Page 230 of The Life of Anna-Tenth Anniversary Edition: Act 2

Anna told him and he repeated it to the driver.

A few minutes later, they pulled up to the front of her building. He walked her up to her apartment, but they didn’t speak until they were outside her door.

“Here.” He handed her a small black velvet-covered box. “So people know the status of our relationship.”

Inside was a beautiful diamond ring. Anna looked up at the strained look on Kurt’s face. “We’re engaged?”

Kurt nodded.

“When are we getting married?”

“You need to be freed from Devin before we can marry. It will be a long engagement.” He spoke in such a way that made it seem more like a business transaction than a romantic gesture. No, there was nothing romantic about this at all. They were engaged because he had decided it was so. Or was it Wilhelm who had decided?

“I will keep my private time private. No one will think me a playboy here.”

Anna gasped and tears sprang to her eyes. Her jaw trembled as she stared, bewildered, at Kurt. His jaw was clenched and his gray eyes were hard.

“I do not care what you do, just keep it private,” he added softly.

“Don’t you think people will think it strange if I don’t stay with you?”

“Do you want to come and watch?”

Anna’s mouth dropped open and she couldn’t tear her eyes away from his hardened face. She finally managed to look away and unlocked the apartment door. “I’ll be ready at seven-thirty.”

She slipped inside the dark apartment and leaned against the door. Her knees gave out and she slid down to the floor. The tears she’d been holding back all evening finally escaped and flowed down her cheeks and onto her chest. Her body shook with grief as great sobs wracked her body. Her marriage to Kurt would be a loveless marriage. There was no love or desire behind his decision to marry her; it was purely a sense of duty. This was not the Kurt she’d known before and fell in love with.

Maybe if she hadn’t been so cold to him, she’d be in his bed instead of alone in her apartment on a hard wooden floor. She curled onto her side and sobbed.

Chapter 119

Somehow, Anna had made her way to her bed the night before, because she woke up in it. She hadn’t even changed into her pajamas, and her dress was a wrinkled mess. The horrible memories about Kurt and how he’d acted flooded back into her memory as she opened her eyes, and she lay on her bed staring at up at the ceiling.

She dragged herself into the bathroom and let the hot water flow down through her hair and over her body, somehow hoping the steaming water would wash away the pain. But no matter how hot she made the water, the scalding liquid against her skin couldn’t distract from the pain in her heart. Eventually the heat made her dizzy, and she sighed and turned off the water.

She slowly dressed in her practice clothes and pulled her hair into a bun so she could go to class. Opening up the velvet box, she stared at her latest engagement ring, a hollow feeling in her heart.

With a sigh, she slid it onto her finger. It was a very beautiful diamond, a few karats at least, and it sparkled in the sunlight that streamed through her windows. Two smaller round diamonds flanked the main round diamond, and even more round diamonds were channel-set around the band. It was heavy. If Kurt had given it to her in love, she would have adored it. But he’d given it to her out of duty and obligation. And she was obliged to accept it. The truth turned the beautiful jewels into a gaudy, taunting reminder of her lost freedoms.

She closed her eyes, sucking in a long deep breath, reminding herself she needed to pretend to be happy and in love. Easier said than done. Quiet contentment would have to do.

She walked out to the kitchen to eat breakfast. Aaron appeared as she was finishing. “Holy shit!” He stared at her hand. “Kurt?”

Anna nodded and put her bowl in the dishwasher.

Aaron took her hand. “That is mighty impressive.”

“Yeah.” She pulled her hand away and went to sit on the couch, closing her eyes and dreading similar reactions at the studio when she arrived. It was tempting to hide the ring away, but surely, somehow, Kurt or Wilhelm would find out and she would probably get into trouble. She belonged to them, after all. Not herself.

“What’s wrong?” He frowned. “And what are you doing here? I thought you’d be with Kurt.”

“I think he had other plans.”

“Other plans...” Aaron shook his head and then his eyes suddenly widened as realization dawned. “He went and fucked someone else?”

Anna shrugged. “I think so. I mean, he implied it. He said I could watch if I wanted to.”

He scrunched his face. “What the hell is wrong with him?”

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