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CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Isabella
It’sbizarrelysurreal.HereI am on my wedding day, standing around, eating appetizers under Kieran’s portico. Alone. His yard is immense, and the property goes right down to the water. Hundreds of people can fit here.
But not even ten people showed up to celebrate.
My father and uncle didn’t want to come back to Kieran’s house. Especially after he tried to choke Papa again. Not thathe’dbe talking to me. It all happened so fast, Kieran rushing me down the aisle. I would have wanted my best friends here. I was too stressed from the Russian coming at me with a knife to have a conversation with Sam and Ginna about how I was sold off to the Irish. Then to add:Oh, by the way, the wedding is tomorrow.
So, I let it go.
I really miss Sam and Ginna, though. If it’s the last thing I do, I’m sneaking out to go to Sam’s birthday party.
Kieran stands near the outdoor bar in a huddle with his brothers. Shouldn’t he be with me? Right, this marriage isn’t real, and there’s no one here to fake his love for me.
Escaping to be with Ivan is no longer an option. Unless I want to start another war. I’ll keep taking my birth control so I don’t get pregnant. It’s all I have to protect myself. For all I know, Kieran may divorce me if he thinks I can’t give him a child.
Will Ivan still want to marry me if I’m divorced and…used? It’s only been two weeks, and I’m not sure how safe I am with the Irish. I have to keep my eyes and ears open. Clearly, going home to Papa isn’t happening. I doubt he’d take me back, anyway.
One by one, Kieran’s brothers leave. I hug Shea, and even though we just met, talking to her nearly every day while planning the wedding has made me feel close to her. Now, I’m losing that. When Riordan says goodbye, he kisses my hand. It’s the first time I feel like a queen.
Until I see my king on his phone. I’m not sure how I expected him to act on our wedding day, but I remind myself that we’ve only known each other for a couple of weeks.
We’re married strangers.
With nothing more to do, I pick up the dirty plates—good bone china with soft blue diamonds around the edges that Shea brought out from the dining room. Kieran’s mother’s good china, perhaps? A monstrous cherry-wood breakfront is filled with these plates and expensive-looking Irish crystal.
Something else I’m not getting in this wedding package, in addition to a honeymoon. Presents. Am I even getting a wedding night?
A hand reaches around me and takes the plates. “Put those down,” Kieran grunts, trying not to sound like a tyrant. “You don’t clean.” When I turn to face him, something in his expression changes while looking at me. Perhaps it’s the white dress, a reminder of what it really means, what it symbolizes.
“I don’t mind helping out.” I push my hands through my hair, dislodging a pin with soft blue crystals, a gift from Shea.
Pale blue was the theme. The place settings, the blue roses in my bouquet, and the same ones on my wedding cake, which we didn’t even cut. Shea pulled an astonishing number of elements together for this wedding in twenty-four hours.
Kieran kneels to grab the pin. He stands and holds it out to me, but when I go to take it, he steps back. “Let me,” he whispers, staring at my hair. He gently fists a bundle of waves. He stands over me, looking amazing in his tux and smelling delicious with that spicy cologne. I’m dizzy.
He’s my husband. Today’s our wedding day. He barely kissed me. And I don’t think he has any plans to consummate our marriage tonight, given the look of anger that can’t seem to leave his face.
I step back before he can put the clip in my hair, and then I take another one out. “I should get out of this dress.” I look to see what kind of reaction that gets.
He pulls his lower lip between a set of perfect pearly white teeth for a moment. “I have plans tonight.”
“Business dinner plans? I can change into—”
“No,” he deadpans and stares at me until he looks away, a faint splash of pink coloring his cheeks.
“Oh.” I fold my arms. “A little crude, don’t you think? Going to a sex club on our wedding night?” I didn’t expectthat.
“That’s got nothing to do with you.”
“And what will people think?”
“No one who’s paying attention will care if I maintain regular nights at my club. My enemies will be more suspicious if I stop going. They’d think I was in love and then use that against me. Useyouagainst me.”
“Are you sure?” My skin pricks with goose bumps from the slight chill since the sun went down. “Koslov already sent someone to kill me.”
Kieran takes his coat off and wraps it around my shoulders. “Aye, good point. But I don’t think Alexei sent that nut ball. Too sloppy.”
