His face blanked.
“Sometimes.”
I wrapped my arms around myself tightly. A thought occurred to me, then.
“Were those men sent by your family?” I asked.
He frowned at me. “No.”
“How do you know? Your brother can't like you much. He sent you to fucking Siberia!”
That would forever blow my mind.
“Because my family doesn't want us dead. If they did, we’d be dead.”
It was such a cold thing to say. I looked at him and realized, he wasn’t bragging. He was just telling the truth. God help me, I believed him and that was even more worrisome.
“Then who?”
“I don’t know yet. But I’ll find out.”
“And when you do?”
His eyes held mine. “I’ll handle it.”
I almost asked what that meant, but I knew. I absolutely knew. My whole life had changed so many times in the last few years that I should’ve been used to the upheaval by now. But this was a different kind of change. I had married a violent, dangerous man. My husband, the Russian killer. Tears burned my eyes suddenly.
“Don’t cry,” he said softly.
I glared at him through wet eyes. “That’s easy for you to say.”
“I hate when you cry.”
“You should've seen me after you left,” I said, the words meant to wound him.
I could tell they did. But it wasn't the victory I expected.
I rubbed my face with both hands and then looked at him hard. “So… you have to do what your brother says. Did you marry me just because he said so?”
That pissed him off. I could see it. He leaned forward a little. “All that shit you just said insulted me.”
“Why?”
“Maxim beingpakhandoesn't mean he fucking dictates to me. There are things I follow to protect my family and its interests. But I am a grown ass man with free will. Never forget that. And I'm gon’ tell you this one more time and don't you question it again. I married you because I was gon’ marry youregardless. I wanted my name attached to yours before God and everybody else. The danger pushed the timeline up. It didn’t create the desire. I married you because I love you, Theory.”
I stared at him. He didn’t look away.
“And if I had said no?”
“Youdidsay no.”
“You know what I mean.”
His mouth tightened. “I wasn’t letting you go.”
He sounded so self-assured and damn infuriating. Very Targen.
“Do my parents know all this?”
