phone.
His thumb moves violently across the screen. "Julian. Deleted. Blocked," he growls, narrating his actions. "Mike. Deleted. Blocked. Where the hell is Liam?"
He scrolls aggressively down the list, but I’m sure he’s not going to like what he sees. My last contact with Liam was a sext thread.
I watch the exact moment he finds it. The phone practically creaks under the force of his grip as he stares at the words another man sent to the woman currently wearing his hickeys all over her skin.
He slowly turns his head. "He wrote this to you. And you kept it on your phone."
"Viktor—"
"Shut up," he growls, deleting the entire thread and blocking the number. "You are done with the past, Valentina. You don't look at them, you don't talk to them, and you sure as hell don't keep their filth on your phone. Do you understand me?"
What if… what if I play a little dirty?
If that stupid vow is the only thing keeping him from taking me, then maybe I just need to push him past his breaking point.
"What if I don't?" I murmur.
The car glides to a halt inside my garage. I throw open the door, leaving Viktor behind. I rush toward the private elevator bay, fueled by nothing but sluttiness. I hit the button, slipping in just as the doors start to slide shut.
My heart stammers as the heavy metal doors are forced apart by Viktor’s massive hands before they can seal. He steps inside, his chest heaving.
I reach back and pull the zipper of my dress. It cascades down my body, pooling around my ankles. I stand before him in absolutely nothing.
If I tempt him enough, he has to give in. I’m going to be entirely evil tonight.
A low sound tears from Viktor's throat. It’s so fucking sexy.
