“Call Iosif or Avgust. Anyone. Call.” My pulse thudded loudly in my chest as I looked at him. “Tell them where you are.” He crouched in front of me now, eyes locked on mine. “Tell him everything.”
My fingers tightened around the device. “You’re lying.”
“I’m not.”
“It’s a trick.”
“It isn’t.”
The phone felt impossibly heavy.
“You think I won’t?” I whispered.
“I know you might.”
My breath caught in my throat.
“And you’re just okay with that?”
His gaze didn’t waver for a single second.
“If that’s what you choose, I am okay with it.”
My heart pounded harder as I looked down at the screen, noticing how his contacts list was open. Iosif’s number was right there on the screen in front of me, him being just one tap away. That was all it would take. One call. I was sure Iosif would answer, hear my voice, and everything would ignite after that. Iosif wouldn’t hesitate, and neither would Avgust. There would be blood, retaliation, and bodies. And it was not only the Romanov men who would pay the price, but everyone would. My brothers and Fyodor and Chernykh men. My stomach twisted violently.
“You’re insane,” I breathed.
“Perhaps.”
“You think this makes you noble?”
“No.”
“Then what is this?”
“Choice. Isn’t that what you wanted from the very beginning? I am giving it to you now.”
My hand trembled slightly as I pictured Iosif’s face when he would realize how I had been kidnapped. I could imagine his quiet fury and the war that would follow. This wasn’t justabout rescuing me anymore; it was about pride, territory, and power. The Romanovs had taken something, and marriage made it permanent, and permanence meant war. My thumb hovered over the screen, and I felt as if I couldn’t breathe.
“You don’t know what that would do,” I said hoarsely.
“I do.”
“You don’t.”
“Elisse.” My name, in his voice sounding low and steady, did something to my ribs.
“You think I want them dead?” he asked quietly, and I swallowed.
“You think I want you dead?” The room felt too small. “You’re manipulating me by handing me this phone.”
“I am not. Call him.”
My chest felt like it was caving in, because he wasn’t stopping me. He wasn’t threatening or even flinching; instead, he was offering, and that terrified me.
“You’re not afraid,” I whispered.
He leaned closer.
