Page 19 of Maksim

“I did not come here to be someone’s whore,” I sneer, my teeth flashing like fangs. “I came here to be someone’s wife.”

Maksim’s hand slips off my shoulder as he gives me a puzzled look, as if the idea of marriage could never occur to him. I don’t suppose it could. A man like him is capable of many things, but love isn’t one of them.

“You can’t be serious.”

He doesn’t say it like it’s a question, but I can tell he wants me to explain myself. I don’t. I should have never opened my mouth about it in the first place. The less he knows about James, the better. Right now, Maksim has no leverage. If he threatens James, he’ll have all of it.

“Sweetheart…” Maksim clears his throat, readying himself like he’s about to explain something beyond obvious. “Are you a mail-order bride?”

I narrow my eyes. “No.”

“No?”

Don’t say anything.

My jaw clenches while I glare.

“Okay, but you came here to get married?”

Silence.

“Have you met your fiancé?”

The way he says it, like I’m the punchline of some joke, makes me want to rip his head off. I can’t help it. I speak.

“Yes.”

“Uh-huh.” He nods like I’ve somehow only further proved some point he’s trying to make. “How many times have you seen each other?”

Why?

“When you met, was it via Skype?”

I scoff. “I wouldn’t consider that meeting.”

“Sure, sure. Was he a tourist in your country, then?”

Yes. So?

I need to stop answering his questions. Stop speaking.

But it’s hard because he sounds… He sounds like he knows something I don’t, and there’s a knot forming in my stomach that I need to go away, which won’t happen until he’s finished.

“There are only so many ways for people to meet, Maksim. Eventually, you’re going to get it right.”

“How long was it before he proposed?” he asks. “It was fast, right? Probably on that trip.”

My narrowed eyes soften.

How does he know that?

He shakes his finger, squinting like he’s contemplating something. “I’ll take a few more guesses, and you tell me how close I am. You’re not from a city. He found you dirt poor in a gutter, probably in a village somewhere.”

The knot tightens.

“The first time you met, you told him how much you always wanted to go to the States.”

No.