Page 87 of Betrayal and Vows

Permanently.

Lena had tears dried on her cheeks.Freshdried tears. She had wiped her face before we returned to the estate.

Her expression was sheer terror. She looked like she was already grieving her own life.

Or mine.

I couldn’t ask. Not in front of him.

Mikhail left without saying a word.

Elena walked away.

I didn’t miss the look of sadness in her eyes.

Lena refused to meet my eyes.

Something happened, and I will find out.

“I need ten minutes,” Lena says.

She shuts the door in my face.

My inner animal wants to rage. I want to kick the door open and demand she talk to me.

But I can’t.

I’m just her guard.

Now, Lena sits across the room like something carved from ice. Her spine doesn’t bend, her expression doesn’t falter, but I know the truth behind that painted mask. Ifeelit.

She’s trying not to cry.

The dress Mikhail picked for her is the color of blood roses and tight enough to choke. It’s designed to humiliate.

Is that what I walked in on earlier?

I don’t think so. Lena knows she’s beautiful. Yes, the dress is fucked, but that wouldn’t leave her looking so utterly destroyed.

There’s something else.

My eyes rake over the dress that exposes her body.Mybody. The fabric clings to every curve, cut so low her breasts threaten to spill free with each breath.

The dress is technically long, straight to her ankles.

But the slits up both sides all the way to her hip bone make it dangerous. There’s a flimsy gold chain that keeps the sides closed but it’s clear she’s not wearing panties.

It's a whore's dress.

He wants everyone at this table to see her as his property, his toy to dress and undress as he pleases.

My jaw ticks. The urge to put a bullet between his eyes burns through my veins like acid.

But I stand in the corner, silent. Watching. The perfect bodyguard who sees nothing, hears nothing, feels nothing.

Except I feel everything. Every humiliation he heaps on her lands on me like a physical blow.

"You look beautiful tonight,moya dorogaya," Mikhail purrs.