Page 150 of Lethal Obsession

“So not only have you become addicted to phone sex in my absence,” I say, sitting on the edge of the bed and pulling her feet onto my lap, “but you’ve become an alcoholic too.”

Her gurgle of laughter makes my entire being warm inside. “I think it’s the phone sex addiction that drove me to drink.” She gives me a look from beneath her lashes that has me instantly hard. “As fun as it was, it was just never quite enough, you know?”

“Oh, believe me, I know.” I give her a dry look that makes her giggle again, then she gasps as I pluck a thin shard of glass from her foot with the tweezers. “But you have to admit,” I go on, determined to keep her distracted, “the vibrators were fun.”

“I can’t believe you convinced me to actually use them on camera.” She’s gone a delicious shade of red.

“You have no idea how tempted I was to record that particular episode.” I glance up, grinning at her expression of utter horror. “Of course, I didn’t. Believe me, I didn’t need to.” I tap my temple. “It’s in the vault, angel, and trust me when I say I’ve sometimes wished over the past weeks that I knew how to hit the delete button. Do you have any idea how hot you look when you’re naked, obeying every instruction I give you with multiple sex toys?”

“Oh.” This time the sound she makes is more of a sigh. She settles back against the pillows, sipping her drink as I keep up a continuous stream of slightly debauched conversation that keeps her distracted until the last stone is removed from her feet. I paint them with iodine, bandage them up, then raise her leg and kiss her instep.

“Oh,” she says again, softly. I remove the glass from her hand and bring the sashimi plate over to the bed.

“Eat.” I use chopsticks to pick up a piece of watermelon topped with salmon. “Trust me,” I say when she eyes it skeptically.

She opens her mouth and closes it over the morsel.

“Uh-huh,” I say, as her eyes widen with pleasure. “Told you. Now this one.” I pick up another concoction and slide it between her lips, relishing every small moan of contentment as she eats. “I’ve had a lot of time to sample the cooking on this yacht,” I say, a little acerbically. “I’ve been distracting myself from your absence by imagining which dishes you’d like best, so now I get to test my theory. Also.” I reach for a bottle of Krug in the ice bucket next to us. “Much as I fully support your gin habit, I think this is a moment that calls for celebration, don’t you?”

I pop the bottle and pour us both a flute, then clink my glass to hers.

“What are we celebrating, exactly?” Ofelia gives me a mischievous look. “My second kidnapping or you finally getting to use your Red 24 subscription? David explained it to me,” she says, laughing at my expression. “By the time he finished, I had to ask myself if you didn’t plan all this yourself, just so you could test it out.”

“Unbelievable.” I shake my head in mock injury. “And here I am, just trying for a little romance.”

“And I fully support your plan.” Her smile fades as her eyes settle on mine. “But David also mentioned that Red 24 is Luke Macarthur’s company,” she says quietly. “Which means that if my father doesn’t already know about us, he will soon enough.”

And there it is.

Right out on the table, or rather, the bed. The uncomfortable truth we’ve both been dodging for months, lying like an interloper between us on the Egyptian cotton sheets.

“I still would have chosen this.” Ofelia curls her legs beneath her and leans forward, covering my hand with her own. “Knowing that Luke would hear about it, that he’d tell my father. It wouldn’t have changed my decision.”

I turn her hand over, interlacing my fingers between hers. “All hell is about to break loose, Ofelia. Pandora’s box is well and truly open now.”

“Do you know what was left inside Pandora’s box, after she loosed all that knowledge on the world and then closed the lid?” Ofelia raises our linked hands to her lips. “Hope, Alexei.” She presses her lips to my hand. “And so long as we’re here together, that’s what I feel: hope. Like anything is possible. But when we’re apart . . .” Her voice trails off, and she drops her eyes.

“I know.” My voice rasps in my throat. “That’s when it feels hopeless.”

She nods. “I felt it again recently, when Seline was reading my tarot cards. I know you don’t trust her.” Her fingers tighten on mine as I tense at the name. “I know you blame her for this, but whether you believe it or not, Seline is my friend, Alexei. Her mother is in a hospital in Atlanta. Seline’s brother used her mother’s hospital bills as blackmail to force her to spy on me.”

“Kiril,” I growl. “That’s her brother’s name. Kiril Novikov.”

“Yes.” She nods. “Ivan, the man who kidnapped us, mentioned his name.” She meets my eyes. “Ivan also said that Kiril wouldn’t care when Ivan and his men raped her, then cut her head off, as punishment for lying to him.”

I inwardly blanch. Fucking Novikov. It’s exactly the sick, sadistic threat the fucker would make. The fact that he made it to his own sister shouldn’t surprise me.

“Seline never told Kiril about me and you, Alexei,” Ofelia says. “In fact, she actively lied to protect us. The only reason Kiril discovered the truth was because his men bugged her phone and listened in to her readings. But that isn’t what I was going to say.”

She looks down at our joined hands. “When she was still reading for me, Seline told me, many times, that I allow the men in my life to control me. My father, Dittorio, even you. She said that only I can set myself free, that I have to find my own means of liberation. The last time she said it was just after I’d left the Quantum Drift. It was before we had the secure room, and I didn’t know when, or even if, I’d see you again. I couldn’t imagine how we’d make it work, even if I did see you.” Her eyes lift to mine. “All that old despair came crashing in again. It lifted, a little, after I could speak to you. But every time we cut the line, I would instantly feel adrift again, like there was nothing solid to hang on to.”

I want to tell her I felt the same way, but I don’t want to interrupt her stream of thought.

“When I was walking through those tunnels,” she goes on, “it was pitch-black, and I could barely see anything at all. But I could see your face, Alexei. It was like you were there with me.

“Ever since what happened in that cell with the Orlovs, I’ve felt helpless to control anything about me and you. I’ve had to just sit with helplessness, to trust and hope amid the darkness that somehow it would work out. I realized I don’t want to do that anymore, Alexei.” Her fingers close around mine again as her eyes search mine. “I won’t do that anymore. And the more I thought about it in those tunnels, the less afraid I was and the more determined I became. By the time I got to the gate and David asked me where I wanted to go, I didn’t need to even think about it.”

Her hand tightens on mine. “I just knew that I needed to be with you. No matter what comes now, I want us to face it together. That includes our fathers and our families.”