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“You’re lying,” I croak, pins and needles shooting up my arms as I regain feeling in them. I clench my fists hard enough that my nails break the skin. I cling to the pain to keep me awake and alert. “They’d never leave me.”
And you couldn’t kill them if you tried.
She lifts her chin, and I’m suddenly reminded of all the times I’ve witnessed the former matron of the Baranova line wield her power.
This is one of them.
“They would if their princess left them first. If you disappeared at the altar, just like you did five years ago.” Her green eyes, mirrors of my own, darken dangerously. “Only this time, it will truly break them. They’ll be too weak to do anything but grieve the loss. For that, I am grateful to you. You’ve wrapped them around your finger, ditya, and that’s no easy feat for men like them.”
She’s underestimating them. “My men are strong. They won’t give up so easily.”
Her eyes narrow. “They will once they understand that you’ve made a choice. A different choice. A better one.” She clasps her hands around a metal cane. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen her carry one before, and it’s bizarre enough that I go silent.
She takes my silence as acceptance, a smile spreading across her thin lips. “Our lives are going to be so much better now, Valentina. You’ll see.”
Liam’s hand rests on my thigh like a leaden weight, and I scowl at him. “Don’t touch me,” I hiss, smacking him away.
The look in his eye changes from soft admiration to heated anger in an instant. “Watch your tone, zhena, or I might lose my temper.”
The word zhena became one of my favorites when Andrei said it to me. Now, it sounds vile.
“Go ahead.”
I shouldn’t egg on a crazy man, but I can’t help it. My adrenaline’s still pumping, and the bitter taste of fury is really tough to swallow.
He smiles, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. “You’ve gotten mouthier, haven’t you? We’ll have to work on that.”
“Go to hell?—”
Pain flashes across my cheek, my head whipping to the side. I clutch my cheek as my rage doubles. Tears fill my eyes, but I’m not upset. I’m pissed.
Liam just fucking hit me.
With a sigh, he stands from the bed. “You were perfect, Valentina. You just had to let them corrupt you, didn’t you?” He slides his suit jacket from his shoulders, and I get a glimpse of muscle that wasn’t there a few weeks ago. He’s been working out, likely feeling inferior since I dumped his ass.
He’ll never be as jacked as Ezra, but it’s almost cute that he tries.
“She will learn quickly,” my grandmother interjects, gripping the tip of her cane tight. “It’s in her blood to obey, Donovan. It’s your job to remind her of that.”
Liam’s nostrils flare, but he nods and says yes in Russian. I didn’t even know he spoke Russian.
And who the fuck is Donovan?
“I will go speak with the chaplain. Make sure she is ready by the time the music starts. We cannot have any more delays.” My grandmother leaves the room without a second glance in my direction, and I’m left alone with my betrayer.
“You kidnapped me.”
He pulls up a chair from a nearby table and sits on it backward, draping his arms across the back. “You should have come with me when I found you at the club. This would have been so much easier then. We wouldn’t have to rush things. You know I hate to rush.”
I force my legs to work as I swing them over the side of the bed. Standing, I lean against the wall for support as I walk across the room. Anything to get away from this man.
His jaw tics as he watches my poor attempt at escape. “Where do you think you’re going?”
I don’t answer and pick up the pace, the soles of my feet screaming at me with each tender step.
His chair tumbles to the floor as he jumps to his feet and snatches my wrist. I try to pull myself free, but it’s no use. I might as well be manacled.
Liam’s eyes ripple like storm clouds. “I only wanted you, you know. That was enough for me. I didn’t care about the city. Or the crown. Or the money.” He laughs, the sound bitter enough that I recoil instinctively.
