Page 66 of Betrothed
“You shouldn’t give up doing what you love. You truly play beautifully.”
“As you noticed, my apartment isn’t big enough for a grand piano. It’s barely large enough for a couch.”
“You refuse to take money from your father.”
The hard slam of the knife on the counter was fraught with rage. Not entirely geared toward me. “Just stop it. Just… stop trying to figure me out, Kirill. Yes, my father is a wealthy man and I know Scarsdale well. The house I almost burned down? Fouraway from here. If you’re thinking my father is like you, working for some mafia organization, you’d be wrong. He buys and sells companies, tearing them apart. Pick an industry. Ship building. Manufacturing. Oil and gas. Hell, my father has more money than God.”
Whether or not she realized what she’d done, she’d put importance onto what Dimitri had insinuated days before. “But you would prefer to build your life your way.”
“Yes, I would. He doesn’t appreciate that. Thankfully, my family convinced him my being a doctor wasn’t the worst choice. And yes, he wields enough influence that my guess is he’s more powerful than either you or your Pakhan. He certainly has brutal men working for him. But his best feature, you know the one that I’ll never forget is the way he can make you feel about this big.”
Her thumb and forefinger were together with less than a quarter inch between them.
I could kill the man with my bare hands.
“That’s how he handled my musical aspirations. By ensuring I knew that I’d never be good enough.”
“Men like your father don’t deserve to breathe the same air you do, Vivian, but in foregoing something you love, you’ve allowed him to win. That surprises me. You’re a fighter.”
The tension between us was unexpected and unwanted.
“Maybe I was a few years ago. Not any longer.”
“Untrue. I know what I saw.”
“That’s about life and death for someone else, Kirill. Not my life.”
Vivian’s nostrils flared as she offered an angry yet heated gaze that fell and settled between my legs. Obviously embarrassed, she shook her head as if in disgust and pointed to where two cans and some vegetables had been placed on the counter.
A line had been crossed. The incident wasn’t the only one. Something else had occurred that had been the reason for the bubble she’d placed around herself. Now I needed to know what that was.
But we both needed a reprieve.
“Understood. How can I help?”
She breathed a sigh of relief. The bastard had hurt her terribly. My jaw clicked when I took a deep breath, opting to stay calm.
“We’re making a marinara for pasta. Correction. You’re going to make marinara for pasta. I assume your knife skills are up to par.”
“I do so love a challenge. I guess we’ll see if my… skills meet your approval.”
“You’ll need to note that I am a very tough taskmaster.”
“Even better.” Little did she know how much I adored her treachery. Maybe I allow her to escape so I could initiate a hunt.
My balls tightened from the thought.
CHAPTER 15
Kirill
Vivian had darted several looks in my direction, pretending as if she wasn’t. I’d noticed a knife was still missing from the block, unaccounted for among the ones being used.
She would lie in wait until I was asleep.
My thoughts turned deliciously filthy about how to handle her disobedience.
Including tying her to the bed.
