Page 29 of Debt to the Mafia King
I didn’t want Manda here, which was exactly why she had been brought. They were testing me for weakness.
Keeping my grip on Leah’s arm, I dragged her arm downward. “It was good to see you, Manda.” Turning to the other woman, I brushed my lips against the corner of her mouth. “Hopefully, I will see you again soon. Gentleman, if you will excuse me, I need to have a little word with my bride in private.”
I dragged her out of the room and down the hallway roughly. Her bare feet stumbled to keep up, but I didn’t slow down.
“Get off of me.” At the bottom of the stairs, she yanked her arm away. “I can find my way back to my room by myself. There’s no need to leave your party.” Her voice dripped with emotion as she stomped up the stairs angrily.
For a second, I watched her go. Taking in the curving hips and ass encased in cream silk. And then I went after her.
“You might be able to find your way around, Leah, but you clearly can’t follow directions. Leaving your room in your nightclothes is forbidden.” I stormed into her room behind her and shut the door.
“So is taking lovers for the duration of our marriage, Viktor, according to that stupid contract.” She motioned towards the table by the window. I wandered over, glancing down at the stack of signed papers on it.
She had signed. Good.
“Or is that just a me rule?” Her eyes blazed as I turned to face her. “They all seemed to be me, rules Viktor? What about you? Do you have any, or can you just do whatever you like?”
I watched her as she moved around the room. She was trying to put some distance between us, but if she carried on like she was, no amount of distance would keep her safe.
“Be careful, Leah,” I warned. Did I want her to be careful, though? Or did I want her anger to get her into trouble so I would have a reason to punish her like I had earlier?
Did I even need a reason? She was mine.
“Just leave, go back to the others,” her hand waved in front of us, and I grabbed it.
“Manda.” I tugged her closer to me. Pulling her so close that her breasts flattened against my chest. “The woman’s name is Manda.” I breathed in the scent of her shampoo. Only it was different because I hadn’t found out her brand yet. That had to be changed. I needed—
“Is she a prostitute?”
Throwing back my head, I laughed. “No.”
In my arms, she stiffened. “Girlfriend then?” Her voice shook with anger.
“I would not have called her that, but yes, we had a relationship.” I tightened my grip on her. Curling my body into hers.
It would be so easy to lose myself in her right now. Her jealousy was hot, dangerous, but hot.
“For how long?” Leah’s voice shook.
“A few years,” I admitted. My eyes never left her face as I gauged her reaction. She’d been mad when she had thought Manda had been a whore, but to find out I had been in a relationship of sorts with her was making her furious. She was trying to hide it, but I could see the jealousy in her eyes and in the shake of her voice.
“And you thought you would invite her around for one last—” she stuttered. “The night before our wedding?”
I paused. My first instinct had been to lie, but what good would that do? “No,” I admitted with a sigh. “I didn’t invite her at all. Myrelationship with her, and I use that term lightly, was over weeks ago. She was brought here as a test.”
Under me. Leah stiffened. Her whole body was going rigid. “A test for what?”
“To see how you would act, would be my guess, or maybe to see how I would react.”
“They wanted to see if we were a real couple?” She asked in a small voice.
“Yes.” With a sigh, I stepped back. “They are trying to work out what our situation is. Looking for chinks in our armor. We can’t let them find any, Leah. We need to make everyone believe that this thing between us is real.”
“I understand.”
She said the words, but I wasn’t sure I believed them because I had been sure I had seen jealousy in her eyes, and as much as that thrilled me in a way, it was dangerous.
I didn’t want Leah to fall for me. I just needed her to play her part and open her legs when I wanted her to, which was pretty much every second I spent in her presence.
