Page 47 of Forced Marriage Vows

My methods to drag the safe house location from Lana Petrov prove to be wholly ineffective, and I’m irritable when I return home later that day. It’s taking too long to find Igor. I shouldn’t have expected it to be easy—after all, the man was the Pakhan of an entire organization. And there’s no way to erase the influence he had overnight.

Sure, I have people on my side advocating for me. But I also have people doing the opposite, and that’s not going to stop unless I stomp out my opposition. I’m pretty sure Igor knows that as well. He’s probably biding his time, waiting for an opening so he can swoop in and kick me out.

I have no plans of letting that happen.

To make matters worse, when I arrive at the penthouse, my wife is nowhere to be found. I thought I’d come home and see ifI could charm her into getting into bed with me, but her absence hits me square in the face as soon as I walk through the house.

It feels emptier without her here. Which is interesting, because until two weeks ago she’d never set foot within this walls. I take out my phone to ask where she is and maybe see if I could demand her return without her chewing my head off. But there’s no need for that because she walks through the doors of the house a couple of seconds later, the camera I got her slung around her neck.

She pauses when she sees me leaning against the wall, arms crossed as I observe her.

“You really need to stop acting like a creep, Morozova,” she says on a sigh. “What is this? A welcome home?”

“Where were you?”

“Out. Why do you care?” She brushes past me, heading toward our bedrooms.

She walks right past mine and heads for her door. I follow her through it without invitation.

“You’re my wife. I got home and you weren’t here. Of course I care where you were and what you were up to.” I watch as she places the camera safely in the carrying bag I got her.

She then takes off her brown jacket, revealing a white crop top underneath that shows off her smooth, creamy skin. She whirls around, placing her hands on her hips.

“When are you going to stop flippantly throwing that word around? Stop calling me your wife all the time,” she grits out, clearly ramping up for a fight.

Unfortunately for her, this is exactly the sort of stuff that gets me going. I could simply text one of the guards and ask them to give me a complete rundown of her day, but I’d rather she just tell me.

“I’ll stop it when you accept that you’re mine.”

“I’m not yours, Morozova,” she growls.

“Just tell me about your day.”

She pauses at that, considering before shrugging once. Her body relaxes with that one action.

“I will if you cook us dinner. I’m starving,” she says, big brown eyes pleading.

Like I could ever say no to that offer. “Come on, sweetheart.”

The two of us head into the kitchen and I begin to prep some of the ingredients for our meal. Anastasia sits on the counter, observing the process. She volunteers to help, but I tell her to sit her pretty ass down and let me do all the work. In exchange for the sound of her voice.

“I went out with Leah in the morning,” she starts. “We got breakfast and then we went to the racing tracks.”

I arch an eyebrow in question because I never would have pegged her someone interested in horse racing.

“What? I like to watch the horses and take pictures of them,” she tells me. “They scare me, though, so I’ve actually never gotten on one. But I find them interesting.”

“Horses aren’t scary,solnyshko. If you give a horse your trust, it’ll begin to trust you right back. Horses are like people.”

“I don’t trust people,” she states.

“Which is probably wise,” I murmur, my eyes catching hers. “But you can’t go through life letting your mind keep you away from the things you enjoy. You should do anything you want to, baby. Mount any horse you wish to. Any at all,” I add, my voice coming out lighter on that last part.

Her cheeks heat as she takes in the smirk on my face, picking up on the innuendo pretty quickly.

“You’re a pig, Morozova,” she mutters.

I chuckle. “What else did you do today?”

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