Page 117 of Love to Defy You
My slight doesn’t go unnoticed. A storm cloud passes over Enzo’s dark gaze, and I avert my eyes to my plate.
“Is it poisoned?” I croak out through my sore throat.
Enzo grabs a linen napkin off the counter and whips it open with a sharp snap, then lays it across his lap. “No, Willow, I’m not trying to kill you.” His voice holds an edge of irritation.
When he twirls the pasta around with his fork, my stomach gurgles, but I wait until he swallows his food before daring to take a bite.
We eat in silence for a few minutes, but every time I lift the fork to my mouth, it shakes so hard I have to use my other hand to steady it. I don’t dare speak aloud, and I worry that the tiniest slipup could break this fragile silence between us.
Now that I’ve seen how quickly he can switch between moods, I’m afraid to set him off.
He swivels in his chair to face me, but I keep my head bowed over my food to avoid his intense stare. When he reaches his fingers out to stroke my cheek, a shudder descends through my body.
“Now that Alek’s out of the picture,” he says, “you and I can be together.”
I grip the fork in my fist until my knuckles turn white. “If anything happens to him, I’ll never forgive you.”
He curls his hand into a fist and sets it on the table. His restraint is barely contained, as if it requires every effort on his part not to ram his fist through the wall—or my head. “I expected you to be mad at me for a while.” Enzo clenches his jaw. “But I’ll wait for you to come around because I love you, Willow.”
Fuck, fuck,fuck.This can’t be happening.
He lets out a chilling chuckle. “Besides, why would you be with Aleksandr Kurochkin when you could have his wiser and more attractive older brother instead?”
I whip my head up. “What did you just say?”
He gives me a wicked smirk. “Ah, I knew that would get your attention.”
My heart stops as dread seeps into every pore of my body. “What are you talking about?”
Enzo leans forward. “Back in the day, Grigor Kurochkin used my mother to keep his dick wet, even though he was engaged to Olga. And as soon as my mother told him she was pregnant, he asked her to get rid of me. She said no, and he abandoned her.” He leans even closer so that his body hovers over mine, his breath warming the skin on my neck. “Her family turned their backs on her when they found out she was an unwed mother-to-be. Grigor had plenty of wealth and power to take care of us, but he chose not to. He discarded us like trash to raise the perfect blonde-haired, blue-eyed family. Pure Russian blood.”
His mouth curls into a snarl before he continues. “I swore to myself, and to my mother, that I would take his vast fortune and claim my birthright as the eldest son. That I would destroy his picture-perfect family in the process. And all these years of hardship and planning will finally come to fruition tonight. Every step I’ve taken, every decision I’ve made, has led up to this moment when I destroy the Kurochkins once and for all.Aleksandr will join our father in death, and his mother and sister will be left destitute.”
His chilling words trail off into silence. The two of us sit here, staring at one another as I try to wrap my mind around the weight of his confession.
It explains everything—why Enzo and Alek look so much alike, why Enzo has had it out for Alek since they met, and why he’s determined to take everything that Alek has for himself.
Enzo and Alek are half-brothers, but one became a prince while the other clawed his way out of poverty.
From the moment we set foot in Zurich, we never stood a chance against Enzo.
“How did you know he’d be coming to the same college as you?” My quiet question pierces the silence between us.
His dark eyes glint with righteous triumph. “The Order of Apollo exerts influence over every university on the planet. I made some calls to ensure his applications would be denied everywhere except for Weltner. That was the easy part. You, on the other hand, were a little more difficult to get through admissions. You have an exquisite face and an even more exquisite body, but I’m afraid you’re not very smart, are you? But I don’t mind. Smart girls aren’t my thing.”
I rip my gaze away from Enzo’s as heat burns my cheeks. “So, I was a part of your plan? To take me because I belong to Alek?”
“At first, yes.” He grabs my chin and forces me to look at him. “I knew Aleksandr had a girlfriend, and I planned to take her along with his wealth and his life. But that night when we met, I recognized your face.” Enzo moves his hand from my chin down to my neck. “I spent many nights with my hand wrapped around my cock as I watched your porn video online. It was a shame the site was taken down, but your face was branded into my memory.”
A sob lodges in my throat as tears pool in my eyes.
“Shh, it’s okay.” He runs his thumb along the side of my neck. “I don’t judge you for it. It helped me understand you, Willow. You like being in the center of attention, and you like it rough, don’t you?”
My lip quivers with a soft whimper when he tightens his grip around my neck. Out of the corner of my eye, the kitchen knife glints beneath the light fixture.
“I’m going to take Aleksandr’s place in your heart.” Enzo brings his mouth to my ear and whispers, “I’m going to take care of you now with the Kurochkin fortune. Whatever you want or need, I can give it to you, and Aleksandr will be nothing more than a distant memory in time. You’ll see.”
With as much strength as I can muster, I shove him back. It catches him off-guard, and he releases my throat. I leap from my chair and dash for the knife.
