Page 132 of Twisted Proposal

My family chuckled in the pews.

I tightened my grip, my fingers leaving bruises she'd feel for days. A reminder of who she belonged to. "She will."

The priest hesitated, then moved to lift the crowns over our heads. Viktoria tried to duck away, but my hold kept her anchored to me—exactly where she would remain for the rest of our lives.

"What God has joined together, let no man put asunder. I now declare you to be husband and wife in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."

I yanked her against me, one hand sliding up to fist in her hair, the other still locked around her waist.

I kissed her like I planned to do from now on. She fought me for a second but soon melted into my touch and kissed me back.

That was how I wanted the rest of our lives to be.

Passionate fights leading to intimate moments.

"You're mine now,wife," I declared, in a dangerous growl that made her shiver against me. "And no one—not God, not death, not even you—will ever separate us.”

Her brow furrowed as she pushed her kiss-swollen lip out in a pout. "I hate you, you know that."

I winked, my thumb brushing across her lower lip, feeling the heat of her breath against my skin. "No, you don't. You love me, admit it."

Her chest heaved against mine. "Never."

Stubborn little brat.

I leaned in, pressing my forehead to hers, my words dark with promise. "Looks like someone is asking for another punishment."

Her eyes darkened with a desire she couldn't hide from me. "You wouldn't dare…not on our wedding night."

I caught her chin between my thumb and forefinger, forcing her gaze to mine. "Especially on our wedding night. I'm going to make you scream until you can't remember your own name—only mine."

She swallowed hard, that delicious flush spreading across her cheeks.

"Until you admit what we both know," I continued, my lips brushing against her ear. "That you're mine. That you've always been mine.That you love me as much as I love you.”

Viktoria’s breath caught slightly at my words before she huffed and flattened her hands over my chest. "Fine. Maybe I do love you," she conceded, chin tilted in defiance. "But that doesn't mean I like you right now. And it definitely doesn't mean you're always right,husband.”

A smile tugged at my lips. There she was—my fighter.

“We’ll see about that,wife.”

EPILOGUE

PAVEL

"Enough waiting. We end this now," I snarled, grinding Brutus Slinsky's face into the Moscow map sprawled across the table. His pathetic whimper only fueled my disgust.

Solovyov's American rat had been embarrassingly easy to track.

After the compound attack, my brothers wanted to waste time on security upgrades.

Fucking cameras instead of corpses.

They didn't grasp that our enemy's blood was the only insurance policy worth investing in.

I'd found this simpering fuck at an upscale strip club, bragging about taking down the Ivanovs to a blonde whose American passport belonged to me. She made one call. My men delivered him gift-wrapped.

"I swear, I don't know where he is," Brutus blubbered, snot bubbling from his nostrils.