Love in Paradise Read Online Free Page A

her better than she knew herself. For the first time since she was seventeen, she was feeling vulnerable and exposed.
    “Tell me something,” Onur said to her as a waiter brought two plates of food to the table. “That I do not know about you.”
    Nika thought for a moment and then said, “Every week, since I was born, my father made a video recording of my face until I was eighteen. He made a time lapse video and put it on the internet.”
    “That...is intriguing...” Onur said.
    “What is this?” Nika indicated the plate of food that had been delivered to her.
    “Iskender kebap.” The rest of the poolside dinner was eaten in silence as the evening turned to night time. Finally, Onur wiped his hands on a cloth napkin and said, “Come, we will swim.”
 
    Chapter 4
    The Swim
    Contrary to what she had expected, Onur had provided Nika with a simple, most, one piece bathing suit. Though they had resolved to go for a swim, there was not much of that going on. Rather they found themselves sitting on the concrete pool steps at the shallow end, up to their chests in clear blue water. Nika had expected Onur to make an advance of some sort, but instead he kept his distance, carefully watching her. He had made suggestions, naturally, but it almost seemed as if she would be forced to make the first move -- if she ever did.
    “Are you not tired of living vicariously?” Onur inquired. “Is it not time that you...indulged in your own fantasy?”
    Nika laughed, almost mockingly. “And what do you think my fantasy is?” She asked, still laughing.
 
    “You tell me.”
    “My ‘fantasy’ certainly doesn’t involve anyone that would...would kidnap me!” She nearly spit the words out, much to Onur’s amusement.   “Why did you have me drugged?”
    Onur shrugged. “It would have been inconvenient for my men to have a hysterical woman on their boat. Imagine if you had capsized it.”
    “I never would have done that!”
    Onur looked at her with a sideways glance.
    “Okay, I might have done that, but I was hysterical! What about those soldiers your men killed?”
    Onur shrugged once again. “Those men killed countless innocents when they made land. In this game, no one is truly innocent, not even myself. But, you are alive, are you not?”
    “I suppose I should be grateful.”
    “If you like.”
    In the few moments that they remained silent, Nika realized just how loud the silence in a pool area could actually be. Every movement, every clearing of the throat, and every splash echoed ten times over. Even talking in this place seemed like a public affair, even though the room was clearly closed off from the rest of the house.
    “What is it that you do, Mr. Aslan?” Nika asked him. At this point she was genuinely interested.
    “Quite simply Miss Kitaev, I do business.”
    “Amusing.”
    “Contrary to what you might have believed of those in my position, we do not all conduct...shall we say...illegal activities.   I, whether you choose to believe it or not, fought my way to this position. While I did things that might be considered immoral, I did not step outside the boundaries of any law, save for transactions completed on foreign soil.”
    “And your empire,” Nika said. “Built with family funding?”
    Onur shook his head. “While I was born to a wealthy woman, she conceived with a...less than desirable man. Love counts for little when lineage is at stake, as my father found out. My mother was...disgraced, and I was placed in an orphanage. What I have here, I have built with my own two hands, and should I bear children, I will not dictate who it is that they can love. Love is, without a doubt, the building blocks on which our existence is settled. Without love, we are nothing.”
    These words from Onur Aslan seemed to be sincere. The noise of the pool seemed to resign itself to the utter silence that fell across the room. Nika, though she had been kidnapped and drugged, began to understand this man, Onur