Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 82881 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82881 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
“You were jealous,” he says after a moment of silence.
“W-what?” I choke out.
“You asked about Amanza because you were jealous.”
A crazed laugh escapes me. Me? Jealous? Impossible.
“No, let’s not get our facts wrong. I was not jealous, Lake.” I smile at him.
“If you say so, Tanya.”
“I do say so,” I tell him, not taking my eyes off him. “Is this whole facade a power thing? You want me because I’m powerful and you’re curious how I fuck?”
“No,” he says calmly. I’m disappointed that he doesn’t give me more bite.
“So why?”
“It’s an Anya thing,” he says with a smirk. “Though, I do want to know how you fuck. I want to know how else to elicit those noises from you when cake isn’t involved.” He turns to look at me then, and I try to hide the smile that dares mar my usual unmoving features.
“I like cake.”
“And jewels,” he adds.
“Yes, I’m a simple girl with simple pleasures,” I say, and as it leaves my mouth, it sounds like a lie.
“You are far from simple, Red. I doubt you have a simple bone in your fucking body.”
CHAPTER 26
Anya
Ilick my lips as I look away from River and see Meredith’s mansion come into view. As soon as we pull up, the front door opens, and the old bitch is on her porch in a silk robe, hair in a messy bun, with big-ass earrings hanging from her ears, waiting impatiently.
I open the car door before River has the chance, and when he gets out of the car, she narrows her gaze on him. Perhaps it wasn’t such a great idea to bring him after all. Wishful thinking and all, she might still sic the dogs on him.
My eyebrows knit in confusion at the spatula in her hand.
“You didn’t care to tell me Alek’s galivanting around the countryside after some dancer? It’s better if he ends up dead,” she seethes as she points the spatula in my direction.
I walk two steps ahead of River as she pins him with a glare, her lips pressed into a thin line. She looks him up and down before her gaze rolls back over to me. “And you bring me back a boyfriend? Have I taught you and your brother nothing?” she scoffs, then turns back to head into the house, waving the spatula for us to follow her inside.
Into the lioness’s den we go. Because the old bitch is nothing if not unpredictable when in a bad mood. I know because she raised me to be the same.
When we close the door, I take my heels off at the door, and River removes his shoes too.
“She seems…”
“Crazy,” I finish for him. “But you’re not allowed to say that. Only I am. And besides, you insisted on coming along.”
In all the years I lived here, and those after, not much has changed. The old bitch took a liking to traditional Japanese housing design and so built her own modern version with paper sliding doors for all the main gathering rooms. She also liked the idea of everyone taking their shoes off at the door, which made for a wicked time for Alek and me as we stole guests’ shoes from time to time.
Meredith has a thing for consistency. It’s why everything about her regal ass hasn’t changed one bit. I’m pretty sure if I were to walk into my old bedroom, it would be untouched. I often wonder if Alek is the way he is today because of her, with his no-touching thing. Perhaps because she was so peculiar on cleanliness and where items were placed that he formed his own aversion to filth. But I doubt that, and never really dug deeper because I understood that was his issue, no matter how close we are. All I know for sure is that the way she molded us left a distinct impression.
I follow the smell of something burning in the kitchen.
“For fuck’s sake,” she curses as she throws a tray of muffins on the oversized island. Not once have I seen her in here. And her skills show it.
“Are you trying to burn the house down?” I ask.
“Very funny, smartass,” she says in her thick Russian accent. “The doctor said I should take up a hobby. It’ll be good for me, she says.” She lifts a cigarette to her mouth and takes a drag, then blows out a cloud of smoke.
“I’m sure the doctor could recommend cutting some things out,” I say pointedly. If you don’t want to end up dead, I add to myself.
The old bitch looks at River and then me. “Where are your guards?”
“They’re not needed in order to visit you, are they?” I ask diplomatically. But I know it’s the foreign man in her kitchen who she doesn’t trust. I know better than to introduce River, because Meredith prefers when people make way for her. She says you can read a lot about someone in the way they introduce themselves, and I don’t make the mistake to do it for him.