Page 50 of The Watcher's Bride

“I might have to remain trapped in this life as your wife, but don’t kid yourself for one second that I want you, or that I will ever forgive you for this.”

Chapter 31

Nora

For the rest of the awful evening, I have avoided meeting Max’s—no, Leonid’s—sorrowful gaze and I’ve refused to say another word to him. Max was a lie. I don’t know this man. The hurt on his handsome face is simply another manipulation, another lie to fool me into bending to his will. For a moment when I saw his blue eyes, my thoughts went to my watcher. I wonder if he knows what has happened to me, that my fate has now been sealed. Could he rescue me?

I fully expect that later, when we are alone, Leonid’s mask will slip, and I will see the true monster that lurks beneath. I am sure I will be punished for my harsh words, for daring to speak against him. It was reckless and foolish, but I couldn’t stop myself. I felt so thrown off to see Max standing there at the end of the aisle that I couldn’t prevent myself from lashing out against him at the first chance I got.

The first dance was even worse than the first kiss. Though he was gentle, tender even, his touch felt like a brand on my skin as he took the brunt of my weight, lifting me almost off the floor as we danced to take the pressure off my leg, as if he knew how painful it was tonight. I tried to tell myself that it was nothing more than him claiming what he believes he has a right to, what he now owns. Despite this, my treacherous body still responded to his touch, hating the part of myself that yearned for more. I’m disgusted by myself. By how broken I am.

Tossing the bouquet, something I’d been looking forward to doing to rid myself of those damn roses, was somehow even more ruined when Katerina, the young girl set to marry my father, caught it. The fact that my father seems not only content but excited to marry a girl who is little more than a child and younger than his daughter is vile.

“Ready to go?” Leonid asks gently.

I simply nod. It’s all I have the energy for. I feel bone weary from exhaustion, my leg is throbbing, and all I want to do is crawl into bed. I try not to think about what he expects to happen tonight in that bed. If I do, I won’t be able to hold back my tears any longer.

I’m surprised as he leads me to the front door and opens it to reveal a car waiting for us. “We aren’t staying here?” I find myself asking, forgetting for a moment that I’m not talking to him.

“Not unless you want to?” he asks wryly, fully aware I want anything but.

I shake my head vehemently. The last thing I want to do is stay in this den of vipers.

“I have a beach house in Malibu that will be our home,” he explains.

My prison.

I don’t bother to reply. I simply allow him to open the car door for me and climb inside.

***

I stay silent the entire forty-five-minute journey, staring out the window. He doesn’t push me to talk or try to explain himself further. Whether because he doesn’t want the driver to overhear or because he knows it would be pointless, I don’t know or care. I’m just grateful for the quiet.

We pull up to a beautiful, modern beachfront property, yet it’s surprisingly small in comparison to his uncle’s house. Inside, it’s tastefully decorated with clean lines and modern yet cozy furnishings. I barely listen as Leonid gives me the tour.

As we head toward the bedrooms, my heart starts to hammer in my chest, and I feel panic clawing at my throat. He points out the office and guest room first. There are just two doors left. One of which is the room I’ll be expected to share with this stranger. My husband. The word sends shivers down my spine, and not in a good way.

He’s going to want to have sex. He’s going to want us to consummate this doomed marriage. The man I knew as Max was kind and patient with me, but will Leonid be? Or was Max just a guise to test me? To see how pure I was or to try to claim me to make it harder for my father to back out of the arrangement? Will he take no for an answer?

The only man I ever desired was my watcher, but now I’m convinced that he’s not going to save me this time.

Leonid stops and clears his throat, seeming uncomfortable. Good. He should feel shitty for this.

“I had the other guest room set up as your room. I figured you wouldn’t want to share, that it would be too soon.”

His words catch me off guard, they’re so unexpected.

“So you’ll force me to be your wife, but you won’t force me to share your bed. Or do you still intend to force me to fuck you before going to your own bed for a peaceful night’s rest?” I snap.

He recoils slightly at the venom in my voice, but doesn’t waver as he takes a step closer, close enough that my breath hitches and I have to force myself not to step back, to show fear or weakness.

“Nora, I will never force you to do anything you don’t want to, I would never act without your consent. But I won’t lie to you. I’ve made my intentions perfectly clear. I want you. All of you. You can deny that you feel the same attraction and that you want this as much as I do. I’m willing to wait, but one day youwillbe mine, totally and completely. But only when you beg me will I fuck you,” he states confidently.

I don’t know how to respond, so I stay silent, contemplating what this means. Part of me wants to tell him there’s no way I would ever trust him enough to sleep with him. I wasn’t ready before and I certainly can’t imagine myself ever trusting him again enough to be intimate with him like that. Yet something stops me. I can’t deny that the way he’s speaking excites me, perhaps more than Max ever has. His words and commanding posture remind me more of my watcher than Max.

He hasn’t taken his eyes off me, and I feel hot under his gaze. When I can no longer stand the proximity and the all too positive reactions it’s invoking in me, I move away, only fractionally but enough to break the spell. The fire leaves his blue eyes, and he looks away, his attention returning to the task at hand.

“This is the room you’ll be sleeping in for now,” he says, reiterating the lack of permanence with our separate living quarters. I wonder how long it will take before he loses patience.

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