Satin Princess(112)

“It’s a distraction,” I whisper to myself.

Just then, I hear another sound outside my door. I grab my phone and start to call Yulian just as the door slams open.

I jolt back, dropping my phone. But before I can scramble to grab it, I look up at the person now standing in the doorway.

“Marina,” I whisper.

“Come on now,” she chides with a simpering smile. “I’ll always be your Freya.”

I take a step back and hit the bedside table. My phone is on the floor about a foot away. But Marina is holding a gun.

“Long time, Jessa,” she says. “Have you missed me?”

She still talks like Freya, but she looks like Marina now. It’s the weirdest mindfuck.

Her hair is a creamy blonde and her eyes are a pale, eerie blue that sets off shivers down my spine.

“Where’s Yulian?” I ask. “What have you done with him?”

“Oh, don’t you worry. I’ve taken care of him.”

A sob catches in my throat. I know how close the two brothers are. I know that Anton can’t afford to lose Yulian.

She looks around the room. “Are you enjoying your stay in my house? Are you enjoying my bed? I know you’re certainly enjoying my husband.”

I square my shoulders, refusing to let her intimidate me so easily. “He’s not your husband anymore. And this is not your house.”

“I suppose that’s what all mistresses tell themselves.”

It stings. And apparently, that’s obvious, because she laughs. “What, is that word uncomfortable for you, Jessa? It shouldn’t be. You earned the title.”

“You faked your own death!” I remind her. “He thought he was a widower.”

“And I bet he was enthusiastic about fucking you,” she snarls through her smile. “He was always good in bed, I’ll give him that. Did he ever tell you how he used to fuck me?”

I want to scream. “Please don’t—”

“It was so fucking passionate. We used to bite and claw and try to tear each other apart before we made each other come. It was a bloody mess. God only knows how many sets of sheets we ruined.”

I stand there, listening unwillingly, with my heart beating hard against my chest. I’m terrified to even glance at my phone in case she decides to stomp on it or something. If I lose that, I truly have nothing.

“Every time we had sex, we were left with the scars of our lovemaking. He probably still has some of those marks.”

She says it like it’s a good thing. Like it’s a testament to their love.

“Sounds like you were at war even when you had sex.”

She shrugs. “That’s when you know it’s real.”

“Oh my God,” I whisper as the dots connect in my head. “That’s why…”

She narrows her eyes at me.

“You love him, don’t you?” I accuse.

She hesitates for a moment, and I can tell she doesn’t want to look weak. “I always loved him. But he didn’t want an equal in the relationship; he wanted a docile little lamb. And it looks like he got one. But I know him better than anyone else. He’ll be bored of you in two fucking seconds.”

“What makes you so sure?”

“The only reason you’re still here is because he managed to knock you up,” she snarls.

I can see the anger in her eyes. She hates the fact that I’m carrying his baby. Despises it. It burns her up like nothing else.

“But once that runt in your womb is gone,” she continues, “he’ll have no reason to keep you around.”

“Other than the fact that he loves me,” I say.

Her expression turns murderous. “Loves you?” she scoffs. “You stupid girl. You actually think someone like him could love someone like you? I was always meant to have his children. Me. No one else. Definitely not you.”

“So that’s your plan?” I ask. “You’re going to kill me so you can resume your role as his wife? Do you really think he’ll just go along with that?”

She raises her eyebrows. “You think that’s my plan? Fuck, you really must think I’m crazy.”

“You’ve made it easy to think that.”

She shakes her head. “I always knew what I was doing, Jessa. Right from the beginning. I may have loved Anton, but he was too stubborn, too bullheaded to realize that I could be an asset to him. Right up to the end, I thought there was hope of changing him. That’s what every girl wants, right? To reform the bad boy? But when he told me he was going to divorce me, I knew then that it was over between us. And I will beg no man to be with me.”

“Then why all this?” I ask. “Was it just revenge?”

“Of course it was revenge. He married me because he wanted my father’s Bratva. I was a means to an end.”

“No, he didn’t,” I say. “He never wanted the Ivanovs. That was his father’s idea. It was pushed on him. He never thought marrying you would be worth it.”

“That’s a lie.”

“I heard it from Anton’s own lips.”

“Then he’s lying to himself, too,” she snaps. “He wanted to marry me. He wanted to fuck me from the moment he laid eyes on me. Most men do.”