Page 32 of His to Own

I can’t get any words out. My entire life has changed in the blink of an eye. Married to Maxim and now in his home, no longer with my family. It’s all too much.

My legs finally give out and I fall to the floor.

“Elena.” Maxim kneels beside me. “Are you all right?”

“No,” I whisper. I am the furthest thing from ‘all right.’

“What is going on?” Sofiya asks. “I need answers.”

“Sofiya, this is my wife, Elena.”

Sofiya’s eyes practically bug out of her head. “Your wife? You’re married?”

“Just got married today.”

“But we just fucked last night.”

I flush from Sofiya’s words. Maxim clearly has no intentions of only being with me. I don’t love him so I don’t feel any possessiveness towards him and yet… the thought of him touching other women makes me uncomfortable.

“I know we did,” Maxim says. “But I hadn’t married Elena yet. I didn’t know when we’d be married.”

“But you were engaged.”

Maxim shrugs. “Not technically. You don’t need to worry about all the details, Sofiya. Just go on home. This will be the last time we see each other. You understand.”

“But I thought we were dating.”

“Sweetheart, we fucked. A few times. It was great. But we were never dating. You should go now.” Maxim stands up and walks over to her. I can’t get myself to move. The floor feels safer. More steady. I can think. I can focus. I can breathe.

He leads Sofiya to the front door. “You should go.”

“But I’m naked.”

He sighs. “I’ll get your clothes for you and then you need to leave.” The moment Maxim is gone, the air in the room becomes even more awkward.

Sofiya glares down at me. “You took him from me.”

I shake my head and still can’t say a word.

She huffs. “I can’t believe this. I knew it was too good to be true. No man can look like that and fuck that great and be single. Of course he’d be married. I feel sorry for you. I don’t think Maxim is going to be faithful.”

I press my head into the floor to cool myself down.

“Are you sure you’re all right?” she asks. “You don’t look so good.”

“I’m fine,” I gasp out but it takes everything inside of me to do so.

Maxim returns with Sofiya’s clothes. “Here. I am sorry, Sofiya. I should have told you but I didn’t know I was getting married today. Things just turned out that way. But as I said: this will be the last time we see each other. I’m intending to be a good husband.”

“Let’s see how long that lasts,” she mutters, slipping her dress and heels on. “She doesn’t look too good. I’d worry about your wife instead of me. I’m not going to be the other woman.” She storms out of the house.

Maxim sighs and kneels down beside me again. “Elena?” He reaches out for me but I flinch. His hand just lingers in the air, not knowing what to do. “I told you that you don’t have to be scared of me.”

“You killed that man,” I whisper. “Just… shot him. How can I not be scared? I now have to live with you. I didn’t even get to say goodbye to my family. I…”

“Your father treats you like shit. That much is obvious. Are you really upset about not saying goodbye? And it’s not like you’ll never see them again. I have no plans to keep you locked up in this house. I’m not a complete monster.”

“But you are a murderer.”