Page 61 of Ruthless Bonds

But as soon as it started, it ended. He pulled back, leaving me breathless.

Okay, remember, we’re supposed to be playing happy fiancée, not actually enjoying any of this.

“I have some business to attend to, so I’ll miss our dinner tonight.” He still had his fingers weaved into my hair, and he tugged gently. “Are you going to be a good girl while I’m gone?” I nodded, even though I knew I’d probably break his rules again.

He adjusted his tie, then slipped on his jacket. It seemed such a shame this man was a criminal mastermind when he should have been a model.

“One more thing.” He beckoned me to him, and I followed into the room where the staff had brought my clothes. A narrow hall led into a giant dressing room. It was easily bigger than my apartment back in Brooklyn, with gleaming white shelves reaching toward the vaulted ceiling. On the left side were Kreos’ clothes, all organized by color and clothing group, from suits to T-shirts to a million pairs of those black workout pants that clung to his muscular body.

On the right were racks and racks of designer clothes, some of which I knew came from my room. Further down was a wall of shoes with names like Louboutin, Manolo Blahnik, and Jimmy Choo. There were heels, flats, and tennis shoes. Had he gotten these all for me? Because I was more of a T-shirt, jeans, and boots kinda gal.

Apparently not anymore.

In the center was a glass island filled with jewelry that probably could have funded a smallcountry—diamonds, pearls, you name it, it was in there. An array of perfume bottles were on display, and there were baskets filled with makeup. My camera was also there among the items.

Dove would go crazy in here. I’d have to bring her so we could play dress-up. Although this wasn’t really dress-up. This was my new life.

The wife of a mobster.

“I wasn’t sure what you would like, so I got a little of everything. But you can buy whatever you need. Don’t worry about the cost.”

“Thank you. This is—too much. You shouldn’t have.”

“I know. I wanted to. But that’s not why we’re here. I wanted to give this back to you.” He pressed a cleverly hidden button on the wall, the panel opening revealing a safe. He punched in a code, not trying to hide it from me.

Zero, eight, two, seven.

He pulled out my knife, the one I had stabbed Dario with, and held it out in his palm. “I wasn’t sure if you wanted this back. It has a lovely design. I thought it might have been a gift.”

My hands trembled slightly as I grabbed it from him. For some reason, I’d figured they had burned it with his body. That was what Gavriil had told Dove when she wouldn’t stop asking about what had happened.

Holding it in my hand, I felt—nothing. No anxiety or fear about what I had done. Did that mean I was a psychopath too?

He left a moment later, leaving me in the closet. Some distance between us would be good. Icouldn’t keep getting tangled in his sexy little web and forgetting my end goal.

As the hours stretched on without Kreos’ overwhelming presence, my mind began to clear from the last few days. Reality came rushing back, and I started to feel more like myself before Kreos had stormed into my life like the god of lust and violence.

I couldn’t keep letting him seduce me so easily into forgetting that I wasn’t here by choice. The marriage, the designer clothes and handbags, it was all just one beautifully wrapped-up prison.

Freedom. That was all I wanted. And the way I was going to get that was by playing nice and pretending I was on board with this marriage.

And getting leverage.

My heart hammered in my chest as I pretended to sift through all the designer clothes and handbags. Really, I was scoping out the closet for cameras. When I was sure there weren’t any, I punched the code into the safe and swung it open.

It seemed too easy. Was it a trap? Because it certainly seemed like it. Or maybe he didn’t think I would ever try to cross him. Either way, I needed to see what was in there.

My hands shook as I looked through the contents. There was some jewelry, more expensive than the pieces on the glass island, apparently. A watch stand that held a Patek Phillipe caught my eye, and I pulled it out to admire it. The watch had to be over a million dollars, but so were some of the other watches on his side of the glass island. I wondered what made this one so special, but just ended up putting it back.

There were some old photos, universitydiplomas, credit cards, his passport, and about fifty thousand in cash. I grunted with frustration. These were all things you would find in a normal person’s safe.

On the bottom shelf was a box. I pulled out a stack of different-colored folders and laid them on the glass island. Some of them were property deeds, insurance policies, and legal contracts. Nothing looked out of the ordinary, but what the hell did I know about property deeds and contracts?

I grabbed my camera and snapped photos of most of the documents. Maybe they would be useful, or maybe I was taking an unnecessary risk and Kreos would kill me if he caught me. I’d have to find a really good spot to hide my SD card.

Otherwise, it could be game over for me.

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