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I have no doubt Alexei’s brother knows I’m here against my will. In fact, he likely aided Alexei in my capture.
Now Ruslan smiles, and it’s all fangs. “A true Molotov, through and through. How did my brother get so lucky?”
“Ruslan.” Alexei’s tone is dagger sharp. “Just take the fucking pictures.”
Ruslan’s smile stretches. “As you wish, big brother.” Stepping back, he motions for Alexei to move toward me and lifts his camera. “Say cheese.”
The flash goes off before Alexei can take his place next to me. It’s followed by two more flashes in rapid succession. Vika and Larson prudently back away as Alexei finally reaches me and pulls me against him, draping a proprietary arm around my waist. Another flash blinds me. I blink, and Alexei turns me to face him. Cupping my jaw with his big palm, he tilts my face up and dips his head until our lips are only an inch apart.
Flash.
Alexei’s lips, soft and possessive, touch mine.
Flash. Flash.
I’m so discombobulated by what’s happening I barely react as Alexei deepens the kiss, sweeping his tongue over the closed seam of my lips while pressing his hand to the small of my back to bring me flush against him. His erection molds against my stomach, hard and thick, startling me into a gasp. Instinctively, my hands fly up to grip his shoulders, and he takes advantage of my parted lips to invade my mouth with his tongue. He tastes like minty toothpaste and barely restrained male hunger, like every twisted fantasy of mine, and despite our audience, a familiar heat streaks down my spine, treacherous desire pooling deep inside my core. I forget all about the impending wedding and the bright flashes going off in the periphery of my vision, about Ruslan’s obvious hostility and Alexei’s terrifying plans for me.
I forget it all as I wind my arms around my captor’s neck and kiss him back with the same poorly contained hunger.
It’s not until Alexei tears his lips away, breathing heavily as he stares down at me with a dark, scorching gaze, that I register the rhythmic sound of slow clapping. Blinking, I turn my head and see Ruslan applauding mockingly, the camera once more hanging around his neck.
I flush, beyond embarrassed, and push on Alexei’s chest so I can take a step back. Alexei doesn’t let me. Instead, he grips my hips with both hands, holding me in place, and turns his head to pin his brother with a lethal glare.
Ruslan stops clapping and lifts his camera again.
Flash.
Flash.
Flash.
“Smile,” Alexei orders softly, bending his head to bring his lips to my ear, and I force the corners of my mouth to curve up, even as the heat inside me cools and dies.
This is all a sham, a mockery of what a wedding should be. No wonder Ruslan hates me. If he cares for Alexei, this can’t be what he wants for him. I can’t be what he wants for Alexei—a bride who hates her groom, a woman who had to be stolen from her family.
Everything about this is wrong. Everything is fucked up—for me and for Alexei.
For a second, I feel a bizarre pang of sympathy for my captor, but then I recall that he is my captor. Alexei orchestrated this. We didn’t have to end up here—he made it happen. All of it: the betrothal when I was fifteen, the subsequent years of stalking me, the storming of Nikolai’s compound, and now this travesty of a wedding. Soon, he’ll also force a child on me, and we’ll be a fucked-up family, our marriage doomed from the start.
We’ll be like my parents, only worse. They, at least, loved each other in the beginning.
Flash. Flash. Flash.
My breath accelerates, my heartbeat pounding in my ears. Alexei shepherds me toward the rail, and Ruslan takes more pictures of us there, with the endless ocean as the backdrop. Then Ruslan hands the camera to Larson and comes to stand next to his brother, so it’s the three of us.
Flash. Flash.
I’m sweating now, and despite the hot sun overhead, it’s a cold, clammy sweat. There isn’t enough oxygen around me, and no matter how fast my lungs work, I can’t pull in a full breath. Somebody says something, the words distorted as if coming through a tunnel, and Alexei turns me to face him.
Flash.
Black spots dot my vision, and Alexei’s face, dark with some emotion, swims in front of my eyes. My knees turn to jelly, and I clutch at his biceps as he grips my arms, urgently saying something I can’t hear over the loud pounding in my ears.
I’m going to pass out, I realize with a distant sense of shock, and then everything goes black.
Chapter 5
Alexei
Heartbeat spiking, I catch Alina as she slumps against me, her slender body going limp in my grasp.
