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But I grip the shelf with enough force that I think my fingernails might crack and kick my legs. I flail and flop until Mikhail can’t hold me.
I crawl forward and swipe my hand under the shelf. For one panicked second, I think it might not be there. Despite how many times I’ve double- and triple-checked, I imagine hitting nothing but dead air.
But then my hand wraps around the now-familiar wooden handle. I rip the letter opener free of the tape, whirl onto my back, and hold the blade in Mikhail’s direction.
He pulls back in shock that quickly turns to rage. “What is that, Cordelia?”
“I’m not going with you,” I grit out. “You can’t force me into this. You can’t drag me out of bed in the middle of the night and have a shotgun wedding.”
“Can’t I?” He smirks. “I’m not sure if you heard me the first time, but I can do whatever the fuck I want.”
I shake my head. “Not me.”
His smile widens. “Especiallyyou.”
I tighten my grip on the letter opener, but it doesn’t matter. Before I can say anything else, an arm swipes out from behind me and knocks my only weapon out of my hands.
I scramble after it, but Alexander kneels on my chest, pinning me down.
“I can’t breathe!” I gasp, clawing at his thigh. “Get off of me!”
He looks down at me, his eyes cold. “Are you going to cooperate?”
A sob wrenches out of my tight chest. “Please, Alexand—I can’t—You’re suffocating me.”
“Are. You. Going. To. Cooperate?” he repeats slowly.
I want to refuse, but my vision is narrowing to pinpricks. Black is creeping in, a growing circle of darkness swallowing my sight.
If I refuse, he’ll kill me. I know it.
“Yes,” I rasp in a desperate attempt to breathe. “Yes, I’ll cooperate. I’ll—Please. I can’t—”
His knee lifts and I inhale greedy lungfuls of air. I flop back on my floor, my head pressing into the plush carpet. Sprawled out and oxygen-starved and defenseless.
“That’s a good girl.” Mikhail grabs my arm and yanks me to my feet.
I wobble as the blood rushes out of my head, but before I can even regain my footing, Mikhail is dragging me towards the door.
For a few stunned seconds, I let him. There’s no use in fighting. Alexander, Mikhail, and my mother are all here and they all want me to get married to Mikhail. No one is going to help me.
Then I hear Ivan’s voice in my head.Captivity is nothing but a state of mind.
The moment I decide I’m caught, it’s over.
I have to fight.
“Wait.” I don’t jerk out of Mikhail’s hold, but I lay a hand on his wrist. I slow him down. “Wait a second.”
“You aren’t getting out of this, so shut up and come—”
“I’m not trying to get out of it,” I lie. “But I… I don’t want to get married like this.”
He rolls his eyes. “If you wanted romance, you shouldn’t have started our wedding day by shoving a knife in my face.”
“I don’t need romance, but we can still make this nice, right?” I brush my thumb along his wrist.
Mikhail looks down at our hands. I expect him to twist away from me. Surely he’ll see right through my games and demand that I shut my mouth, right?
