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What I want is a woman who gives a shit about me in bed for some reason other than just what I can buy her or the story she can tell her friends over brunch. I want—as I’d thought earlier—companionship. A woman that matters—who I matter to.
The girl is still looking at me. There’s a slight pout around her mouth, because I haven’t given her anything close to the answer she wants—in fact, I haven’t really given her an answer at all. And everything in my mind are thoughts that I can’t say aloud, because a man like me, in my line of work, in this world, isn’t meant to want those sorts of things.
“Not tonight,” I tell her, doing my best to sound regretful. “Sorry.”
She looks more than a little upset. I get up, walking past her, phone out already to text my driver to come around and pick me up. I see the call from Nikolai Vasilev earlier today, and I think of what I told Finn earlier—that I’ll contact Vasilev tomorrow about the marriage.
Maybe the Kings pushing me into this isn’t so bad.I can’t see how a girl Marika’s age will be what I want and need in a wife, but stranger things have happened. And if I find in time that I want to go back to the meaningless sex that I once so enjoyed—well, fidelity has never been part and parcel of a mafia marriage, anyway.
At the very least, she will give me what I need most.
An heir.
Marika
In the morning, I wake up to a text message from my brother.
Be ready to meet Theo in three days. Lilliana will be over after breakfast.
I roll my eyes as I get up, pushing my tangled hair out of my face. It’s just like my brother to tell me that sort of news with a text message, as if he were asking me if I wanted to make plans to go out to dinner instead of informing me that I would be meeting my future husband in a matter of days.
A phone call would have been nice, at least.
It also doesn’t surprise me that he’s sending Lilliana over to smooth things out, although I’m glad he is. Lilliana and I are closer now than I’d ever hoped we would be—especially at the start, when she wanted no part of our family or the marriage she’d been pushed into. But I’d tried to help her at the beginning of it all, to make it easier for her, and now I think she means to try to do the same thing for me.
I have a hard time eating breakfast. Adrik is nowhere to be seen, which I’m glad for, because I have no idea what I would say to him right now.I’m sorry, I’m getting married, but once my husband is dead, we might be able to work things out.Adrik has always been patient with me, but I know that’s not the sort of thing that any man would want to hear. I poke at my omelet, my appetite non-existent, and sip on orange juice until I see one of the staff hovering at the door, looking nervously at me.
I’m pretty sure they all think I’m on the verge of going mad, the way I stay here all alone and wander around the house, going from room to room in search of something to occupy myself with. “What is it?” I ask, setting down my fork.
“Mrs. Vasilev is here,” the girl says, and I get up, abandoning my breakfast to go meet Lilliana. I’m glad to have an excuse, honestly.
Lilliana is already in the living room—not the smaller one where I fucked Adrik for the first time, but the larger one with the big windows and French doors that open out onto the pool. Right now, it’s drained and covered, the last snow still clinging to it, and the sight just weighs down my already questionable mood.
“Nikolai wanted me to come see how you’re doing.” She pauses, sinking down onto one of the plush couches. “Iwanted to come see how you’re doing.”
“I’m fine.” I shrug, sitting down across from her cross-legged, feet tucked under my knees. “Three days until I meet Theo.”
“Have you never met him before?”
I shake my head. “I’ve seen him in passing. Meetings with my father. But I’ve never spoken to him or met him personally. He wasn’t friendly enough with my family to be invited to dinner parties or galas or charity events.”
Lilliana’s mouth twitches. “I always find it ironic that an organization as brutal as the Bratva holds charity dinners.”
“I suppose you have to try to wash the blood off somehow.” I twist my hands in my lap, and Lilliana’s gaze drops to them.
“Marika—you helped me when I was like this over Nikolai,” she says gently. “I was scared and abandoned here by my father, thinking I was going to spend one night with yours, only to have your brother lay claim to me and say he was going to marry me. My entire world was turned upside down in a single night. And you were sweet and kind and the only bright spot I had—even if I wasn’t as appreciative of you as I should have been, under the circumstances.”
“It was understandable, under the circumstances,” I tell her wryly. “I would have hated me, too.”
“I never hated you.” Lilliana shakes her head. “I was just terrified and angry. And you have every right to feel the same way.”
“Not really.” I twist my hands together more tightly. “You weren’t raised to think you’d be a Bratva bride. I’ve known since I was old enough to understand who I was that I was going to be married off to someone for the gain of the family. It was just a matter of who it would be—and now I know. So there’s really no reason for me to be upset—” I break off, realizing that I’m suddenly very near tears.
“It’s going to be alright.” Lilliana reaches out, grasping my hands. “Nikolai is nothing like my father. He’ll keep his promises to you. This will just be a means to see Theo dead and the Kings brought down, and then you’ll be free of him.”
“I know he’ll keep his promises.” My voice is a hush now, and I can see my knuckles starting to turn white. When I look up, I see the worried look on Lilliana’s face.
“Whatever it is, Marika, you can tell me.” She squeezes my hand again. “I won’t say anything to Nikolai, if you don’t want me to. You can talk to me.”
