Page 66 of Wicked Vow

The threatening text that I’d gotten that night isn’t the last one I receive.

It’s not every night, and I think that’s the point. There are plenty of nights when my phone is silent, but that doesn’t change the fact that sick pit of anxiety in my stomach every night–because the texts only ever come at night.

I see you.

I’m watching you.

You can’t leave me that easily.

All I want is to make sure you’re cared for.

You’re supposed to be mine, Natalia. Nothing will change that.

It’s not just the anxiety that haunts me, either. It’s knowing that I’d believed that Mikhail had meant what he’d said, that he’d known he made a mistake, even that he’d been falling in love with me. It hadn’t been enough to convince me to stay, not with a baby to think about, but it had been enough to make me feel as if he’d wanted to change. That if it had only been me that I’d needed to worry about, we might have had a chance.

It hurts, realizing how wrong I’d been. How I’d let myself give in to him again,reallygive in, how much I’d enjoyed that last night and wished that it hadn’t been the last. And it feels even worse, because there are nights when Ican’tnot think of him. Nights when my whole body aches for him, and my hand slips between my thighs, remembering that last night most of all, no matter how much I try to think of anyone and anything else.

It makes me angry, too, because I want to be happy here. I want to start a life in Boston, something of my own to hold onto and build with my child. Sasha and I spend afternoons looking at apartments and discussing when I might look for a place of my own and when I might start teaching dance lessons. She and Ana are adamant that I should stay at the estate until after the baby is born, so that they can help me, and when things have settled down that I can look for a place of my own. Viktor gets in touch with me a few times, letting me know he’s working on looking into my accounts, but I still have no idea if I’ll ever have access to that money again.

With it, I could do anything I wanted. But without it, I’m starting from scratch. So I graciously accept the offer of staying at the estate as long as I need to, knowing that I’ll have to either have an answer, or have something planned for an income if I want to move into a place of my own without access to my family’s money.

It’s a month or so after I arrive when Ana comes to find me in the library. “You have a visitor,” she calls out from the doorway, leaning against it as she looks in. “Someone named Erik. He wants to talk to you. I can send him away if you want,” she adds, seeing the expression on my face.

I’m tempted to ask her to do exactly that. But I know very well that he’s not the sort to give up easily. If I ask Ana to have him leave, he’s more likely to take it as a challenge than anything else and keep coming back until I agree to see him.

“I’ll come down,” I tell her, putting the book I’d been reading back and letting out a sigh, before I hesitate. “Actually, have him come up here? If he wants to talk to me so badly, he can make the effort.”

Ana smirks and nods. “I’ll tell him to come up.”

A few minutes later, I hear footsteps outside the room. There’s a single knock on the cracked-open door, and I look up to see Erik stepping inside.

He looks handsome enough, wearing black slacks and a pale blue shirt with the sleeves rolled up, his hair combed back, and his face freshly shaven. He smiles at me as he walks in as if we hadn’t had an argument the last time we’d seen each other, as if I hadn’t been very clear that things were over and that I didn’t want to see him again.

“You’re looking well. Boston seems to agree with you.” He stops a few feet away from where I’m sitting, and I instantly stand up, tensing.

“I told you that we were done, Erik. I didn’t want to see you.”

“That’s not a very polite way to say hello.” The smile is still on his face, not budging as he looks at me. “I thought perhaps you’d had some time to think about it. Reconsider your position.”

“Do you really think that’s how this is going to work?” I cross my arms, glaring at him. “You just give me a little time to realize how empty my life is without you, and then you come waltzing in to give me a second chance?”

“Well, that’s not exactly how I’d put it, but–”

“I don’t need you.” I feel my jaw tighten, and as he takes a step toward me, I take a step back. “And you haven’t done anything to make me miss you. All you’ve done is insult my intelligence and my agency and made me very certain that it was a mistake to go out on even one date with you, let alone waste my time with three.”

Once again, I can see the moment in which he has trouble keeping up the pleasant facade he’s put on. I see his jaw tense, see his eyes narrow, and I can tell he’s on the verge of snapping.

“You should go,” I tell him flatly.

“You haven’t even really heard what I came here to say.” He steps forward again, and I step back, and again, until I realize too late that the window is behind me, as I feel myself bump up against the sill.

He’s in front of me before I realize what’s happening, his hands gripping the edge of the windowsill as he leans in.

“If you kiss me,” I tell him tightly, “I will slap the shit out of you. You should remember where you are. You’re a guest in the McGregor house. You should behave like one.”

“So are you.” He smiles down at me, but it’s no longer reaching his eyes. “A guest, because you don’t have your family’s money or connections any longer, Natalia. Just your sister’s, which must feel bad, considering that she was an orphan that Andreyev picked up off the street and tried to sell.”

I stare up at him, momentarily shocked, and he chuckles.

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