Page 43 of Desperate Measures

“No, Dad, you really must if you think I’m so weak as to get tricked by a man. After all this time, everything I accomplished, you still think I’m a little girl. A stupid, naïve little girl,” I whispered.

“Doshen’ka, you don’t understand. I’m just trying to protect you,” Dad said.

“Protect me? From what? Myself? All because you think I’m too dumb to know my own mind.”

“I never said this?—”

“Well, you said enough. Anyway, I came here to tell you I quit, and to introduce you to my husband. I won’t be working for Volkov Industries anymore. Liam and I are partners in our own venture. I hope when you are done having your tantrum, you will be happy for us.”

“Michaela—”

“Excuse me. We have to be going now.”

Chapter 15-Liam

Anger seethed through my veins like molten lava. Every second that passed, anger traveled up my veins and roiled through my nerve endings.

This feeling was a living thing, a beast that clawed its way through me, desperate to break free.

My chest was tight, and I was breathing heavily by the time we were seated in the back of my SUV.

The hum of the engine was muted by the thunder booming inside my head.

My jaw ached from clenching it so hard, but I couldn’t stop.

Michaela hadn’t said a word since we exited her father’s office. She’d been silent the entire ride down, her face a mask of indifference, though I could see the tiny tremors in her hands as she clasped them together.

Her dark eyes were distant, unseeing, locked somewhere far away—somewhere that wasn’t here, wasn’t with me.

But I wanted that. I wanted to be the person she looked to for refuge.

My wife didn’t know how I felt, of course. Because I never told her.

Fool.

Right now, she was somewhere in the past or stuck back in that room where her father had unwittingly dismantled her like she was nothing more than a child needing to be put back in her place.

The silence between us felt suffocating. Like a thick, oppressive fog that neither of us knew how to cut through.

I could see her struggling. It was right there behind her eyes.

I wanted to break through her walls. To shout at her for holding everything in—but how could I?

I hadn’t earned her trust yet, and that was my fault.

My stomach churned just looking at her, at how small she seemed in that moment, and the anger inside me flared hotter than ever.

I was so fucked up. I knew I had no rights to any of this. Our whole marriage was just a sham, wasn’t it? A business deal orchestrated by my cold bitch of a sister.

Still, I couldn’t help it. I wanted more.

Don’t blur the lines.

Good advice. But I wouldn’t take it.

I flexed my hand around Michaela’s, having recaptured it once we entered the truck. I could deny the mutual attraction between us all I wanted, but right then I needed that contact to anchor myself.

Her fingers were cold, stiff, but I held on tighter. I had to. I was shaking with the need to do something, anything, but the last thing she needed was for me to lose control.

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