Page 6 of The Brutal Arrangement (The Ivanov Syndicate #2)

DAMON

A ll this talk about the marriage arrangement unsettled me. Settling down with a woman wasn’t on my radar, and now it was forced upon me.

Not yet.

I headed into the gym for a workout the following morning, hoping to vent my frustration with exercise. As I walked into the huge room where my brothers and I had means to use a variety of equipment, I tried to resist that my marriage would inevitably happen too soon.

My grandmother was stubborn and could be pushy, but she’d also helped raise us four brothers. Therefore, we were more stubborn and pushier. If she wanted to press the issue and nag me about this supposedly forgotten agreement between Father and Thomas Kozlov, she could.

It still didn’t mean that I had to give in. I’d resist on the principle of the timing being wrong.

To my surprise, the gym was empty save for one person. Sloane. I raised my brows at her on the treadmill. She walked at a leisurely pace, scrolling on her phone. Upon my arrival, though, she glanced up and smiled. “Morning, Damon.”

I nodded in acknowledgment and tried not to frown. “Morning,” I replied before going toward the weights I planned to start with.

Her presence was an obstacle to thinking about the predicament of this marriage arrangement. After that health scare, was she even supposed to be exercising so soon?

I ignored her as long as I could, but even though I didn’t speak to her, I glanced at her constantly, keeping an eye out for her.

She was the first woman to enter our family, the first sister-in-law I’d get, so of course, I would treat her well and do whatever I could to make sure she was safe.

That was expected for no other reason than my brother caring about her.

If she mattered to him, then she’d matter to me, too.

Halfway into my workout, she stopped the treadmill and approached me. I tried not to give her too much attention. We were still getting to know each other, and I hadn’t taken many chances to spend time with her one-on-one like this.

“Do you not like me?” she asked, the question almost blurted out as she tightened her ponytail. Long, blonde waves swayed with the motion.

I set my dumbbells down and furrowed my brow. “What? No.” Once again, I faced the mirror in front of me instead of bothering her.

“You act like it.”

“I’m merely giving you distance and respect.”

She huffed, rolling her eyes. “No, dude. You’re avoiding me.”

I shook my head. “I don’t befriend women easily.”

“Why not?” She crossed her arms and leaned her hip against the rack where the weights sat.

I turned slightly to frown at her. “Because.”

She rolled her hand, prompting me to elaborate. “Come on. Throw me a bone here. Saul isn’t like this. Nik wasn’t?—”

“Isn’t,” I corrected sharply. There was no way anyone would refer to my twin in the past tense. Not yet. Not when we continued to get those proof-of-life messages sent from his phone to that computer program.

Too bad his phone isn’t trackable. He’d set it up so it couldn’t be followed, all to better his odds as a spy.

“Right. Nik isn’t aloof like you are. So I have to wonder if you’ve got an issue with me.”

“I don’t have an issue with you,” I replied, continuing to lift.

“Then why don’t you ever look at me for more than two seconds? Or talk to me for more than a hello?” She arched one thin blonde brow.

“Why are you even in the gym? Are you supposed to be exercising after yesterday?” I frowned at her.

“Oh, don’t give me that.” She smiled. “Maxim is already paranoid and overprotective as hell.” She sat on the bench, forcing me to face her.

“It was just some spotting. They did some bloodwork and determined that I have a slightly increased chance of blood clots, so exercise and staying fit and not being sedentary are actually very important.” Pointing at me, she narrowed her eyes.

“Don’t change the subject. Why do you act like I’m a leper? ”

“ I’m the leper,” I replied, jabbing my finger at my face to indicate my scar.

She blew a raspberry. “Oh, for God’s sake. You’re a macho, deadly Mafia man who’s insecure about that little line?”

I shrugged. “I scare women,” I replied.

“Not me.”

I shrugged. “Thanks?”

“I have to imagine it’s more of your, um, reputation that could intimidate a woman than anything else.” She gestured loosely at the floor, indicating the basement. “You know. Your, uh, job.”

She meant torturing enemies. Killing them. Murdering others in the name of protecting my family.

I could only shrug again, neither confirming nor denying what she said. Claiming this scar over my eyebrow as a reason women feared me was a cop-out. It wasn’t that prominent of a mark, a souvenir I’d received when Maxim, Nik, and I were taken because of our mother’s affair and betrayal of Father.

“Is that why you balked at the idea of an arranged marriage?” she asked.

I faced her directly, irritated. “How do you know about that?”

It was her turn to shrug. “Maxim told me last night.”

Huh. He really does love her to trust her with more intel.

“Is it?” She was persistent, all right.

I sighed, shaking my head and returning the weight to the rack. “No. I’m not balking. But I’m annoyed that the idea of a marriage is even on the table right now with my focus on finding Nik.”

“But Maxim makes it sound like he’ll come back. That he’s alive and taking advantage of the situation to spy.” She frowned. “Right?”

“I agree, to an extent.” I ran my hand through my hair, aggravated that she was this good at tempting me to open up.

“Then why are you still so grumpy?” she asked.

“Because it’s Katerina,” I said. “Katerina Kozlov.”

Maxim entered the gym with Saul. “What about her?” Saul asked, grinning.

I groaned at their approach. Maxim pulled Sloane in for a kiss, which was laughable. As if he had to worry about staking his claim over her here, among brothers. Then again, the small, smug smile he wore suggested he’d kissed her just because he wanted to, not to unnecessarily mark his territory.

I scowled again.

My brother, the most resistant man who’d succumbed to commitment like this, had real love. If I were forced to marry Katerina Kozlov, of all women on earth, I’d never have that.

What the hell are you thinking?

There’s no such thing as real love.

Maxim’s just pussy-whipped.

“What about her?” Saul asked, still smiling goofily at my glum expression.

“I don't want to marry her.”

“Obviously,” Maxim said. “I’m not crazy about this arrangement either. We’ve spent too much time focusing on the Kozlovs as enemies, not friends to further align ourselves with.”

“Then what’s changed?” Sloane asked.

“It’s a prime opportunity to see if Anton is sending his niece to us as a Trojan horse. If she’s coming here to spy on us.” Maxim’s frown darkened.

“I’m willing to do anything for the family,” I said. “But Katerina?” I shook my head and grimaced at the idea of trying to call her mine .

“What’s wrong with her?” Sloane asked.

“Nik should be the one to marry her,” I replied.

“Because he’s older than you?” she asked, glancing at Maxim as he headed toward the weights.

“No. Because Nik’s always gotten along with Katerina,” Saul answered. “Ever since we were kids. They would always end up bickering. Like they couldn’t help it.”

Maxim hadn’t replied to my claim that I’d do anything for the family. I would. I always had. But I wondered if he truly believed this was a wise move. If he was willing to let a potential enemy into the family like this. As the acting boss and Pakhan , it’d be his call to approve the deal.

“Do you think she can be trusted?” I asked him as Saul and Sloane carried on talking near the bench she sat on.

Maxim smirked. “You know how I’ve had my reservations about Katerina.”

I nodded.

“I’ve always been skeptical about how close Nik and Katerina have seemed over the years. But” —he sighed and glanced at Sloane across the room— “I realize that I might have been extra cautious of Nik getting close to Katerina because of my issues of trusting women at all.”

He wasn’t alone in that. All of us brothers were jaded because of the ultimate betrayal our mother, Beatrice, had done years ago.

“It sounds like this agreement was made before they were even…” I cringed, unsure how to word it. Nik and Katerina hadn’t ever truly seemed like friends , but something. “Whatever they were.”

Maxim nodded without pausing in lifting the dumbbell. “It was. I looked over what Grandmother found. It was written between Father and Thomas, but well, it’s not like Father can think back that far anymore. He’s just not there yet.”

We shared a worry and dislike of our father being so weak and fragile now, but despite that, we were all grateful he was alive and improving slowly.

“To answer your question, though, truly and without any prejudice or bias that stems from my lack of trusting many women, no. I don’t think Katerina can be trusted.

That’s why I’m going to move Sloane to another property.

” He gave me a sober look. “So when Katerina is here, she’ll be distant from my fiancée. ”

“I don’t blame you for taking that step.” Fuck. It sounds like he’s going to enforce this arrangement, then.

“We will all keep an eye on her,” he added. “One way or another, Anton has to be up to something to remind us about this arrangement now, so soon after Father was poisoned and Nik was taken. He knows this is shitty timing—or he’s taking advantage of how our concentration is split up.”

“Something is fishy about it.”

“Which is why—even though I agree with Saul that Nik would be a better person to marry her to fulfill this arrangement—I know I can count on you to do whatever it takes to keep the family safe. You can endure this arrangement, Damon. And once we have rooted out whether she’s a threat or not, you can annul it and dismiss the experience as a mistake. ”

I stared at him, seeing how he wasn’t bluffing.

It would be a mistake to stay married to Katerina. But so long as an end could be in sight…

Whatever.

“You have my word.” I clapped my hand on his back. “I’ll do whatever you think is necessary for the good of the family.”

Besides, this is probably the only way I’ll ever have a wife.

One forced to join with me because no one else had ever been willing to embrace my darkness.