Page 11 of Claimed By Desire

It’s beyond fucked in light of what we did last night.

She pulls at the hem of her shirt and chews at her lip, clearly going over her options, but there are no other options. If she runs, I’ll catch her. If she fights, I’ll win. I don’t like it, but this is who I am.

The job gets done, no matter how what.

But I’m not a robot. I don’t have to love what I do, and I don’t have to always agree with all the decisions my superiors make.

I just have to get it done.

“I wish you just told me this from the start,” she says finally. The tears are mostly gone, and she sounds tired as she looks at me. “Instead of fucking me last night. You gave me a little hope, you know?”

“What do you mean, hope?”

“It’s stupid, but I thought maybe you came here for me.”

I feel like I was just hit by a truck. My muscles tense, and a deep, horrifying sadness cycles up through my stomach.

She has no clue—no idea—what hearing that means to me.

And how meaningless it really is.

“There’s more,” I manage to say, my voice impressively steady despite the storm raging inside of me.

“It gets worse?” She doesn’t even seem surprised. “No, obviously it gets worse. Just tell me. Does Dad have some terrible plans for me when I get back? He does, doesn’t he? There’s no other reason why he’d want me home all of a sudden.”

Her eyes are dead and emotionless. The beautiful, lonely girl I saw playing the piano yesterday, the passionate woman I slept with last night, is completely gone.

Now there’s only Natalya, or the shell of her left.

Bitterness washes over me.

There’s a reason I’ve kept my distance, and I have to shove all these feelings down deep inside again or else I’m going to ruin myself.

I don’t get moved by pieces of art or crying girls.

That’s not who I am.

I stand up straighter and bury any emotion I have left. I just have to remember why I’ve always disliked Natalya over the years and hold on to that.

She’s spoiled. She’s bratty. She’s selfish, rude, and stubborn.

“You’re engaged to marry Adriano Marino. The wedding is in three weeks.”

Chapter 4

Natalya

My father’s house looks all wrong.

It’s a beautiful townhouse in the Old City area. I grew up on these streets, and I have a thousand memories of wandering around with my friends, getting into trouble, living my life and having fun.

Except nothing seems right, or maybe I’m not right anymore.

I should feel happy. I’m finally home after a long, lonely year, and instead I’m completely numb. The car pulls up out front and Alex drops me off, but he doesn’t say anything as I get out and head inside. I let him carry in my bags.

It’s the least he can do.

Neither of us mentioned what happened again. It’s like that night was a strange dream, and now it’s slowly drifting out of reality.

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