Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
Alexei
I had gone looking for her because she had been gone too long, and I had started to worry. The last place I expected to find her was with him.
Kristoff was a snake, and now I had every reason to believe that Amy might be as well. But then, hadn’t I always thought there was something off about her? No one could be as good as she appeared to be.
Still, it was like a gut punch when I looked out the sliding glass doors and found her with Kristoff, hugging the shadows of the hedges with their heads close together. They looked as thick as thieves.
I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but I didn’t need to.
It was pretty clear from their body language that they were having a very, very deep conversation.
That’s when I slid the door open and stepped out.
The first thing I had noticed was Amy’s terrified face on seeing me, and the second was that he was touching her.
Kristoff had always had a thing about trying to take from me what was mine, and Amy was mine, whether we liked it or not.
I didn’t know what to make of any of it, but one thing was for sure: my suspicious nature had been activated, and just like I had promised, I would be talking to Amy when our guests left.
“Is everything OK?” Gabriella asked as I almost dragged Amy back into the room. She glanced down at the way I was gripping her hand and frowned.
“Of course,” I spoke before Amy could even open her mouth.
The arm in my hand trembled. She was nervous and maybe even a little terrified.
Good. She should be both of those things.
“Amy is feeling a little sick from the wine.” I flashed a rueful smile that dropped from my face as Kristoff sidled in behind us, taking his place next to Misha and Gabriella. My eyes narrowed.
I didn’t like Kristoff. I never had. He wasn’t to be trusted, but the other two I had always considered friends. Only now I wasn’t so sure.
“My wife isn’t much of a drinker.” Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw her glance at me and almost turned to her. At the last minute, I thought better of it and flashed a smile at my guests instead.
Did it really matter if no one in my life could be trusted after all? It wasn’t like I trusted them anyway.
“Oh, I am sorry, sweetie.” Gabriella rushed forward, and I reluctantly let go of Amy’s arm so they could embrace like old friends. I watched the whole thing through my eyelashes. Even here, Amy charmed everyone around her. It seemed to be her gift.
Mine was the ability to see through bullshit.
“I hope you feel better soon.” Gabriella’s voice dropped to a whisper as she hugged my wife close. I didn’t catch the next bit, and that just made me angrier.
“Thank you.” Amy stepped back to my side with a flattering smile, and my hand reached for her arm again.
It was like I couldn’t help myself. Not because I needed to touch and be close to her, but because it was always good to keep your enemies close, and I had a sneaky suspicion that Amy was my enemy, or she would be soon anyway.
“I would like that very much. And it’s been so great to meet you all,” Amy said politely.
Misha stepped forward and kissed her cheek goodbye. “The pleasure is all ours, lovely Amy.”
“I couldn’t agree more.” Kristoff stepped up next, and I stiffened. When his lips brushed her cheek, I held my breath.
It might have been my imagination, but I was sure his lips lingered a few seconds too long.
Anger gripped me. I yanked Amy back to my side, glowering at him. In answer, he smirked. God, there was nothing I wanted more than to wipe that smirk off his face, either with my fist or with the muzzle of a gun.
The world wouldn’t mourn a man like Kristoff. I sure as hell wouldn’t.
They left, and the staff, who had been discreet, swept into the room to begin to tidy up. Amy turned to help them.
“What are you doing?" I asked through gritted teeth.
Confused with a dirty napkin in her hand, she lifted her wide doe-like eyes at me. “Just cleaning up before bed. I hate coming down in the morning to chores that could have been done the night before.”
In a way that made sense, but I wasn’t about to say that.
“The staff have it under control. Let’s go.” I held out my hand and caught sight of one of the maids’ grins. She thought I was leading my wife upstairs to have my wicked way with her. And that’s exactly what I needed them to think.
Reluctantly, Amy took my hand and let me lead her away, our bodies pressed together. It was only when we were halfway up the stairs that I shook her handout of mine and put some distance between us.
“Upstairs now,” I snapped in a hissing whisper.
I let her go first, keeping my eyes on the back of her head and not on the mesmerising way her ass moved in that dress. It wasn’t even that I thought she might bolt. There was nowhere for her to go, after all, but Amy was proving more and more untrustworthy, and I didn’t fancy a knife in the back.
Silently, we walked towards the main bedroom. The room where we were meant to share, but so far, she was the only one of us who had slept in that room.
She kicked off her shoes the moment she stepped inside, sinking her toes into the plush rug with a contented moan. Bending, she picked them up, and my eyes glued themselves to her ass, a groan of my own threatening to rip its way out of my mouth as well at the sight of it.
“I don’t know how women wear these things all the time.”
“What was said down there, Amy?” I cut her off, slamming the door and leaning heavily against it.
She straightened slowly. “With Gabriella? She asked if we could meet up soon for coffee. I like her a lot. She is nice.”
“That’s not what I mean, and you know it,” I said angrily. Was she purposely trying to get a rise out of me? She knew I wasn’t asking about Gabriella, although I still wasn’t sure that was all that was said between the two women.
“I don’t know what—”
I was on her in a second, grabbing her by the upper arms. I yanked her hard into my body so hard that the air left her lungs in a small whoosh.
“Why,” I punctuated each word, “were you in the garden with him?”
She lifted her doe-like eyes to me, blinking rapidly. “Who?”
I grumbled a Russian curse word. Was she really this dense, or was this all just an act? An act, it had to be. I had seen her academic records. Amy was many things, but stupid wasn’t one of them. She knew exactly who I was talking about.
“Kristoff.” I said his name like filth because that’s exactly what it was to me.
“I wasn’t in the garden with him, Alexei. I was out there, and he came out.”
Bullshit.
“How do you know him?”
Her eyes narrowed. “I don’t know him. I literally just met him when you introduced us.”
I glared at her. “Well, you seemed pretty cozy for two people who had just met each other, Amy. So make this easy for yourself and tell me what is going on between the two of you?”
“There is nothing going on. You’re being paranoid for no reason, Alexei,” she said defiantly. Her eyes flashed, and her lips thinned. “I literally just met him.”
My hands gripped her tighter. “So you let men you just met, manhandle you into the shadows in your husband’s house. Is that the kind of woman you are, Amy?”
Her eyes widened, her lips parted in a small o. “Are you jealous?” Her hand fluttered to her throat.
I wanted to rage at her. Of course, I wasn’t jealous. A man like me didn’t get jealous because of girls like her.
“Of course, I am not jealous,” I spat. “The very idea is insane. I just want to know what was being discussed in my own home. I have a right to know who to trust, and I sure as hell don’t trust that asshole.”
I didn’t trust him not to double-cross me, and I sure as hell didn’t trust him to not try and steal my wife. He wouldn’t want her, but he would do it just to see me brought low.
“We were just talking, Alexei. I thought I was meant to get on with your friends.”
My lips curled up into a sneer. “He is not my friend.”
“Then why—? She shook her head. “I don’t think I’ll ever understand you, Alexei.
I thought your friends or acquaintances liked me.
I thought you wanted me to charm them, or do you just want me to fail so you have an excuse to yell at me some more?
” Her eyes filled with tears, and she twisted the gold chain around her neck.
My eyes locked on it.
“You seem very taken with that necklace, Amy.” My voice had turned quiet, but in a way that was even more scarier. Her eyes widened into perfectly round saucers.
“Now tell me, why did a man you have just met get you such a lavish and expensive gift? Is it maybe because you and he are working together?”
I hadn’t thought about how strange the gift was until now. But watching her fiddle with it like it was some kind of life raft had made me uncomfortable, and now I couldn’t think of anything else.
Kristoff couldn’t be trusted, and neither could my wife, by the looks of it.
She fisted the delicate chain in her small hand and yanked it downward. The gold snapped easily. “You are a paranoid control freak. Here.” She tossed the delicate jewelry at me. It hit me in the chest and fell to the floor next to my feet.
“I didn’t ask for the gift. I didn’t ask for any of this, Alexei.
I accepted it because I thought that was what you wanted me to do.
Everything I have done since you came crashing into my life was what you wanted me to do.
And I always get it wrong, don’t I? Nothing I do is ever good enough, is it? ”
Her voice was rising with emotion.
I moved towards her without thinking. Wrapping one arm around her waist and one around her shoulders, I melded her body to mine and caught her lips, silencing her next words with a swipe of my tongue against her closed mouth.
I licked the seam of her lips again, feeling the resistance give just enough for me to deepen the kiss. She was mine, and I wouldn’t let anyone take her from me.
Cradling the back of her head in my palm, I let the other hand slide from her back to her side, gathering up the material of her dress and dragging it upwards. Every single movement I made was jerky, anger and lust coming together to make me tougher than I should have been.
“You are mine.” I nipped at her bottom lip and then sucked her tongue into my mouth. “My fucking wife and—” my lips found hers again. Our lips and teeth were clashing, and still, I couldn’t feel her skin against mine. I yanked harder at the material caught between our bodies.
I was desperate for her in a way I didn’t even think possible. Maybe it was lust born from anger, but it was still lust, and she felt it was well.
“I think I hate you.” She bit my lip hard.
“I think I might hate you as well.” My tongue delved back into her mouth as I gave one last rabid attempt to pull at her dress. I wanted her naked in front of me.
The sound of ripping material was loud, and I reeled backwards. My eyes darted down from her kissable bruises and swollen lips to find her dress torn down the middle. She looked down at it and scrambled to cover herself, her eyes wide as she took a step back.
“Shit.” I didn’t move. All I could do was stare at the scraps of material that hung from her body. It was the second time I had ripped her clothes to get at her body like some kind of animal.
The second time I had forgotten what she was.