CHAPTER 7

LELLA

I need to get out of this place. I need to go to a place where he can't find me. Where I can't remember an inch of his uncle's face.

“Lella, I'm talking to you!”

I went straight to the closet and aggressively shoved a stack of clothes into a suitcase, ignoring his presence.

“Are you still upset about Polina? As an heir, there will always be women around me and as my partner, you should learn to understand that,” he sneered.

I scoffed in disbelief. “Sorry, I can’t do that. Find someone else. That slap last night was enough of a wake-up call.”

I close my suitcase after I secure all of my clothes. Since Joaquin is in Manhattan, I can ask for help with taking the remaining things here later. I turned toward the door, but Conrad grabbed my arm harshly.

“Okay, I'm sorry that I hurt you last night. But it was your fault because you hurt Polina first.”

“She pushed me off the pool, Conrad!”

“It was an accident!”

“And you believed her?!”

His expression darkened. "Fine, I will believe you. But first, do something for me.”

With force, I pulled my arm from his grip. “I'm not your slave!” I snapped, but paused when he pulled out a familiar necklace in his pocket. “That's my necklace!” I tried to take it, but he raised his arm enough for me not to reach it. “Give it back to me!”

But he did not listen. Instead, he pulled out his phone and showed me the screen.

‘Conrad Volkonsky battered a woman at the party last night.’

How did the media find out? One of his friends tattled to the reporters?

“I will give it back to you if you lie to my parents that Polina didn't push you and I didn't hurt you.”

A laugh escaped from me. No, I crack up at what he wants.

Now, I'm finally meeting his parents but not in good way?

I think this issue made him fall on the bad side of his family. He almost ruined the reputation of the empire just by hurting a woman in a public place. Well, it's his house, so not literally public.

“You're such an asshole, Conrad.”

I didn't have any choice but to go with him and explain, I mean, lie to his parents. I'm not saving Conrad’s face, I just want to completely end this with him and go back to Spain and forget everything here.

As we arrived in front of their mansion, Conrad got off first and entered the gate without waiting for me. That jerk really deserved to be humiliated in public.

My jaw clenched while remembering what he said to his friends about me in the pool.

Endure it for just less than an hour, Lella. I'll be out of their lives once I come out of that gate later.

“Calm down. Calm down, girl,” I keep saying to myself while getting out of the car. “Calm down–”

“Hi.”

I jumped off my feet and backed away when I heard that husky voice again. My blood ran cold, and his addictive scent from last night sent shivers down my spine.

Oh, f*ck! Why did I forget Viktor is part of that douchebag family?

Heat gushes all over my face as images of me jerking on his thigh make me feel even more humiliated. Without a word, I sprinted to the house.

Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my freaking God!!

I sat beside Conrad with my restless, sweaty hands on my lap. I keep swallowing my saliva, hoping that Viktor was just passing by and doesn't have any plan to join us for lunch.

However, as soon as his scent invaded my nostrils and he sat on my right, I felt like dying inside. My hands curled into fists and just wished to die today.

Oh, God! Why are you punishing me!?

The dining room was suffocating, as the silence was a physical weight, pressing the air out of my lungs. ​I sat like a porcelain doll, frozen between the two men who had completely dismantled my life in twenty-four hours.

​Conrad occasionally rested his hand on my thigh in a possessive, performative display of "reconciliation" for his parents. I felt Viktor turn in my direction. His presence alone made me feel suffocated.

The heat from his body felt like a live wire. Every time his sleeve brushed against my arm, flashes of last night flooded my mind. The feeling of his skin, the way he had looked at me when I fell apart in his hands, and the devastating intimacy of how he had brought me to the edge of sanity.

I was certain he could hear my heart hammering against my ribcage. I was certain everyone could see the scarlet blush creeping up my neck.

If I had known he was coming here, I should have punched Conrad’s face and left New York.

​"So, Lella Sandoval, right? Why are you not eating?" Alek Volkonsky asked. He's Conrad's father. His sharp eyes scanned the bruise on my cheek that I’d tried to hide with heavy concealer. "After the... hysterics at the pool, I thought you'd have developed an appetite.

This is the first time I'm finally meeting his father. But Conrad did not even introduce me as his girlfriend. Just Lella Sandoval.

Staring at the cold eyes of his father, he looks intimidating.

"I'm fi-"

​"She's just tired, Dad," Conrad cut my words off as his grip tightened on my thigh painfully. "We’ve had a long night of talking. Right, babe?"

​I felt a sudden movement to my right. Viktor's presence expanded until he seemed to take up all the air in the room. He picked up his crystal glass, the ice clinking with a sound like a gunshot in the silence.

​"A long night of talking?" Viktor chuckled, causing me to firmly shut my eyes. "Funny. I was under the impression that Lella spent the night elsewhere. Somewhere... safer."

​My soul almost left my body.

"I don't know what you're implying, Uncle. She was with me." Conrad tried to reason.

​My eyes widened and finally risked a glance at Viktor. He wasn't looking at Conrad, he was looking straight at me.

DON'T YOU F*CKING DARE, VIKTOR!!

His gaze dropped to where Conrad’s hand was digging into my leg and the corner of his mouth twitched. Not a smile, but a snarl held behind teeth.

​The tension in the room snapped when Viktor extended his arm, but he didn't pick up a fork. Instead, he placed his warm hand directly over Conrad’s hand on my thigh, slowly but firmly prying Conrad's fingers off of me.

My heart was pounding.

What was he trying to do?