Page 73 of Unwillingly Yours

I reached for him, but he turned away instead.

“Is everything okay?” I asked.

He shook his head, but the coldness didn’t leave him and I felt my heart slow in my chest.

“I’m glad you are home,” he said. But there was no warmth to his words and no sign of happiness in the way his eyes searched me.

I took a breath. “I’m happy to be home.”

His eyes narrowed ever so slightly, and for a moment, they seemed to harden. “And your father?”

“Still the same asshole.” I desperately wanted to break the tension in the air. Should I ask him about the pin? Would he tell me the truth?

Would he even allow me to look?

Aleksey moved closer and my breath caught as he reached out for my face, his eyes narrowing. “What happened?”

Crap!I thought I had covered the blooming bruise well enough, but the makeup must have worn off from the humidity. “I—it’s nothing.”

“That doesn’t look like nothing,” he answered, his voice laced with steel. “Did he fucking hit you?”

I closed my eyes against the velvet brush of his thumb over the sore area, letting some of his warmth seep into my cold skin.

“It doesn’t matter.” It never did. I had made the mistake of telling one of my father’s staff about it in the past. She had vowed to get me out of the house.

Father had disappeared her, and I’d learned better than to speak up.

When Aleksey’s lips brushed the area, my eyes popped open. “He will never hit you again,” he said against my skin. “Never.”

In these moments, I could almost forget the nervousness I had this morning, when I had vowed to find out the truth once I got home.

This was the husband that I longed for, the one who seemed to care about me, the one I had questioned my feelings for.

“Elia.”

We were interrupted by the shrill sound of a phone ringing and Aleksey cursed, backing away from me. I had to gulp some air into my lungs, attempting to pull myself together. How easy it would have been to forget about the stupid pin and my father’s accusations!

I had to prove my father wrong. Because if he was right, I didn’t know what I would do.

Aleksey walked over to the wall of windows. I made my way into the kitchen and pulled a bottle of water out of the fridge. I could barely hear what he was saying into the phone, but the curtness of his tone told me that whatever it was, it wasn’t good.

I drank nearly half the bottle before he came striding toward me.

“I have to go,” he bit out. “There are issues that require my attention.”

I wanted to beg him not to go because I knew that the moment he left the penthouse, I would be tempted by my own curiosity—my own need—to find the pin. And if I found it, it would change everything.

But instead, all I said was, “All right.”

“Are you all right, Elia?”

I gave him a tight-lipped smile. “Just tired. I have a small human sucking up all my energy these days.”

Aleksey’s expression softened for just a moment. “I understand. Rest up. I’ll be home soon. I promise.”

I felt my heart breaking at those words and forced out a laugh. “I look forward to your return.”

Aleksey grinned. For a moment, everything was right between us. But then his grin faded and he cleared his throat.

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