day when I was kissing his cheek.
The pale woman with raging eyes, who looked just like me.
When I blinked, she disappeared.
Either I was imagining things or Lia’s ghost was actually there. I chose to go with the first option because the second one terrified me.
Whenever Jeremy and I play in the gazebo, I keep staring at that same window in case she reappears.
She never has.
I would probably have a better chance figuring out if my hallucinations are true or not if I go there, but Adrian’s guards are keeping an eye on the garden—or us—all day long. Not to mention that the man himself is always watching us like a hawk from his office window.
Yan is constantly there, too.
The only time I would be able to go into the guest house unnoticed is during the night. And that scares the shit out of me.
This house scares the shit out of me.
The man in front of me terrifies me more because he’s the reason I feel like I’m crawling into some fucked-up territory.
Adrian stands up once he’s finished and positions himself behind me, grabbing the blow-dryer. The slow humming of the machine fills the room as he removes the towel from around my head and dries my hair.
I shiver for a reason completely different from my wet hair meeting my neck. I keep my eyes downcast because I don’t want to look in the mirror to see him caring for me and blow-drying my hair. I don’t want to get caught up in these moments that aren’t meant for me.
Lia was one lucky woman. Or maybe it was the opposite, considering the savage ways he touches me—her.
I wonder how it felt to have a man as hard as Adrian care for her like this, as if she was his world. Was she tingling like me, or did she consider it suffocating as I should?
I wonder if he also made her wait before he fucked her. I internally shake my head. Why the hell am I thinking about him fucking her? Or me?
It’s just that it doesn’t make sense for him to keep coming all over my stomach, my breasts or even my ass. His hard-ons seem painful, but he still refuses to fuck me.
I refuse to let him hear me moan or scream, so I guess it won’t happen in the near future.
Is that what he did with Lia, too?
“How was your marriage with Lia?” I ask before I can stop myself.
My voice is quiet compared to the blow-dryer, so I pray to all the stars above that he didn’t hear me.
But then he says, “It was a marriage.”
My mortification at being heard disappears at his answer. He has this infuriating way of avoiding questions. He doesn’t exactly refuse to respond, but he gives something vague or rephrases the original question.
“How did you guys meet?”
“Why do you want to know?”
Why do I want to know, really? Why am I interested to know about him and his wife?
Clinking my nails together, I keep staring at them. “I thought I should know in case anyone asks.”
“The official version is that we met at a party.”
My head slowly lifts and I stare at him through the mirror. “There’s an unofficial version?”
He’s preoccupied with my hair as he speaks, “Correct.”
“What is it?”
“It’s a secret between Lia and me.”
“I thought I was Lia.”
“I thought you didn’t like being called Lia.” He threads his fingers through my fast-drying hair.
“You still make me play her role.”
“You still don’t think you’re her and that doesn’t make you privy to my secrets with her.”
I open my mouth to say something but choose not to, because whatever I spout will backfire in my face.
The sick asshole is trying to completely erase me so I’ll become his wife. If I let my guard down, there will be nothing left of me.
“You’ll accompany me to a birthday party in a few days,” he announces out of the blue, shutting off the blow-dryer and brushing my hair.
“Whose birthday party?”
“Igor’s.”
I squint. “Igor Petrov?”
He nods. “What do you know about him?”
I pause, feeling attacked by a quiz all of a sudden. I try to recall the details I read about him. “He’s higher up in the brotherhood. Not as high up as you, but he has a notable position.”
“And?”
“And, what?”
“His family. How many members are there?”
“I…don’t remember.”
He glares at me through the mirror.
“What? There are too many people in your organization and I’m super bad with names. I’m sure I’ll be fine when I meet them.”
He