“Congratulations!”
I nodded approvingly at the banner spread across the far wall, attached with plastic wedding bells and white balloons. Everyone crowded around, hugging Clem and pumping my hand, demanding to know why we kept it a secret.
“It all happened so fast,” I said.
“Yes, very fast,” Clem stuttered, giving me the swiftest death glare before playing along.
After the breakfast spread was all eaten and everyone began glancing at their phones, I dismissed my employees and turned to Clem. The death glare was fully in place now that we had no spectators, and she stormed icily from the room.
She was glacial the rest of the day, getting all her tasks done, smiling sunnily at the clients we met for lunch, and answering all my questions with a polite tone that made my blood boil. I caught her trying to get into a cab when she snuck out of the office a few minutes before the time she normally left.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” I said, instantly regretting the words.
“Ridiculous?” she hissed. “Since you’re fully aware of the definition of that word after the stunt you pulled this morning, please tell me how I’m being ridiculous?”
“You’re going to go back to your hotel, aren’t you?” I sighed, gently pulling her toward the parking garage. “There’s noreason for that when you have a perfectly good room waiting for you at home.”
She wilted and followed me, but her scowl remained in place. Her silence was deafening the whole ride home. As soon as we were through the doors, she whirled on me. “Why would you do that?”
I didn’t try to play dumb. Not with the look on her face, both angry and disappointed at the same time. “It makes it easier. Now we don’t have to play foolish games.”
“Isn’t this whole thing a foolish game?” she demanded, hurrying to continue. “Now that everyone thinks we’re really married, it’s going to make it that much harder to just quietly dissolve it when the time comes.”
That was what she had been stewing about all day? Dissolving our marriage? It hit me like a punch to the face. While someone held a brick in their hand.
“That time’s not coming, Clem,” I told her. “We’re married. We’re staying married. This is your home now, not some random hotel.”
She gasped at my stony pronouncement, on fire with fury now. “And I get no say whatsoever?”
I took a step closer, running my hands down her arms, then tugging her closer to me. Her eyes were huge as I looked down into them. “You’re my wife.”
Jerking out of my grasp, she staggered back, holding up her hands. “That’s not how it seems to me.”
She was angrier than I had ever seen her, wrapping her arms around herself as she continued to move away from me. “Clem,” I said. “Let’s talk. In the library.”
“Oh, the library. Yes, distract me with the perfect prison cell.”
Now I was getting pissed off. “Do you think you’re a prisoner?”
“Am I?” she demanded. “Am I a prisoner here?”
Things were out of control. My flash of anger fizzled to a dull pain. “Of course not,” I told her.
With a sharp huff, she stormed past me, grabbed my car keys off the side table, and stormed out of the house.
Chapter 19 - Clem
I flew out of the house, fired up with righteous anger, but also half panicking. Slamming into the car that Rurik had left in the courtyard for some invisible employee to park in the multi-car garage, I tore down the drive, ready to ram through the gate if necessary. It opened smoothly, and I passed, only easing up on the gas pedal once I was on the main road.
Barely noticing the other beautiful mansions sparsely laid out like jewels in the pristine neighborhood, I found myself on the highway, leading toward Hollywood. Where the hell was I going? The hotel again? A different one, so he couldn’t find me? Neither seemed a good option.
It didn’t matter, so long as I was away from Rurik. Right?
I despised men who took what they wanted. Didn’t I? Of course I did. I never wanted to be controlled again. I was furious with Rurik after his stunt at the office that morning. Wasn’t I? After tricking me into marriage, after taking me to his mansion, after… telling me I could leave whenever I wanted.
Shaking my head, I pulled into a department store parking lot. It was one that had a huge makeup section and might help to clear my head to wander the fancy displays. Still jittery and on edge, I made myself appear relaxed and picked up a basket on my way in. Someone greeted me half-heartedly, and I managed a weak smile.
All I was left with now that I was by myself was confusion. Rurik was everything I should fear, but I didn’t. Not even after somehow finding myself married to the man with no proposal and not a single date. Memories of the night before rushed in, taunting me, making me think about heading back.