His cologne is enough to give me a pheromone high. A man like him has no right to smell so delicious. He should be banned from buying anything but cologne that smells like a cheap, used dryer sheet.
“In a sense,” he tells me, completely unapologetic.
I’d love to slap the smug expression off his face. Not just because his humblebrags are making me think about what it would be like to be in bed with him. He reminds me of a thrill ride. I bet he’d turn me inside out, fucking me wild and hard and so good it steals my breath. I’d like to slap him for that, too.
“I have to admit, it’s weird, this dynamic.” I gesture between us, then pick my water bottle back up. “I’m not used to being free to walk out of the room when you’re being an asshole. Usually, I’m cuffed or chained to a bed.”
“That can be remedied when we’re married,” he says smoothly. “If it’s what you like.”
“Why are you here again anyway?” I take another sip of water to distract myself.
“Why areyouhere?” he counters. “You haven’t been to your apartment since we got back from the cabin.”
“You mean since you released me after holding me hostage against my will for two days, kidnapper?” I cock my head at him, belatedly taking in the full ramifications of everything he just said. “Wait a minute. Have you been watching my apartment?”
He stares at me, saying nothing.
“Youhavebeen watching my apartment.” I start pacing, all the de-stressing magic yoga worked on me completely obliterated by his presence and the knowledge that he’s been stalking me.
“You’re my concern now,” he says, as if that makes it right.
“We’re not married yet,” I snap, my voice harsh.
Harsh because I don’t want to think about the fact that I’ll be married to the dangerous stranger currently invading my space. The one who earned his deadly nickname, who kidnapped me and held me against my will, who pointed a loaded Glock to my head, who has probably violated every one of the Ten Commandments, some of them more than once.
The one who is a vicious Mafia enforcer who would kill me the second I was no longer useful to him.
“But we will be, soon enough,” he says dispassionately, as if he is totally unaffected by the life-altering wedding we’re both facing against our wills. “You’ve read the contract, haven’t you, hellcat?”
I don’t bother to tell him that everyone calls me Katya because his words make my blood go cold. “There’s a contract?”
Of course there’s a contract. Now that he mentions it, pieces of the night he brought me back to Misha return, washing over me like a trickle of water from a broken showerhead. One drop at a time. There was a stack of papers in front of Misha. And his lawyer, Vlad, was there. I should have known my brother wouldn’t leave anything to chance. The marriage contract is probably more legally binding than any document I’ve ever signed, even though my signature wasn’t required.
Misha has the best lawyers money can buy and all the power being Pakhan brings with it. It doesn’t matter how he ascended his throne. He’s there now, and no one can unseat him unless they kill him before he kills them.
“So you haven’t seen it, then,” Scorpion is saying, his voice knowing, like it’s what he expected.
I’m so lost in my thoughts that it takes me a couple of seconds to comprehend. He’s talking about the contract. The supposed marriage contract. The one binding me to him until death do us part.
It’ll be a hell of a lot sooner than that.
I’m about to ask him what the contract says. Not that I trust him to tell me the truth, but my own brother didn’t bother to show me, even though he’s playing God with my life. But then Scorpion pulls a thick, folded packet of papers from inside his suit and extends it to me.
“You might want to take a look. Specifically, the clause concerning issue.”
I blink, still struggling to make sense of everything. “Issue?”
“Offspring,” he says succinctly, shoving the folded document into my chest when I fail to accept it.
“Children?” I snatch the contract from his grasp, appalled.
Misha has reached a new low.
I’m not surprised, of course. I expect anything from him. He’s a tyrant and a sociopath, as ruthless as they come.
“We’re being forced to have kids,” he explains. “At least one.”
I sway.
