Page 84 of Debt to the Mafia King
“You would have lost everything,” I answered for him. “I know, and I didn’t want that to happen. I won’t betray you, Viktor. Not even when you are done with me because—” There was a word on the tip of my tongue that I had sworn I would never say to him. I hadn’t even really admitted it to myself before.
“You are loyal to me.” Viktor just stood there and stared down at me like he had never seen me before.
“I guess I am,” I shrugged. “Don’t think too much into it.”
“Too late,” he whispered. “Beautiful, sexy, passionate, and loyal. How did I get so lucky?” Gently, he smoothed his fingers from my hair to my cheek.
“Your money?”
Throwing back, he laughed, a great booming sound that caused Ivan to appear in the doorway. “Is everything alright?” He froze on seeing Viktor towering over me with his pants down.
“My bad.” He scuttled off with a laugh, but not before I saw the bandage wrapped around his head.
Either this was a very elaborate lie or Viktor was telling me the truth.
“But we know it’s more than the agreement now, Leah. We are having a baby together. A child. That is going to lock us together forever, even if we aren’t together.”
I dropped my hands from his leg. “Yeah, we need to talk about that.”
“What is there to talk about? We are married. We will continue to be married.”
“We can’t stay married if either one of us is straying.”
Viktor’s eyes narrowed. “You would never stray. I wouldn’t allow another man to touch you and get away with it.” His voice shook with the familiar anger.
“I know you wouldn’t, and you can’t expect me to want differently. I know it’s not your way and you’re the kind of person that will keep a wife and several mistresses, but I can’t be with you if you do that.” I blew out a breath. “I’m sorry I can’t. If you can’t remain faithful until either our agreement is at an end or the baby is born, then you are going to need to release me from the contract.”
“Fuck the contract,” he growled out. “I don’t care about the contact, Leah. I never really have. I have not and will never cheat on you. The thing with Manda was a misunderstanding. I thought you believed that.”
“I do believe that. But you have needs, and I can’t satisfy those needs anymore. It’s only a matter of time before you find someone who can. It’s best if we discuss this now.”
“You can’t satisfy?” His eyebrows jiggled upwards in confusion. “What do you mean by that?”
“You haven’t touched me since the accident. It’s pretty obvious that you don’t find me attractive.”
He laughed, and I blinked rapidly up at him in shock. Bristling, I pushed him away, but in true Viktor style, he didn’t move.
“Oh, Printsessa, you are adorable.”
“Don’t you dare laugh at me, Viktor.” My voice shook with anger. “Don’t you fucking dare.”
Something in my voice sobered him up instantly. Falling to his knees, he trapped my face between his giant hands. “Sometimes I forget how young you are, Leah. You’re right. I haven’t touched you, but that has nothing to do with not wanting you.” Grabbing my ankles, he wrapped my legs around his waist and trapped me back against the couch cushions. “And everything to do with me.”
“I know.” Talking about stating the obvious. He wasn’t attracted to me now. He hadn’t been since the explosion, or maybe it was after he had found out I was pregnant.
For all I knew, Viktor just didn’t like the idea of me gaining weight.
“I was afraid.”
“Wait, what?” I did a double-take. Had I heard him right? Or was my mind playing tricks on me?
“I almost lost you in that explosion, Leah, and seeing you on that street fighting to stay with me changed everything. I thought I was going to lose you, and it made me realize I need you in my life. Not just you, but the baby as well.” He took a deep, settling breath. “And then God gave me you back, and you are carrying my child, and I couldn’t touch you. Not the way I want to because,” his voice shook with more emotion than I had ever heard him have. “What if I were too rough and hurt you? You’re still healing. What if I hurt the baby?”
“Viktor.” I didn’t think about it, I just brushed my fingers against his cheek, and for a second he leaned into my hand. “You have never hurt me, and you won’t hurt our baby either. Being intimate with me isn’t going to.”
“But what if it does?”
“It won’t. The doctor said it’s perfectly safe. You aren’t going to hurt me. What hurts me is thinking I’m not enough for you.”
