Page 5

We arrive at my mansion and she’s visibly shaken. I park the car and sit for a moment, pulling my thoughts together.

I clench my jaw tightly, not knowing what to say. I hate the look of betrayal on her face. Despite the whole situation being my choice, I feel guilty for what I’m doing to her.

“Let’s go inside,” I sigh, turning the engine off.

“What is waiting for me inside?” she snaps. “What are you planning to do to me? You can’t just take people and force them to marry you! I don’t know who the hell you think you are, but this is not ok. None of this is ok!” she’s shouting, shaking and tearful all at once.

Fear is making her lose control.

“I’ll explain everything inside.”

“I’m not going,” she huffs.

“What then? You’re just going to sit outside alone in the car?”

“Yes.”

“Don’t be stupid. Get out of the car.”

She shakes her head and folds her arms across her chest.

“Dammit, Alyona. Don’t make this more difficult than it needs to be.”

But she doesn’t budge.

I walk around and tug her door open and lean into the car, wrapping my arm around her waist I lift her out and toss her over my shoulder.

She squeals and kicks, but I lock her legs down, against my chest, and carry her up the stairs to the massive front door. I don’t put her down until we are inside, and the front door is locked again.

I spent a full day securing this property to ensure that whenever I managed to get hold of her—she had no way of escaping. So, I’m not worried about that. And she will be sleeping in a locked room tonight because I don’t want to take any chances.

When I set Alyona down she hurriedly backs up against a wall and I see tears are streaming down her face again. She looks terrified. She looks like she has absolutely no idea what is going on and why she’s been taken.

My heart pulls tight and my stomach knots.

I feel terrible.

But it must be an act. She can’t be that clueless, not with Avraam as her brother.

“Please, I’m begging you, Rigor—or—um—whatever your name is—please just let me go. I won’t even say anything. I won’t go to the police or report any of this. I just want to go home,” she sobs.

“Alyona, stop. I can’t let you go. I need you.”

“For what ?” she shouts. “What can you possibly need me for?”

“A bargaining chip,” I say, shaking my head. She’s good at playing clueless.

I walk away from her, towards the kitchen to pour myself a drink. She’s driving me crazy. She’s doing such a good job of making me feel bad that I’m struggling with this whole fucking thing.

She hesitates and then follows me.

“What do you mean? What are you going to bargain for? With who? What value am I?” she blurts out her thoughts in a messy row of questions.

“Your brother, Alyona. You are very valuable to your brother.” I toss the shot of vodka back and pour another one. Leaning against the kitchen counter and glaring at her.

“You want my brother to pay you for me?”

“Something like that.”

“He doesn’t have a lot of money. Why would you think he could pay you?”

I narrow my eyes towards her. She sounds so sincere.

“You don’t think your brother would pay everything he has to get you back?” I chuckle. I don’t want money from him—but that’s not the point.

She scrunches her nose. “He would pay everything he has, but he doesn’t have a lot so I don’t see why you went through all this effort to get me when you should have taken someone from a rich family or something,” she says, getting frustrated because I’m not understanding her, but she’s the one who is confused. Not me.

“For fuck’s sake, Alyona. Can you just drop the fucking act? It’s getting boring now,” I huff loudly. I’m too tired for this bullshit.

“What act?” she shouts angrily. “I want to go home .” Her voice reaches a higher octave of panic at the end and it grates against my last nerve.

I’ve lost my patience with her. I march over to her and grab her around the throat. “Stop the fucking act. I assume your brother told you to play this role if anyone ever kidnapped you—but it won’t work on me.”

She blinks furiously, clawing at my hand around her throat.

When I release her, she drops to the ground and I shake my head. She could have been an actress.

She’s playing this role so well.

I scoop her off the floor and shove her onto a sofa in the living room.

“Listen, girl, let’s cut straight to the chase. You are going to do exactly what I tell you to do until your brother agrees to the exchange. Until that point—if you step out of line even once you know exactly what will happen to you. You know how these things work.”

“What things?” she mutters quietly, then bites down hard into her bottom lip.

“What things?” I snap. “The marriage. The agreement. The contract. I will release you from it when your brother gives me what I want. Until then you are my wife and the Bratva rules apply. You do as I say. You belong to me.”

“Bratva rules?” she stammers.

I throw my hands in the air, getting even more pissed off.

“ The fucking Mafia rules. Are you just going to repeat every fucking thing I say?” I snarl.

She shakes her head, her eyes wide and fearful.

“I—I—mafia?” she is breathing so heavily she can hardly speak. Her chest is moving up and down so fast, I swear this girl is having a full-on panic attack. Her eyes roll back in her head and she starts shaking uncontrollably.

“Hey, what the hell? Don’t do that. Stop that.” I kneel in front of her and tap my hand against her cheek, trying to get her to refocus.

She doesn’t even notice me there. Her breathing has all but stopped now. Her face is red, and her fists are so tightly clenched her nails are drawing blood from the palm of her hand.

“Stop that, Aly. What are you doing?” I shout, my own panic rising.

I have no idea what else to do so I sit on the sofa next to her and pull her into my arms, cradling her head against my chest.

After a few minutes, her body relaxes a tiny bit, and her breathing becomes even again. She is crying her eyes out though.

“What the fuck?” I mutter quietly, still holding her.

When she stops crying, I move away from her and she sits dead still, staring forward as though she was in shock.

“Aly?” I say her name gently.

She swallows.

Without looking at me she asks, barely a whisper, “Are you mafia?”

“Yes,” I answer, thinking that it was obvious from the start.

Aly nods. “And—what does the mafia want with my brother? Did he do business with them or something?”

I shake my head.

Does she really not know?

Her brother is high up in the Boston mafia and she seems to be completely clueless to this fact.

“What does your brother do for a living, Alyona?” I ask, trying to sus out what she does know.

“He does consulting. Some type of consulting for companies. I’m not—I don’t—I never asked him to explain it. We hardly spend any time together,” she whimpers.

“Consulting,” I sigh.

Fuck.

Aly has no idea what her brother really does. She has no idea he’s in the mafia and she has no idea why I kidnapped her and forced her into marriage. She doesn’t even know he’s filthy rich.

Avraam was keeping her a secret from us—but more than that—he was keeping us, and his entire life, a secret from her.

She is as innocent as she looked when I first met her and now I’ve gone and kidnapped her and forced her into this situation.

I just dragged her into the underworld.

“Fuck !” I shout angrily, standing up and pacing up and down the living room. She winces and squeezes her eyes tightly closed.

This is nothing like I planned it to be.

Do I tell her who her brother really is?

Or do I continue to keep her shielded from us like Avraam clearly has?

I’m too tired to think straight.

“Stand up,” I snap.

She tenses up but doesn’t move.

“I said stand up!” I shout.

She stands right away, and I take her hand, pulling her out of the living room, up the stairs to the bedroom I prepared for her arrival.

I push her inside, towards the bed and she starts crying.

“No, please, wait—I’ve never—please,” she is crying too much I can’t hear what she’s trying to say. Then I realize she thinks I’m dragging her to my bed.

“This is your room. There is a bathroom through there. You will be in here alone. The door will be locked so don’t bother trying to get out. There are clothes in the closet that will fit you. I need to sleep. I suggest you get some sleep too. We can carry on this conversation in the morning.”

She shifts her weight from foot to foot, her hands clenched tightly in front of her body.

“Good night, Aly,” I say abruptly, then march out of the room and slam the door closed behind me.

Outside I lean against the wall and take several deep breaths.

Fuck.

Fuck.

Fuck.

This is all going badly.

I never wanted to put her in a situation she didn’t understand. I thought she would just know about marriage and how it can be used as leverage. I thought she would know all about this world and just accept it for what it is.

But she’s innocent.

I push off the wall and go to my own bedroom.

While I shower I think about Aly and how I’ve just shifted her entire world and she doesn’t even know it.

It’s something I can’t undo though. It’s too late for that. We’re married. She’s going to have to face the truth tomorrow. I’ll have to explain everything to her.

If I’d known that she was so innocent—

I sigh heavily, rubbing my hands against my face to try to scrub away the anger I feel towards myself.

But no.

I did this for a reason.

I dragged Aly into this, but it’s saving my sister.

Ruslana deserves to be happy and free as well.

And when she is, I will release Alyona from the marriage contract.

Until then—I am just going to have to be very careful with her. I don’t want her going crazy on me after being thrown into the deep end of a world she didn’t even know existed before I came along.

I shut the shower off and step out, wrapping a towel around my waist. Standing in front of the mirror I wipe my hand across it to clear away the layer of fog frosting my view.

This is bad. The consequences and repercussions will be bad. But at the end of the day it is worth it to save my sister.

Do whatever it takes to keep your family safe. That’s what matters. It’s the only thing that matters.

When I climb into bed, my mind drifts over the events of tonight and for some reason I am fixated on the memory of dancing with Alyona.

That kiss.

It was only meant to lure her into agreeing to come home with me—but it drove me crazy. My body can easily remember how she felt against it and even now my skin begins to burn with need.

There’s something about her.

And now that I’ve found out her innocence wasn’t an act—she is even more attractive to me.

I pick up one of my pillows and shove it over my face. Sleep is better than day dreaming about bullshit.

But it doesn’t help block the thoughts of her from my mind.

And I end up getting very little sleep.