Page 27 of Darkest Love
“It doesn’t matter. It was still a stranger’s car.”
I cross my arms. “Adrien, do you care for me?”
“Why do you ask?”
“Because you don’t want me to get hurt. Do you care for me because of me? Or do you care for me because you don’t want to ruin your precious alliance with my brothers-in-law?”
“Can it be both?”
“Is it both?”
He sighs and drops into his seat. “You confuse me. I don’t want to risk my alliance with them. Yes. I will do everything in my power to protect that. But do I want to see you get tortured and killed by my enemies? No. Of course not. I don’t want to see you get hurt just because you annoy the shit out of me.”
His admission makes me drop my arms and stand up straighter. “Oh.”
“You sound surprised by that.”
“I just thought you only wanted me for sex.”
“I do want to have sex. But I don’t want to see you die, Anastasia. I’m not completely heartless.”
“You just don’t believe in love.”
He averts his gaze. “You don’t know what I’ve been through.”
I slam my hands onto his desk. “Then tell me.”
His eyes find mine and they slowly soften. For a moment, I think he’s going to tell me everything… until his expression closes off again and he turns away from me. “Because of your impromptu trip to the airport, I’m behind on work. You should go. And don’t leave again. It’s not safe out there.”
“I’m tired of being –,”
“A prisoner. I know. But for now, you have to be one until things are safe.”
“Will things ever be safe?”
He hesitates and that tells me everything I need to know.
“So, I’ve traded one gilded cage for another.” I storm out of his office and can feel his eyes on me the entire way out.
I am going to get an adventure for myself, sooner or later. Even if it kills me.
Adrien
God, Anastasia is a wild woman. Stubborn and reckless but also passionate. I can see it in the way she talks. If I let myself, I could give her my heart. But if I did that and then lost her…
My phone buzzes. A text from one of my men. He tells me that Remy sent him pictures and he’s sending them to me now.
The pictures show up on my phone. They’re of me and… Anastasia. At the airport together. A caption underneath the pictures reads:I know who your wife is now.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
Remy knows who Anastasia is. That is going to put her in even more danger, meaning she really won’t be allowed to leave the house anytime soon.
This just complicated things further.
Chapter Eight
Anastasia
