Page 11 of Ruby Menace

“What you are is a killer! And a liar! Not to mention a father and a husband… to someone else!” She flops back on the bed before glaring up at me again. “I don’t know which is worse.”

I give a mirthless laugh. “Typical woman. Fucked up priorities.”

“Fucked up?” I yell. “Everything about this situation is fucked up, Kirill! Just when I get my head around one impossible part of you, you throw another at me.”

“I never threw anything at you.”

“Really?” She half sits, propped up on the palm of one hand while pointing an accusing finger at me with the other. “You and I had just said that we cared about each other. Did you already forget that?”

“No.”

“So what am I supposed to do about this fucking wife thing?” Her eyes spit fire. She’s so fucking beautiful when she’s mad. Although, where she thinks she gets the right to be mad at me is beyond me.

“You do nothing about it. Zoya is my problem.”

“So, you just expect me to sit around while you deal with your wife and your child.”

“Yes.”

“You… you are an asshole, you know that?” She punctuates each word with a point of her finger.

“I’ve been called worse.” I shrug. “That does not change the fact that I own you. And you will do as I say.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” She sits straighter, then pulls her legs up until she’s kneeling in front of me. “If I’d known you had a wife, do you think I would ever have allowed any of this,” she waves a hand between us, “to happen?”

“Yes. Because it was not your decision to make. And Zoya is my wife in name only. When she walked out the door, she gave up all rights to our marriage.”

“Sounds like something a cheater would say,” she huffs. “If you actually meant that, you would have divorced her.”

“Think what you like. I have my reasons for not ending the marriage, and they are none of your concern.” I’m not going to delve into the details of how impossible it had been to maintain Zoya’s self-imposed exile without adding the extra complication of divorce proceedings. Although I’m beginning to regret that decision now.

“So, I’m supposed to suck it up while you’re trying to screw everything in a skirt?”

“What I choose to do with my time is my business.”

“You have to be kidding! So it’s Zoya, then me on the sidelines. And then what? Did you honestly believe you’d be able to bring Roxie into the fold?”

I frown. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“She’s my best friend, you dick!”

She’s clearly overstepping. And yet, for some reason, I do nothing.

“I know that. It is why I brought her here. You were unhappy. You asked for company. I made sure that you got it. What more do you want?”

“I want you to start treating me like a human being, Kirill!” She waves her hands wildly as she speaks. “You can’t have me in your bed one minute and then be parading all these women around the next.”

“I am not parading anyone. And if you are going to be in my world, you will have to get used to things being difficult.”

“Not that difficult!” She shakes her head wildly. “Not with my own friend! And as for this wife…”

“My wife has nothing to do with us, Tiana. No one does. And nobody will come between us, do you understand? They will die first.” It’s a simple statement of fact, but her mouth drops open.

“Are you saying you’d kill Roxie over me?” She asks me after a long silence.

“Why the fuck would I need to?”

“Because you tried to screw her!”

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