Page 56 of Relentless Sinner

“Things change. As it stands now I have no hope of going to med school anywhere. My father pulled the plug on my finances and funding. And now… I’m here with you.” That is the reality, no matter what plans I have in mind.

“I didn’t know your father did that.”

I narrow my eyes at him, finding it strange he didn’t know. “That’s my father for you.”

“Well, I’m the executor of your finances and funding now.”

I give him a sarcastic smile. “I’m sure that doesn’t mean you’re going to let me go to med school anywhere in this world. You won’t even allow me to go do a simple voluntary job.”

He smirks. “Did I say I would stop you from doing either?”

I stare back at him and for a moment I wonder if he’d seriously let me go to med school. “Would you really let me go?”

“Like I said before, whatever you want depends on your compliance, Krasota.”

“Compliance.”Translation: do what I’m told. But even then I still may not get what I want. Men like him keep you under their thumb for as long as they want you there. They don’t care how you feel about what they’re doing. Or how it affects you in the meantime.

“Compliance. It’s simple.”

I don’t want to talk about this anymore. It’s depressing because he’s toying with me. He can take his compliance and shove it up his ass. No matter how many hoops I have to jump through to comply with all his bullshit, leaving him is still better.

“What about you?” I ask, steering the conversation away from me.

“What about me?”

“What was going to college in England like?”

“The best.”

“Which college did you attend?”

“Oxford.” That pride returns to his eyes and I can tell his college years were meaningful to him.

“Did you really go there because you wanted to get away from your father?” I remember him saying something along those lines, too.

“At first. I would have gone to the moon if I could. My father isn’t that different from yours. Possibly worse, because of his power.”

I got the impression his father was like mine that day when we first talked about my father. I didn’t ask because I didn’t want to pry. “I’m sorry.”

“That’s okay. My father stopped having power over me when he realized that I was an asset to him that he couldn’t replace.”

“I guess going to Oxford wasn’t so bad then.”

“Not at all. Even though I went with the intention of getting away, I realized very quickly I was exactly where I was supposed to be. I stayed there for the entire three-year program and returned to the States to do my master’s at MIT.”

“MIT?” The more I know about him, the more I realize how intelligent he is. Like above board intelligent. I don’t know anyone who went to both Oxford and MIT.

“Yes.”

“What kind of work do you do? I still don’t know.” I looked up Bortsov Tech and didn’t find it surprising that they manufacture weapons. I thought it suited Jaxon to a T.

“I’m a weapons engineer.”

“So you design weapons?”

“Yes, and various other technologies.”

“Like what?”