Page 53 of Unbreakable Vow

“No, I hate how it hides your body. It’s too big.”

“It’s not too big. It’s comfortable like this. It hides…” She lets the words die off when her eyes meet mine.

I cross my arms over my chest and tilt my head. “Hides what?”

“My bulges,” she says softly. “It’s not a knock at me, it’s just the truth. No one wants to see that…” She trails off again, when I start to shake my head.

“It’s better for your ass if you don’t finish that statement.” I snatch the apron from her hands. “Now, go. Get changed.”

I leave her in the hallway with her eyes wide and her cheeks pink and shut the office door behind me.

“You’re keeping her locked away in the castle?” Viktor questions when I throw her apron into the trash bin.

“I won’t have her working for that asshole at the country club.” I move to my desk. “Don’t you have places to be, work to do? The accountant will be here soon.”

“For the time being, only our top men are to be trusted. We need to find a way to weed out the traitor.” Andrei gets up from his seat and buttons his suit jacket. “Igor is back from Russia; I’m putting him on it. He’s our best.”

I nod. “He is.”

“I’m meeting with him this afternoon; I’ll bring him up to date,” Viktor agrees.

“Good.” I take a seat and open my laptop. I want to go over the numbers again before the accountant gets here and starts throwing them at me.

Viktor walks out, already on the phone calling Marlena to check in.

“Sergei.” Andrei stands at the front of my desk, his face twisted with concern.

“What?”

“About the divorce.”

“There isn’t going to be one,” I announce. “Not yet anyway. We have time.”

“Sergei. It’s against our family tradition.” His voice dips. “I understand you have no interest in marriage, especially after Victoria?—”

“Don’t bring her into this,” I cut him off. “The agreement Cora and I have is for one year.”

His eyes darken. “Then there’s time for you to come to your senses.”

I lean back in my chair, steepling my fingers. “Or for you to come to the realization that not all traditions need to continue forever.” The words are mine, but nothing inside of me agrees with them. Tradition keeps us rooted, keeps us who we are.

He shakes his head. “There’s time,” he says and walks out.

“Ishe as intense in bed as he is outside?” Krista’s question makes me choke on my coffee. Luckily, I manage not to spit all over my laptop.

“Krista!” I keep my voice down while on the phone with her at the coffee shop. I’ve come here every afternoon for the past three days, scanning the want ads online and talking myself out of looking at re-admittance for school.

“Well?” She laughs from the safety of the other side of the connection. “Is he?”

My face flames, which is ridiculous. No one here can hear her question, but it brings back memories of everything we’ve done in the last few days. It’s enough to set my face on fire.

“Yes.” I finally answer. “I didn’t have to… well, you know… afterward.”

She gasps.

“Coraline, are you telling me that you haven’t been with a man who’s been able to get you off this entire time?” The woman sitting at the table next to mine side-glances me.

“First of all, it’s been a long while since anyone had the opportunity, and second of all, I thought I was just… broken.” I whisper the last bit and turn my head away from where the woman is getting settled in.

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