“That’s not what it looks like,” he says. He actually has the fucking audacity to say it.

“Are you kidding me?” I snap with a frown so harsh it becomes painful. “I read it, Nas. I didn’t read the entire manuscript, but I read enough to know you’ve been writing about me—using our most intimate moments as inspiration for your book. I saw it, so what the fuck isn’t what it looks like?”

Nas raises his hands as if to show he’s unarmed, but his words are the weapons, and he’s already used them to torture me. “Alina, just give me a minute to explain.”

“Take all the time you need, but use the time wisely, because these will be the last words you ever speak to me,” I growl. I try my best to remain furious, but I feel the pull of sadness and heartache, so I stare at Nas, using his stupid, lying face to stay as angry as I can.

Nas shifts his feet nervously, unable to feel steady on his bed of lies. “Okay. I know there’s no way to make that manuscript look any different than it does. Your name is in there, and the sex scenes are in there, too. There’s no beating around the bush on that.”

“But you sure as hell are finding a way to do it anyway, aren’t you?”

“It is what it is, Alina. Yes, I was using you as my muse for that book. It’s true.”

“No shit!” I bark. “How could you? How the fuck could you have been doing this to me this entire time? Making me submit to you and forcing me to do things I could only dream of, just so you could write it in your book. Did you ever even care about me at all?’

“Of course I did, Baby Girl.”

“Don’t you dare fucking call me that! In this book of yours you call me Little Dove. Why not use that name now, you piece of shit?”

“Alina, I know you’re angry, and you have every right to be, but please listen to me. I scrapped that book, remember?”

“You think that makes this okay?”

“No, but I need you to understand my reasoning,” Nas pleads. He doesn’t have an ounce of dominance in him now. The tough, controlling exterior has spilled into a puddle on the floor. There’s nothing sexy about him. Now, he looks just like Vance when he stood in my apartment and dumped me for being open and honest with him. They’re exactly the fucking same.

“Oh, I see,” I say, shaking my head in disgust. “Is this the part where you tell me you scrapped the book because you started to have real feelings for me? You were fine with using me before, but now—”