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Across the driveway, my brother’s face twists with fury. He starts toward us, only to stop when Alexei’s finger twitches warningly on the trigger.
“Don’t, Kolya,” I say hoarsely as Alexei begins dragging me toward the tree line, gun still trained on Nikolai. Each word is another nail in my coffin, but I push ahead, raising my voice as the distance between me and my brother grows. “I’ll be fine. Just take care of Chloe and Slava, and I’ll see you back in Moscow sometime, okay? And tell Konstantin not to look for me. I don’t want blood spilled on my behalf!”
I shout the last words as the dark forest closes around us, leaving me at the mercy of my captor—the man I’ve just agreed to marry.
My worst nightmare come true.
Chapter27
Present Day, Location Unknown
Opening the door to the cabin, Alexei shepherds me inside, his hand still on my elbow. In the two minutes it took us to walk down here, the storm arrived in earnest, the torrential rain lashing at the circular windows as lightning flashes twice in a row. Claps of thunder follow a second later, making me jump again even though I expected them—a sign of just how on edge I am.
This is it.
No more running, no more hiding, no more delays.
After more than a decade, my day of reckoning is at hand.
Alexei turns me to face him before letting go of my arm. With the sun hidden behind the thick clouds, the cabin is cloaked in shadows, the daylight filtering in through the windows too weak to dispel them. Too gray to chase away the darkness pressing in around me, or the fear twisting my insides and making my pulse race.
The fearandthe desire.
I swallow hard and back away as another bolt of lightning illuminates the cabin for a moment, highlighting the sharp, taut lines of Alexei’s face and the scorching hunger in his eyes.
“You have no idea how long I’ve wanted you,” he says in a low, guttural voice as he reaches for the hem of his black T-shirt. With a swift, economical motion, he pulls the shirt over his head and lets it drop to the floor. His voice deepens into a rough growl. “How long I’ve waited for you.”
All the saliva in my mouth evaporates as the cabin tilts around us, the yacht rocked by the ever-growing waves. “It’s hardly waiting if you fuck other women.” I think I sound coherent, but I can’t be sure. My heart slams sideways against my ribs, and my skin burns as if I were in the grip of a fever. I’ve never seen Alexei shirtless, not even in the PI photos, and the powerful, starkly masculine lines of his torso exceed anything my imagination has conjured up over the years.
Thick, hard-muscled shoulders and strong, defined pecs taper in to a lean waist, with each ab muscle sharply delineated. Like his arms, his chest is decorated with tattoos that form a dark, intricate pattern on his tan skin. Crisp black hair swirls around his nipples and dusts the middle of his chest, and below, a thicker line of hair bisects his lower abdomen before disappearing into his low-riding jeans.
I’ve never thought of Alexei Leonov as beautiful, but he is. Terrible and beautiful, like some artist’s depiction of a demon.
His ab muscles ripple as he gives a short, harsh laugh. “You think I’ve been fucking other women?”
I force my gaze up to his face. “Haven’t you?”
The expression on his hard features makes my breath catch. “No, my beauty. From the moment our betrothal contract was signed, I haven’t so much as kissed another woman.”
I swallow, instinctively backing away again, and he comes after me, each stride a predator’s deadly prowl. My pulse leaps higher as the backs of my knees touch the bed and he looms over me.
He grips my cheeks, pouting my lips, and leans in, onyx eyes burning into me. “I wanted to.” His voice is a harsh, dark rasp. “Believe me, I fucking wanted to. So many times, I wanted to forget you, to walk away and find someone else… anyone else. But there’s no one else for me. I’ve known it from the moment I saw you in that hallway outside your father’s office, back when you were still a fucking child… a child dressed up and painted to look like an adult.”
He pushes me down onto the bed, and I’m so stunned that I don’t put up a fight as he covers me with his large, hard body, pinning me in place. Holding himself up on one elbow, he twines the other hand in my hair. His gaze burns me alive as he continues thickly. “I thought you were eighteen—seventeen, at worst—but you weren’t even fourteen. And I fucking wanted you. Do you know what that made me?”
I blink up at him, my hands gripping the sheets on either side of me. “I…”
“A pervert. A pedophile no better than that fucking tutor of yours.”
My breath seizes. “Is that why you killed him?”
“He touched you.” Rage ignites in his eyes and reverberates through his voice. “I saw him touch you. All those months, I fought to forget you, telling myself that you were way too young, that it was unforgiveable to want you, and there he was, lusting after you with no trace of shame. Touching you like it was his right.”
I somehow find a shred of sarcasm. “When it should’ve beenyourright?”
“Exactly.” His eyes gleam in the shadowed interior of the cabin as his voice turns dangerously silky. “That’s when I knew I had to arrange our betrothal.”
His words stun me all over again, to the point that it takes me a second to find my tongue. “You…Youarranged it? Not our fathers? But—”
