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I clench my jaw. “Home.”
CHAPTER FOUR
Harper
Home.
He can say that all day long, but it doesn’t mean anything and won’t. Call a cow a fish, and it’s still a damn cow.
His home will be my prison.
I stare out the window, fervently wishing that the trip will be short. At first, it’s hard to see where we’re going in the dark. After a little while I notice streetlights illuminate large road signs with an arrow pointing toward The Cove.
My heart beats a little faster. For the first time, I feel the faintest glimmer of hope, but hardly dare to think I could’ve hit a stroke of luck. Are we heading toward The Cove? This could work to my advantage.
I swallow hard and lick my lips, feigning nonchalance so he doesn’t know how much hangs in the balance of his answer. “Where do you live?”
“Did they tell you nothing?” he snaps, sitting so close to me our knees practically knock. I sit up straighter because I’d rather not touch him until that isn’t a choice anymore.
My belly dips. Therewillcome a time when that isn’t a choice anymore.
And when he finds out I’m not who he thinks I am…
“If they’d told me where you lived, do you think I’d bother asking you?”
The air between us chills as he narrows his eyes at me. His voice is tinged with a Russian accent when he responds. “We’re heading to The Cove. The Romanov family owns most of the property there. We have a residence in Moscow as well, but The Cove is our American residence.” A muscle ticks in his jaw. He opens his mouth as if to say more but closes it instead and turns away.
I pretend my heart doesn’t leap in my chest at his answer.
The Cove. We’re heading for The Cove.
I had no idea the Romanovs owned the large, sprawling “Little Russia” situated between Coney Island and Manhattan.
In The Cove, the shopkeepers speak Russian. There are restaurants, grocery stores, cultural centers, and an Orthodox Church. There’s a beach and a boardwalk, popular in the summer. Less crowded in the winter. If his family owns The Cove…
I can’t get my hopes up too high, though.
It might not be the reprieve I’m hoping for. Will I be able to do what I need to under the watchful eyes of the Romanovs? If they own The Cove, they will have eyes everywhere.
The Cove.
I need more information. I decide to chat with him, get him talking. Maybe I’ll learn something useful, like if he has any sisters. There’s an unwritten law between women — most of us, anyway — that we have each other’s backs. I could sneak away, I could lie… or I could find someone who’s sympathetic and plead my case.
“And we’re getting married in two days?”
“Unless you decide to pull another move on me.”
I turn to face him, taken aback by the fire that burns in the blue of his eyes. How can eyes do that?
“And if I do?” I ask with a thrust of my chin before I can censor my words. Before I can stop myself from talking back to him. I know I’m flirting with fire, but he seems to know how to push every one of my buttons.
Our knees knock together when he reaches for me. I don’t have time to prepare myself before strong, rough fingers grip my chin and dig into my skin, searing me. I’m frozen in place, captured in his gaze and the latent threat.
“Then we marry tonight.”
My mind reels.Tonight?I wasn’t expecting that. I wanted him to know I won’t cow under any type of abuse, and I’ve experienced every damn type. I wanted him to tell me what he’d do so I could brave it, because I want to prove to myself that I’ll survive marriage to this man.
“And if you do decide to defy me, when I get you alone, I show you exactly what happens to a naughty little wife who decides to disobey her husband.” He releases my chin.
