Page 183 of Nine Months to Love
“You look fine,” I say. “Stefan’s not hurting you. You’re alive. You’re fed. You have clothes and a bed.”
“And a locked door. Don’t forget the locked door.”
“You betrayed him. What did you expect?”
Her eyes narrow. “You little bitch. Don’t you dare fucking lecture me.”
“You hate me because he loves me,” I blurt suddenly. I regret it for a moment, but screw it; I’ve come this far. The time has come for me to take a stand. “A better woman would accept that fact and walk away.”
Mikayla squints at me for a long moment. Then she smiles. It’s a slow, cruel smirk that makes me sick to my stomach.
“I’d love to walk away,” she agrees. “But as you can see, I’m a prisoner here. All the better for Stefan to visit me at night after you’ve gone to sleep. He likes fucking me in this glorified cell. It’s a bit of a fetish with him.”
My breath catches. “You’re lying.”
“Am I?”
“He’d never cheat on me.”
“You’re assuming a lot. You’re assuming he really loves you. I’ll let you in on a little secret: Men like Stefan don’t know how tolove. They only know how touse. Which is fine with me. I’m happy to let him use me anytime he wants.”
I feel hot, shameful tears prick my eyes. “You’re just jealous.”
“Maybe. But at least I know what I am to him. You, on the other hand… willfully ignorant.”
“Shut up.”
“You think he loves you? You think he wants to marry you because of some grand romantic gesture? He wants yourcompany, Olivia. He wants yourclinic. And he wants his heir. That’s all you are to him. A means to an end.”
“That’s not true.”
“Prove me wrong then. I’ve seen the planning documents. Haven’t you?”
I turn toward the door. “I’m done here.”
“Oh, you poor, delusional little girl. You really believe he loves you?”
I stop. My hand is on the doorknob.
“I have proof,” Mikayla says.
I turn back slowly. “What?”
She reaches under the mattress and pulls out a small, black recording device. She presses play.
Stefan’s voice fills the room. “That’s the only reason I want her back. I don’t care about her, but I do care about the baby in her belly. I care about my heir.”
I’m suddenly unsteady on my feet. “No,” I whisper.
Mikayla stops the recording there and tucks it back under the mattress. “He said that to me. Right here in this room. When he was trying to get me to tell him where Natalia was hiding.”
“You’re lying.”
“I’m not. And deep down, you know it.”
I shake my head. “He loves me. He proposed to me.”
“Because he needs you,” she corrects. “Not because he loves you.”
