Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 63786 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 319(@200wpm)___ 255(@250wpm)___ 213(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63786 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 319(@200wpm)___ 255(@250wpm)___ 213(@300wpm)
“He’s the CEO of a pharmaceutical company.”
“You’re a smart woman. You know who he is. But do you know what he is truly capable of?”
“If your plan is to try and scare me away from him—”
“You’re pregnant. You’ve already suffered because of him. Because his rivals know about you. His fiancée. What happens when they find out you’re pregnant with the heir to the Zarkov empire? I’ll tell you what they’ll do. They’ll sniff you out and cut open your—”
I swing around to glare at him. “You finish that sentence, and I’ll fucking shoot you myself.”
But his eyes gleam with triumph. He’s successfully sowed the seed of doubt in my mind, and he knows it.
Disgust and anger flow through me. But they are nothing compared to the fear I already feel.
He continues relentlessly. “What happens to your baby when he’s done with you? When he loses his hard-on for you, and he will, because Lev Zarkov throws people away because they mean nothing to him.”
“Stop.”
“He won’t want you anymore—”
“I said stop it!”
But he doesn’t stop. He keeps throwing his grenades, and they land right in the middle of my shaky emotions.
“You will become redundant. But while you are disposable, he will never let go of his heir. What happens to you then? He won’t want you, but he’ll do everything in his power to keep that baby. What kind of life will it be for your child?”
His words hit exactly where he intended them to, right in the middle of the need I feel to protect this baby.
“I can protect you and the baby. Give you back a life that doesn’t involve bratva bloodshed. Make sure he never touches you or your baby.”
The idea of Lev not touching me or our baby is an agony I can’t even fathom. I could never take this baby from him. Or leave his bed. Not now. Not ever. We’ve grown so close in the last few weeks. Even closer since we found out about the baby. I couldn’t imagine not waking up in his secure arms.
But…
“Look at Igor,” he demands. “That could easily be you lying in that bed.”
I hate that he’s right.
“All because you think you’re in love with a man who could never love you back. You know why? Because he’s a narcissistic psychopath. He doesn’t do anything unless it’s in the best interest of the bratva. Or his own personal gain.”
Feeling my emotions get the better of me, I lean forward and gently touch Igor’s fingertips to say goodbye. I need to get away from Agent Michaels.
Because he’s making too much sense.
I shoot him a sharp look. “Stay away from me. I don’t want your help.”
I brush past him and walk to the door.
“But I want yours, Miss Masters. And I won’t stop until I get it.”
I hurry out of the room, desperate to make distance between me and the FBI agent.
Lev isn’t home when I return to the estate. Which is good because I don’t think I could hide what I am thinking from him.
That Agent Michaels made some very valid points
He’s right. I don’t know Lev, and I don’t know what he is capable of. What happens when the shine of this baby wears off, and I become a problem to him? Only a few weeks ago, we couldn’t be in the same room as one another without arguing. Now we can’t be in the same room without touching each other, kissing and cuddling, fucking—no, making love—and without warning, it’s got me believing in some fairy-tale ending.
But how can it be real? It started as a lie, and that lie has just gotten bigger and bigger and more convincing.
Feeling unsettled from seeing Igor, and out of sorts from my encounter with the FBI agent, I pace my room.
I can protect you and the baby. Give you back a life that doesn’t involve bratva bloodshed.
His words haunt me.
Because what if I can’t protect my baby while we’re with Lev?
What if a life without the bratva is the only way to keep my baby safe?
11
BROOKE
As usual, when I wake up the next morning, Lev is gone.
But thankfully, so is the nausea and uncertainty I felt yesterday evening following my encounter with Agent Michaels.
After Lev came home last night, I didn’t tell him about seeing the FBI agent at the hospital. I don’t know why. Something inside pulled back from telling him. But despite not knowing about it, Lev was able to decimate the unease I felt because he was so attentive and reassuring, not to mention spectacularly creative in bed.
Now, as I lie in bed and look up at the ceiling, my body still tingles from all the things he did to me. Thanks to these damn pregnancy hormones, my libido has been ramped up a notch. It’s like I can’t be near Lev without putting my hands on him. He walks into a room, and I want him naked and inside me. Not that he’s complaining. In fact, he seems only too happy to oblige my requests.