Page 15 of The Pakhan's Sold Bride

I’ve made my point. I can see that she understands me clearly.

This innocent act needs to stop.

Her playing the victim is not going to work on me.

She’s fucking good at it, though.

Her words still loop in my mind, the first moment we spoke in my office that night. The night I was going to kill her father. She said she was there for her father’s promise. She basically confessed to being in on his scheme.

This pretend shock. The tears. The shake in her voice and the heavy breaths. She’s good at this.

My heart clenches in my chest. I’m staring at her for too long. Her fake innocence is getting to me. The softness of her eyes, the fear in her expression.It’s not real, Nestor. Don’t fall for it.

I shake my head and drop my hand away from her throat.

“Do we have an understanding?” I say roughly.

She reaches up to touch her throat, her delicate fingers brushing over the red marks on her skin. Her nails are painted a pretty shade of pink, bright and cheerful. “Yes,” she whispers, not looking at me.

I wave my hand towards where Argyle is waiting.

“Continue,” I say.

He goes on with the wedding as though nothing has happened.

Lara says her vows, makes her promises, and signs the documents without a single word of resistance.

She is subdued and quiet while I thank Argyle and tell him to file away the original paperwork. He slides a copy of our marriage certificate into an envelope for me, and the entire process comes to an end.

We are married.

It’s official.

I smirk, clutching the envelope in my hand.

“Come on, wife,” I say with amusement in my voice, chuckling as I set my hand on her lower back and push her towards the door.

She squeaks in protest but doesn’t argue.

If I weren’t so skeptical of her brilliant acting, I would say she’s in shock.

Although she doesn’t really need to act like she’s in shock, she might genuinely be in shock that she couldn’t talk her way out of this mess.

I bet she’s manipulated her way out of many situations in her life.

Just like her father.

I wouldn’t have killed her, though.

It would have been pointless. I didn’t mean the threat, but I’m glad she took it seriously, because I was losing patience with her.

She’s quiet all the way down to the parking area, and she’s quiet as I hold the car door open for her and she climbs inside.

It’s only when we pull out onto the road that she finds her voice again.

“Nestor, whoever you are, can you please, I’m begging you, please just tell me what this is about? Why did we just get married?” she asks, her voice small.

“I told you to stop this bullshit game, Lara. Stop playing the innocent victim. You know exactly why we got married,” I snap.

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