Page 11 of Prince of Control (Bratva Heirs #1)

Chapter Six

Baron

“Here are the rings.” Lili holds out two tiny plastic bags, one containing a thin gold band and one with a thicker band.

Lili, Zoe, Anya, Leo, Phoenix, and Anders all gather in the living room of Baranov House where I told everyone who wanted to go to the courthouse to meet.

“There are adjustable sizers inside for now until you get them properly sized. Or until you know your bride well enough to buy her something she would actually like. Where is your bride, by the way?”

I check the app on my phone that tracks her phone. “Almost here. Thank you, Lils.” I pull her in for a half-hug and kiss the top of her head.

“How was your first day at Thornecroft?” Zoe asks.

“Great. Except I think my math professor hates me for some reason.”

“Vasiliev?” I ask even though I already know her schedule and professors. Professor Vasiliev is the bane of my existence at Thornecroft.

She sends me a surprised glance. “Yes. I thought he might be nice to me since he’s obviously Russian. Is this your fault?”

I shrug. “No, but you’re fucked. I have him again this year for statistics.

I think he knows we’re bratva and therefore believes we’re thugs.

Dad doesn’t know him personally–I asked when I had him freshman year because I thought maybe they had a beef or something.

Watch out–he will look for any excuse to dock points off your tests, so be meticulous. ”

“Well, that sucks.”

“It does.”

“Lara made plans to meet some Russian mudak for a drink tomorrow at five,” Leo says.

I go still. As is my way, I show nothing on my face, while chaos rips my insides to shreds. “Who?”

Leo shows me the screen of his phone. It shows a photo snapped in the Modern Languages building of a short, nerdy guy talking to Lara. “This guy. They were speaking Russian. He says he’s a transfer student.”

“Send it to Anya,” I snap, turning to look at my hacker. “Anya, find out who he is and if he has any links to the Rostovs.”

“You got it, pakhan .”

“Don’t call me that,” I say reflexively, my mind still chewing on the new transfer student. It sounds like trouble to me. What are the chances that a Russian transfer student shows up right when Lara Turgeneva slips out of Brash Rostov’s clutches?

“Why not? We’re bratva. We’re basically our own cell, and you’re the boss.”

I ignore the question, frowning, still deep in thought when the door beeps with the electronic lock opening, and Lara walks in. Leo programmed her thumbprint to work this morning before she left for class.

Lara stops in the doorway and stares at us.

I’m sure we look like a mob waiting to attack her. I wish to fuck she wasn’t so sure I was the enemy.

I tip my head at the group. “They all wanted to come along for the ceremony. Is that okay with you?”

Her nostrils flare. “And if I say no?” she demands.

She’s testing me. She wants to see how restrictive her golden handcuffs really are. She tested me this morning when she stopped me from kissing her. Now she wants to know how much agency she has over how things go down.

I want to pass her test even though I think the experience will probably be better for both of us if my friends attend.

Lili reaches for Lara, touching her arm. “Hi! We haven’t met yet. I’m Lili Baranova, Ben’s sister.” She tilts her head to the side. “Soon to be your sister.”

“Oh.” Lara looks back at her without moving. I can tell she wants to hate Lili, too, but my sister is too sweet and innocent to hate.

“So this is kind of my fault.” Lili sweeps a hand at the gathering.

“We both just found out about the sudden, um, acceleration of marital plans, and I told Ben I wanted to come. I mean, we’re going to be family.

” She sends an apologetic look. “And once I said I wanted to go, everyone else jumped on the bandwagon. But if you don’t want us there, it’s okay.

We can wait for you here with champagne. ”

Lara scans the faces of the group, arriving at Anders, who pulls a bottle of champagne from the case he bought today to show her.

“Why don’t we start the champagne now?” Lara asks.

The tension breaks. “Aha! Now we’re talking!” Anders exclaims but looks at me for confirmation.

“Bring it along,” I concede. “We have to get to the courthouse before four-thirty.”

We split up and pile into my Range Rover and Leo’s BMW X7. Lara chooses to ride in the back with Lili and Anders, leaving Anya to ride up front with me.

I hear the pop of a cork. “Spill that, and you’ll be shampooing my upholstery,” I growl from the front seat even though I can already hear the sound of liquid pouring onto the floor and Lili squealing.

“Oops,” Anders laughs.

I glance in the rearview mirror to see him trying to pour the champagne in a glass. Lara reaches over and takes it from him, drinking straight from the mouth of the bottle.

“Okay! The bride is quelling her nerves. Nothing wrong with that,” he narrates.

“Pass it over here.” Lili takes the bottle from Lara.

“Uh…am I supposed to let your underage sister drink?” Anders asks.

Lili makes a popping sound when her lips come away from the bottle. “Fuck you, Anders.”

“I trust Lili to be responsible.”

It’s not true. I don’t trust Lili, and I don’t trust anyone with Lili. In my mind, she’s still that six-year-old with a gun to her head. The one I had to save from being murdered.

It’s why I’m so overprotective now.

But I can’t put restrictions on her, or it will only drive her further away from me. She chose not to live in Baranov House, which already makes me insane.

So I say I trust her to make sure she understands I have expectations of her.

She’s smart and driven. But being away from home for the first time can be intoxicating.

I don’t want her to make a dumb decision that puts her in danger.

But I have to remind myself that Thornecroft is one of the safest places she could be.

And that I’m not going to let anything bad ever happen to her again.

“See?” Lili raises her brows at Anders. “He trusts me to be responsible.”

Lara takes the bottle back from Lili and chugs some more before passing it back.

“Don’t drink it all.” Anders intercepts and takes a long swig.

“So why did I have to hear from my friends that Baranov House is having a party next Friday?” Lili demands.

I don’t answer.

“They want invites,” she presses.

I knew this would come up. I don’t want my sister at our parties–there are things that go down there that I’d rather she not be involved in.

But forbidding her from going will only create more problems. Besides, I want my sister protected by my reputation as a dangerous killer.

Acting like we aren’t family doesn’t offer her that protection.

“You are a Baranov, so obviously, it’s your house, too. No invitation is needed to get through the door. You may choose to bring anyone you want, but they have to come with you. No one dropping your name at the door is going to be let in. Understand?”

“Can I bring as many people as I want?”

“Yes. But they have to come with you.” I meet her gaze in the rearview mirror, and she nods. “And you take responsibility for each of your guests.”

“What does that mean?”

“No drinking if they’re underage. No drugs. No bad behavior.”

“Doesn’t sound like much of a party.”

“Then don’t come.”

Lili rolls her eyes.

Whisper is a small town, so we’re at the courthouse in seven minutes, and during that time the three in the back completely drain the first bottle of Champagne. I climb out and hold the door open for Lara, who surprises me by taking my offered hand to jump down.

I’m in a suit to show respect for the day. She gives me an appraising look, as if just now noticing. When she glances down at her outfit, she fingers her cream-colored blouse. “Well, I guess I’m wearing a bit of white.”

I tug the hand she gave me to bring her closer to me, then loop an arm around her back.

“This is just paperwork,” I tell her softly, not wanting the others to overhear.

They take the hint and head into the courthouse.

“We’ll have a do-over later. You get to have the ring you want.

And the dress you pick out. Flowers. All your friends and family with us to celebrate. ”

Her eyes grow bright with tears, and it makes my gut twist.

“Today is just–” I look past her, struggling to find words. “Today is paperwork. We’re signing the contract. We can make tomorrow into whatever we want.”

Lara

My breath shudders in on a sob.

I’ve been holding in my emotions, using rage and righteousness to tamp down my fear and grief.

But Baron verbalizing just how wrong this ceremony is, without the dress or flowers or friends, brings it all storming to the surface.

Because I need to keep it together until after we sign the “contract,” I push him away and march toward the courthouse.

Leo holds the door open for me, meeting Baron’s gaze over my head.

I keep gulping in air, pushing back the torrent of tears threatening.

Lili glances at my face. “Too bad we couldn’t bring the champagne in here, right?” she mutters with a wry smile.

I give a watery laugh in agreement.

We head into the assigned courtroom and wait to be called forward by the judge. Lili and Leo volunteer to be our witnesses. Zoe thrusts a bouquet of white roses wrapped up in ribbon in my hand.

We stand in front of the judge as he looks through the paperwork and then looks us over. “You wish to take your husband’s name?”

Ben nods, but the judge is looking at me. I manage to nod my head. I’m feeling dizzy from drinking the champagne on an empty stomach.

“Do you have rings?”

Benjamin nods.

“Are you doing a kiss?”

Benjamin darts a glance my way. “Of course.”

My stomach churns.

The judge begins. “Benjamin Baranov, do you take Lara Tur…Tour-Geneva” –he butchers my last name, making it sound like the city in Switzerland– “to live together in the honorable estate of matrimony, do you promise to love, honor, and comfort her in sickness and health, do you promise to be faithful and keep yourself only unto her as long as you both shall live?”

“I do.”

The judge turns his attention on me. “Lara–”

“Turgeneva,” Baron interrupts to pronounce my last name correctly.

The judge repeats it, “Lara Turgeneva, do you take Benjamin Baranov to be your husband, to live together in the honorable estate of matrimony, do you promise to love, honor, and comfort him in sickness and health, do you promise to be faithful and keep yourself only unto him as long as you both shall live?”

I look balefully up at my groom. My heart pounds against my chest.

Baron’s expression is inscrutable. His brown eyes are steady beneath his unruly blond hair.

What if I say no? I got on the plane because my dad put me on it, but he’s not here now to make sure I go through with it.

But the memory of his pinched expression returns to me. He was overprotective growing up, but I never saw that level of concern before. If I said no, would I be putting his life in danger? Or my mom’s?

Baron seems unperturbed, but the tension from Lili is palpable, like she’s holding her breath for Baron.

I clear my throat. “I do.” My voice sounds rusty.

“By the authority vested in me by the State of Illinois, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may exchange rings.”

Baron pulls a pair of rings from his pocket and slides a thin gold band on my fourth finger, then puts a thicker one on his.

“Okay.” Baron says the word with finality, his arm lightly draped behind my back. Like, box checked. Wife acquired .

“You may kiss your wife.”

His wife. I’m now somebody’s wife. This is insane.

Baron looks down at me, and I tense. Do I have to let him, since we’re in front of a judge, and he wouldn’t want the judge to know this marriage is against my will?

As if sensing I will refuse to be kissed, Baron sweeps me up into his arms in a honeymoon carry. His friends laugh and cheer.

The conqueror has conquered. I’m clearly a spoil of war. His to carry off and…

I glance at his handsome face, which is far too close for comfort.

He starts to walk out of the courtroom.

“Hold up,” the bailiff calls. “You have to sign the certificate.”

Baron spins me around–an extra time, fast, which makes my arms fly around his neck and a reluctant laugh spill from my throat–and carries me back.

We both sign the certificate. Leo and Lili add their signatures, and it’s done.

I’m married to Benjamin Baranov.

“ Pozdravleniya ,” Lili says.

“ Pozdravleniya .” Zoe, Anya, and Leo chorus.

“I’m guessing that’s congratulations,” Phoenix says. “So, what they said.”

“ Gratulerer, ” Anders adds in Norwegian.

I catch Baron looking at me, and my breath leaves my chest. He brushes the hair back from my face with the backs of his fingers then cradles my cheek. “May I kiss you?” he murmurs in Russian.

I want to say no out of principle. But my body says yes. My battered, lonely heart says yes. I crave human connection, even if it’s with the man who caused all this strife to begin with. I tip my face up to show my silent consent, and he lowers his mouth to mine.

His lips brush lightly across mine, barely touching.

Mine fall open.

He kisses me harder, his hand shifting from my face to cup behind my head.

I don’t want to like it. I don’t want to surrender to him or this moment, but it feels too good.

He’s an expert kisser, confident yet nuanced.

My body heats under his touch, nipples tightening, every cell electrifying.

The courtroom spins. I’m free-falling into Baron.

Into something foreign. I can’t stop this new chapter of my life from unfolding, but I have to admit, it’s not that terrible.

At least, not yet.

Baron lifts me into his arms again and carries me outside, still kissing me.

“Baron.” Leo interrupts in a low but urgent tone.

Baron breaks the kiss and looks at his bratva soldier, who slightly lifts his chin in the direction of a sleek gray electric car parked across the street.

Baron’s gaze follows as the car pulls away from the curb and disappears. He and Leo make eye contact for a moment and some communication passes between them.

Someone was watching us.

Someone witnessed our marriage. A member of the Chicago Bratva checking up to make sure Baron completed the deed? Most likely.

A cold chill brings me back to reality.

I just married an extension of my father. A gilded cage in the form of a soldier. A pakhan in the making. No amount of charm or good looks or perfect kisses will change that.