Avrora
This conversation is getting me nowhere and it’s pointless. It’s also probably best to stop pushing him because I haven’t negotiated the important things yet and there’s still more I need to know. “Can I see Mikhail or my dad? Or at least call them?”
“No.” His tone is cold, his stare icier.
“Why not? They’re my family.”
“Mikhail is not your fucking family.”
“Even you can’t think this is okay.” I glare at him, wide-eyed, pleading. “Anatoli, you just took me as I was about to make my vows. That was it. I at least got to say some sort of goodbye to my father, but I didn’t get to say anything to Mikhail.”
He sits back, his expression emotionless as he steeples his fingers, staring back at me in silence. Not the kind of silence you expect from a person contemplating something important, but definitely the kind when they aren’t.
It’s clear whatever mission he’s on has stolen his humanity.
“Please,” I add.
He blows out a ragged breath and presses his lips together in displeasure.
“One visit. One text to arrange it. He can come here for a few minutes. I don’t want you meeting him anywhere I can’t watch you.”
“Okay. When?”
His face becomes stone. “Not in the next three weeks.”
God, that’s a crazy, crazy long time. Anything could happen to me. “Three weeks?”
“Take it or leave it.”
“Alright.” What choice do I have? “I also see his mom sometimes. She teaches on campus and we meet up for work experience sessions. She’s kind of like my mentor. Please can I continue to see her?”
“That is fine. You can keep your relations with people like that and other friends.”
“Thank you.” It feels so weird to be thanking him, but here’s hoping I can see Mira when I get back on campus.
“As for your father, it’s an absolute no. The next time you see him will be at the wedding and possibly other functions. No other time before or after.”
“That’s it?” I can’t imagine that. As bad as my father is, I know he loves me. He’s never treated me badly and I can just imagine how this is killing him. “But he’s my father. I have to see him.”
“Baby girl, you’re pushing your luck with me. Be grateful I allow you to see him at all. Enough talk about him now.”
“But-”
“I said enough. I need to leave and you need to know the rest of my rules.”
I would rather continue pleading, but I guess I’m not completely defeated as I have something to work with. “Fine, what are they?”
“The wedding planner will be here in the next few days. You aren’t to give her any trouble. Ehlga is my custodian, she will take care of whatever you need. You will have guards with you at all times. Some will include Jayce and Zane, who you’ve already met.”
Zane must have been the other guard who came in with Jayce at the wedding.
“Anything else?” I clench my jaw.
“I think it goes without saying that you aren’t to speak with anyone I wouldn’t want you to speak to, or try to defy me. Your phone is chipped, so I’ll know. You are also to have a guard with you at all times when you leave the property. Your car will be delivered here sometime in the week. I’m having a tracker fitted in, but I prefer if you use my drivers.”
Jesus. I really am a prisoner. “So I have no freedom?”
“I think I’ve given you enough freedom.”
I allow myself the withering stare I issue him. “What about after? After the wedding? Do we have our happily ever after in this house with our kids?” I’m being completely sarcastic again. He knows it, but his expression becomes more intense.
“You and I are not having kids.” His voice is even colder than before, dripping with disgust. “I won’t be having a child with a Galitze, or anyone else. Get that straight. Once I wrap this up, I’m going back to sea.”
“To sea?”
His face softens. “I’m a sailor.”
My eyes automatically scan his body. That explains the muscles and the hardass look.
“Once the wedding is done, you will stay here and live your life, and I will return for a few months a year.” He sighs and clenches his jaw. “We need to stay married for two years.”
Fuck. Two whole years.
My God. I guess now I have the information I wanted to know most.
I just don’t know how I’m supposed to get married to him in the first place, then stay that way for two years.
“Is that seriously how long you plan to keep me?”
He chuckles, cruel, wicked, and low. The sound raises my nerve endings, and I realize I’ve missed something.
“Baby girl, I never gave you an end date.” His dark brows rise into a rigid line. “That timeframe is simply to meet the business terms of inheritance for Galitze Developments. Even though I’ll own the company, you still have shares and inheritance rights. All we’re doing is ticking a box.”
My mouth falls open. “So, you don’t plan to let me go, ever?”
“That part is debatable. I have a lot in store for you people. Giving Uther Galitze’s daughter her freedom wasn’t really part of my plans.”
I hate the way he talks about me as if I’m some kind of species he’s classifying.
“So my life is just collateral,” I rasp in a hushed tone. I can’t believe I really am little more than a pawn in this and he truly doesn’t care.
“I think I’ve told you all you need to know.”
“How?”
“Don’t push me, Avrora. Yesterday I informed you of the looming threat hanging over your head. If I were you, I’d be grateful no one worse than me discovered your father’s extra-curricular activities. Believe me, if they had, you’d both be dead.”
I’ve definitely thought of that, but as for being grateful-no. I’m not grateful to this asshole because everything is all bad and he hasn’t exactly said he won’t throw us to the lions when he chooses to.
“So dear wife-to-be, you need to watch yourself.” He smiles, switching back to the cynical version of himself. “Lastly, Ehlga will be taking you to the doctor tomorrow morning. Make sure you comply with that, too.”
“Why do I need to go to the doctor?”
“For your sexual health tests.”
“Excuse me? I will do no such thing.”
“Yes, you will.” He leans in closer as Ehlga walks in with a pot of coffee. When she sets it down and leaves, the hard line of his jaw softens and he continues. “I assure you, my dear Valkyrie, I don’t fuck like a gentleman. Condoms won’t work with me. When I fuck you, I want to feel you come undone around me.”
Blood surges from my fingertips to my toes like a raging river in a tempestuous storm. Then wild sexual images flood my mind, each one hitting me harder than the one before.