Page 17 of Ruthless King

“I’m a virgin,” I blurt out.

He stills, then drops his hand. “I wasn’t sure, but I assumed. You have an innocent quality about you.”

“I’m not sure I …”

He sighs deeply. “I understand. You came here of your own accord. You wanted to be married, and I wanted a wife. But I won’t force myself on you. Let’s go to bed.” He turns away from me and begins to undress.

I’m shocked that Nico is all right with me not sleeping with him. The way Beatrice talked about him, you’d think he was the devil in human form.

“You’re fine with this?” I ask.

“I have no desire to force you. You’ll be ready in your own time.” He takes his shirt off and faces me. I blush. His entire chest is made of hard muscle. I’ve never seen something so masculine right before me.

I look away.

“I want children, Aurora. You’ll give them to me, but only when you’re ready. We were only married today. I wasn’t expecting us to fuck tonight, honestly.” He gets under the covers and rolls away from me.

I stare at his back, my mouth hanging open. Maybe Nico isn’t such a bad man after all. Maybe Beatrice had it wrong.

I have to talk to her. I need to know what she thinks about this. After calming down, I get under the covers myself and lay there, awake, for the rest of the night.

Nico and I eat breakfast together. He spends the entire meal on his phone with a furrowed brow. I don’t ask him about it. If he wanted to tell me, he would. Clearly, he’s concerned about this missing person and the police looking at him.

And now, I’m here, trying to kill him. If the police are watching Nico, then they’ll soon be watching me. How am I going to do this?

I need Beatrice’s help.

“Nico?” I say.

“Mmm?” He doesn’t look up from his phone.

“I was wondering if I’m allowed to leave?”

At this, he looks up. “What?”

“Am I allowed to leave the mansion?”

“To do what?”

Here it goes. “I have an aunt. She’s the only family I have left. I would like to see her, if that’s ok.”

He thinks on it a moment before nodding. “Fine. Take Enzo with you. And yes, you’re allowed to leave. You’re my wife now, Aurora. Not my prisoner.” He goes straight back to looking at his phone.

That went better than expected.

But now, I have to take Enzo with me to see Beatrice. She told me she’s never met Nico, so hopefully, no one within Nico’s circle knows what she looks like. Knowing my aunt, she would have taken precautions for this.

Enzo drives me back to the hotel where Beatrice is staying. I wasn’t allowed to bring my cell phone with me when I first came to Nico’s house, so I wasn’t able to give Beatrice a head’s up.

“I would like to talk with my aunt alone,” I say to him once we reach her hotel door.

Enzo looks like he wants to object but doesn’t and instead just nods. “I’ll wait out here.”

After knocking, Beatrice opens the door, her face neutral as she looks at me. Enzo doesn’t show any recognition in his face. He’s either being honest or a good actor.

Beatrice motions me inside and after shutting the door, stuffs a towel between the crack of the door. “This way he can’t overhear us. So?”

“I’m a married woman now.”

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