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“Well, you might not know what you want,” Soph announced, pulling back as I reached for my drink, “but I sure as hell do. I don’t want my brother marrying Anya Volkov.”
It was a good thing I’d swallowed, otherwise I would have spat my drink all over her. I blinked. Of all the people.... “Her?”
“Wait—you know her?”
“Well, yeah. She’s a socialite. She’s also friends with my sister. She couldn’t come to the wedding because she was in Paris with her divorcee mother. But I had no idea Viktor was into her!” Thinking back to the wedding, I remembered Viktor talking to Anya’s dad. Christ! “That motherfucker! Your brother is a piece of work, isn’t he!”
Sophia blinked, hands raised in protest. “Whoa, back up. Care to tell me what brought that on?”
“Viktor was talking to Mr. Volkov at the wedding.”
Sophia began to laugh. “Yeah, my brother is many things, but a pig is not one of them. He wasn’t lying to you, Briana, or being an ass at the wedding. Until three days ago, Anya was just a name on a rolodex at my uncle’s house.”
The buzz of the drink must be making me hard of hearing. I scrubbed a hand over my face. “Please, just explain everything.”
“It’s an arranged marriage, hun. Very old school. My goats for your sheep kind of shit.”
“Ah, ha.” I stared hard at her. The sunlight was blinding, and I could feel a migraine forming. I just wanted to go and sleep until this nightmare ended. “Look, I’ll send a card or something to the happy couple, but I’m not getting involved.”
“No, you don’t get it.” Sophia thumped her cup down and leaned forward. “Viktor doesn’t evenknowAnya. Our uncle arranged it. Vik is a soldier just following orders—”
“Oh, hell! He’s a soldier?”
“Bratva, yes, and he has no reason to disobey. He didn’t want you getting caught up in our world, so he let you go, Bri. But now you’re here. You’re in the thick of this, Bri. If you stay long enough, and if you want to fight for him and for what you twoclearlyhave, then Viktor will challenge Uncle’s orders and probably win. He’s our uncle’s favorite for a reason.”
“‘Probably win’?” I repeated. “Are you saying there’s a chance that Viktor wouldn’t win if I fought for him?”
“Well, there’s a chance the sun won’t come up tomorrow, but we still all keep moving as if it will,” Sophia muttered dryly.
“I don’t know, Soph.” I let out a long breath and leaned back onto the chaise lounge.
“It’s a lot, I know.” Sophia ran the tip of her finger around the rim of her glass. “But I’m glad you know now. I always wanted you out here, Bri. Hell, you even talked about coming out after the first year at the Manhattan firm.”
“I’m glad I know now too,” I said, the words coming out without me thinking them, but once I said them, I knew it was true.
“Zaika!”
Sophia and I both bolted to our feet as Viktor stormed to the rail of an upper-level balcony above. “What are you doing?!” he shouted down at us. “It’s not even noon! And you have a virus to send on that cellphone—”
“I’m going!” Sophia cut him off. “I just had a bosom friend whose world shattered to itty bitty pieces. That shit comes first, you know!”
Viktor muttered a curse.
Laughing under her breath, Sophia scurried away, leaving the drinks. I stood there, looking up at Viktor. His dark gaze shifted over me, calculating. A little spark flared deep inside my chest as I watched him watch me. Could I really let this man go without a fight?
If I fought for Viktor, it wouldn’t be a fight for a boyfriend; it would be a fight for keeps. And I didn’t know if I could do that. How could I be ready forthat? Doing so would upend everything I’d worked my whole life for.
But when I thought I was pregnant, I was ready to try....Where was that courage, that determination now? I swallowed thickly, not sure I could summon it again.
“You should eat something,” Viktor said, voice carefully guarded.
I reached for the cup. “All the major nutrients are in here,” I quipped. It was an idiotic defiance and not even funny. Viktor rolled his eyes and returned to the house.
I fell onto the lounge.Anya Volkov.Of all the prissy, dippy women he could end up with. I dropped my head into my hands.What am I going to do now?
