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“Olga has been wonderful since your mother passed, but she can’t do everything. She needs help. And so Caterina is here to help her. Does that make sense?”
Anika’s expression is guarded, but she doesn’t say anything in response, which I take as a good sign.
“She’ll be very kind to you. But I expect you to be kind in return. Do you understand me?”
Anika purses her lips. “So she’s like a nanny?”
I let out a sigh, looking at Olga helplessly. I don’t dare look at Caterina. I can only imagine what she must be thinking right now. Just as I shouldn’t have sprung it on the girls, I should have warned Caterina sooner about my children. But goddamn it, I’ve had enough on my plate over the past days and weeks and even months without worrying about my own domestic matters.
Olga gives me a quick nod, and I relent.
“Something like that, yes.” I feel Caterina stiffen next to me, but I’ll deal with her later. For now, my primary focus is on mollifying my children so that they’ll at least give Caterina a chance.
“Go back inside with Olga now, girls,” I say quickly, before Anika can come up with another reason to be upset. “We’ll all have lunch together later, but first, I want to get Caterina acquainted with her new home.”
Anika nods, still tight-lipped. She glances up at Caterina, her blue eyes narrowed as if she’s inspecting her. “The gardens are nice,” she says finally, and then turns on her small heel, following Olga back inside with a ramrod-straight spine, her chin lifted defiantly.
“Lord, save me from women,” I mutter under my breath. First, Caterina fought with me, and now Anika is determined to test the limits of my patience.
“I don’t know why you expected it to go smoothly,” Caterina says tightly, pulling her hand out of mine now that they’re gone. “I see that you didn’t tell them anything more about me than you did me about them.”
I fight the urge to pinch the bridge of my nose. I can feel a headache coming on. “I should have prepared everyone better, yes.”
Caterina’s mouth turns down as she eyes me. “Admitting a mistake. I thought men like you never made mistakes.”
“For Christ’s sake, woman, can you not give me a moment?” I glare at her. “You want to fight with me now, here, on the steps of your new home?”I thought you wouldn’t be so combative, coming from one arranged marriage already,I want to say, but I don’t. I’m not the one who seems to be spoiling for a fight this morning.
“You should have told me you had children,” Caterina says quietly.
“You didn’t ask me, either.” I can feel the small muscles in my jaw working, leaping with tension.
“I thought you would tell me anything pertinent.” Caterina lifts her chin, looking for all the world like Anika did a moment ago, stalking back towards the house.
Very, very slowly, I let out a long breath.
“Let me make this very clear, then, since I was not clear enough before,” I say tightly, leveling my gaze at hers. “I need two things from you—the reasons why I married you, beyond brokering peace with Luca. I need a mother for my children, and I need a son to be my heir. I don’t need love or a wife to be my partner or pleasure. I’ve done fine without the first two, and I can find the last wherever I please. What I need is for you to do your duty and do it without disrupting the peace of my household.”
“Then I’m just a glorified nanny that you get to fuck.” Caterina spits out the words, glaring at me. “You could have told me that sooner.”
“If that’s how you want to look at it, then that’s fine.” I glare at her. “But those are the things that I need, and that’s how it will be. This is not a negotiation, Caterina. The vows are made, your pussy has been fucked, this marriage is sealed. I am telling you, as your master and your husband, what I require of you.”
“No one is mymaster,” Caterina hisses. “Least of all, a Bratva dog.”
“That’s not what I heard of your last husband.” I smile cruelly at her. “And if Luca could tell you whose marriage bed to go to, then that’s two masters you’ve had before me.”
Caterina looks as if she wants to slap me for that. Her cheeks are burning red, her eyes flaming, but she holds herself back.
“We’ll talk more after I show you around about how the house is run and what I expect from you,” I tell her coolly, as if she isn’t looking at me like she’d prefer to see my head offered to her on a platter. “But for now—”
“I have a stipulation,” Caterina hisses, and it’s all I can do not to laugh.
“I told you this was not a negotiation.” I look at her, half-astounded that she’s still fighting me. “There’s nothing you can say that—”
“You also told Luca you wouldn’t hurt me.” Caterina nearly spits. “That, I believe,wasa condition of this marriage.”
“Nothing I’ve said so far involves harming you in any way.” I look at her curiously. “What are you implying, exactly?”
Caterina glares at me. “That if you force me to your bed without my permission while I am actively telling you that I do not want you and will not willingly fuck you, then it’s rape. And I believe that’s the very definition of hurting someone.” She smiles coldly at me. “Would you like me to tell Luca that you’re raping the woman he entrusted you with?”
