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I’d expected him to lie. Even hoped he would.
“At least you didn’t lie about never lying to me.” A hollow laugh escaped my throat. “Is it true that I’m his last living relative?” The last in his bloodline. A bloodline that Kristoff’s mentor, the man he had sworn his allegiance to, had vowed to erase.
Another nod. The lights around my peripheral vision dimmed a little more.
“And is it true that you promised Sokolov could have me right before Aslanov left prison?” So he could kill me before my father’s eyes.
“I did.”
My heart blew apart like confetti. I dropped onto a weight bench. Darkness shrouded my vision, and it became difficult to breathe. My head dropped between my knees as I pulled deep breaths.
Get up.
Flee.
Run while you can.
I wanted to lash out, scream, shout, but my body wouldn’t cooperate. All I could do was sit and stare at the floor. Right until the moment I saw the edge of his feet.
“Deep breaths,” he said.
My head shot up. “Go to hell.”
His gaze was as mercurial as ever. It didn’t show an ounce of regret, or even sorrow. There was nothing there.
I swallowed. “Was any of it real? Or have I lived in a mirage for years?”
“We’ll talk when you’ve calmed down.”
I shot to my feet. “Calm down? Did you just seriously say I needed to calm down?” I couldn’t help myself, and my fist shot out and connected with his chest. He didn’t even budge.
His nostrils flared, but other than that, he was like a marble statue.
I wiped away my tears, hating that they were tangible proof of how I felt. “I hate you so much right now.”
“I know.”
I hated it even more that he sounded so rational. “You kept me with you all these years, just to hand me over to Sokolov.” My mind couldn’t accept it. Was this what an out-of-body experience felt like? It was as if my words were spoken by another, as if I looked down at this fucked up scene from a cloud above, distanced from my body.
I gazed at the door, counting how many steps it would take to reach the door. And then what? There were a dozen guards outside. Men I’d lived with for years. Soldiers, some of whom I’d befriended. Others I had a cordial relationship with. A sudden thought hit me, the possibility almost blowing my mind.
“Does Viking know?” I didn’t think I could bear the knowledge that he’d kept this from me as well. I babysat his kid, went to their place for Sunday dinner, and had adopted him as my uncle.
I read the answer in Kristoff’s eyes. Another blow to my chest. The home I’d been living in had turned out to be a house of cards. My life had been hit by an earthquake and I was the one who was being buried under the rubble.
Another thought hit me. “Why the ruse? Why the rush to marry me?” I felt sick. Tomorrow was supposed to be my wedding day. Like a love-sick idiot, I’d agreed to the warp-speed marriage, believing his story about wanting to tie me to himself as soon as possible. Like an idiotic heroine from some chick lit I’d accepted it, no questions asked.
“It’s not a ruse, Ekaterina. This marriage will happen.”
A sliver of hope filled my chest, but then suspicion set back in. “Why? And don’t tell me it’s because you love me, because I will never believe that.”
Please tell me you love me.
“I have my reasons.”
For a second, I couldn’t breathe from the burn in my chest. Irrational as it was, a part of me had hoped he would say those three words and everything would somehow be alright.
It made little sense. “But why? What could you possibly gain by marrying me?” My breath caught and my heart froze. “Unless you think I will inherit from Aslanov. And as my widow…” Nausea crept up my stomach.
