Page 92 of Silenced

I gape at him. “Excuse me?”

When his shoulder hitches, it’s the first time I recognize that heisdisappointed.

My gaping doubles down. “Youwantedto get me pregnant?”

I mean, I’d read between the lines with the whole ‘shoving his cum inside me’ thing, but getting it confirmed blows my mind.

When he doesn’t reply, I’m starting to wonder if his expressionless expressions happen at certain moments.

Maybe they’re something that can be interpreted when you know him well enough.

Just over two weeks, some of that spent unconscious, can’t be considered long—not enough to learn about someone. Especially when he leaves me alone for five or more hours in between breakfast and dinner. But I do know he’s stubborn, un-PC, powerful, strong, perplexing, and weird.

So, if I extrapolate the data, I can reason that he’s…

Man, I have no fucking idea.

Uneasily, I tell him, “You don’t know me.”

His eyes turn to slits.

“People don’t want other people to get pregnant unless they’re in a long-term relationship.”

His mouth tightens.

“Why would you want to get me pregnant when we’re strangers?”

His jaw clenches.

“Man, thisisa fucking cult, isn’t it?”

Apparently, our wires had gotten crossed because here I was, thinking the Russian Mob had snatched me!

When I sit up again, water sloshes, and I smack his arm. “Move out of the way. I want to get out.”

He doesn’t move.

Instead, he signs, “What’s your problem?”

“What’s my problem?” I shriek. “If it’s not enough that you make me stay naked all day, don’t let me out of this room, probably won’t allow me to leave the estate if youdidlet me out of the room, insist on hand-feeding me, get me off all the time, won’t let me shower alone, barter over shaving me—” I suck in a breath as I gather steam. “—now you want to impregnate me! I feel like I’ve landed in some kind of TV show! I just don’t know if it’s a crossover ofThe SopranosandThe Handmaid’s TaleorGame of ThronesmeetsGirls!”

He blinks. “I’m Russian. Not Italian. And you need to watch your hands.”

Said hands slap against the water—I don’t give a damn anymore if his pretty suit gets wet. “Thatis what you take from my outburst?” I growl as I fold my arms against my chest because clearly, he isn’t going to let me out of the tub, and while I want to shove him on his ass, it’ll get me nowhere.

Well, it’ll probably get me an orgasm and I don’t know if a period is a barrier.

I used to love it when I got my irregular periods. Sure, they’re painful as fuck.ButHarvey would leave me alone. That made them almost worthwhile.

I already know that Nikolai is a different kind of beast from my ex.

“It’s highly likely that I can’t have children, anyway,” I mutter with a sniff, sticking my nose in the air.

“Why not?”

“I have PCOS.”

“What’s that?”

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