My Wife, My Rules – 27. chapter

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When Aiden was returning home, the salon drew him in once more. He stepped inside and yes, Tess was there.

He smiled.

“Hello.”

“Hello!” she turned to him brightly. The dress she wore, he had never seen before. Of that he was certain. A neckline that deep would have stayed in his memory.

“New dress?” It was more a statement than a question.

“Do you like it?” she asked, her tone unusually playful.

“Very much.”

His gaze moved over the jewelry she wore.

“Hm. Are we in another phase where you want to master something new for me?”

“Does it bother you?” she asked seductively and stepped closer to him. So close that he caught the scent of…

Perfume??

She stopped right in front of him. That lascivious look of hers raised a red flag in his mind.

The choice of words was so unnatural for Tess, and the tone of voice so ingratiating, that it finally dawned on him.

VIKTORIA.

In that same instant, she tried to place her hand against his dick through his trousers. He caught her by the wrist before she could manage it.

“What are you doing here?!” he forced through clenched teeth, coldly.

She pulled her hand back, but he did not release her. He was still gripping her wrist. Not hard, but enough that it was not merely a touch.

“Well, I believe it is time to correct my parents’ mistake.”

“Excuse me?”

“You certainly don’t deserve a misfortune like Theressa. They made a mistake. They should have given you me. I am clearly a more suitable wife for you.”

“I am certain you are not.”

“Oh, please. A man like you surely cannot be satisfied in bed by a piece of wood that just lies there motionless. I am sure my abnormal little sister is exactly that. I, on the other hand, could offer you far, far more.”

His fingers tightened around her wrist.

“My wife satisfies all of my appetites absolutely perfectly,” he said, each word measured, deliberate.

He could not know that Tess had overheard that very sentence by chance as she quietly crept from the kitchen. She was shocked by who in God’s name her husband was telling such intimacies to, and stepped into the salon.

One glance at her sister was enough. She knew then that a very dark time had begun.

Aiden noticed Viktoria’s attention shift past him and turned. He went sharply pale.

“Tess, I did nothing!” he blurted and crossed the room quickly. “I swear, I didn’t do anything wrong! You must believe me!”

“I know,” she said calmly and nodded reassuringly. She reached for his hand and when he offered it, a little nervously, she tried to smile. “I know. I heard you.”

She pulled him to herself and then shifted him beside her. The smile vanished from her face as she turned a lethal gaze on her sister and growled.

“What do you want here?”

Viktoria leaned casually against the back of an armchair, her lips pressed into a faint, artificial smile. She looked like someone who had been denied a compliment she felt entitled to.

“I came to see you,” she replied. “Little sister.”

Tess studied her in silence. The woman before her had her face, yet otherwise they could not have been more different. Day and night. Aiden tightened his hold slightly on Tess’s hand, the one she was still using to keep him beside her, but did not interfere. Tess stood firm. Her breath had quickened and a slight tremor betrayed her hands, yet she did not move.

“We have not seen one another since the wedding,” Viktoria reproached her. “You never showed yourselves. So I decided to stop by.”

“We live nearly three days’ travel apart,” Tess said dryly, dismissing the attempt at guilt. “Hardly a place one passes by on the way.”

Her sister repaid the dismissal in kind.

“I will be staying for several days. We have so much to discuss!”

“The two of us have never had anything to say to each other,” Tess corrected.

Aiden scarcely breathed. He feared that any movement might shatter the beautifully terrifying calm that surrounded his wife.

Viktoria’s expression soured. Tess had had enough.

“We will have a room prepared for you,” she said. “Though I cannot imagine how you will occupy yourself for days. We are a very quiet household.”

“Oh. Then Aiden will take me out into society!” Viktoria announced brightly.

Only then did Tess release her husband’s hand. She took two very slow steps toward her sister and looked at her directly.

“Try to come near him,” she said quietly. “Let me catch you too close to him even once. Let it seem to me, even once, that you behave toward him improperly. Your trunks will be placed at the edge of our lands within minutes. And you will be grateful if I send you after them by carriage rather than on foot.”

Aiden nearly choked in surprise. Viktoria stared with wide eyes. Tess turned and left.

She closed the bedroom door behind her and leaned back against it. Despite how boldly she had stood up to her sister, panic rose within her. She knew this was bad. Viktoria had come for her life and would not stop until she took it. Could one even fight something like that?

She sat on the edge of the bed, hands folded in her lap, unmoving, staring ahead. With each passing minute it became clearer that this was no shot in the dark from Viktoria. This was not a gesture of family, nor some fit of God knew what mood. Viktoria had come prepared. Not to try her luck. To claim what she wanted. And she knew exactly what that was. Aiden. His attention. His position. This house. She wanted it all because it had value. Not for love, nor for longing, but because it belonged to another. And therefore it must belong to her. Tess felt like laughing at how desperately primitive it sounded. And yet the knot in her throat remained, hard and unmoving.