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“You don’t trust me, do you?” Eden ignores my compliment and studies me suspiciously, biting her lip. “Was it something that she said?”
Your bride has a dark past.
I hesitate for a moment before replying, “I’m trying to trust you.”
“Because you don’t believe that I know nothing.” She shakes her head vehemently. “You don’t believe me. Because if you did, it would be easier to trust me.” Her voice rises slightly, conveying hurt feelings, plain and clear. “Why won’t you believe me?”
“Eden,” I interrupt, trying to soothe her nerves—and mine.
“Don’t make me the bad guy here.” She looks pointedly at me. “When you find out that I’m right, I hope that you’ll keep your word. I hope that you won’t be a coward.”
33
EDEN
DAYS LATER
I don’t knowwhy I wore a satin dress. This isn’t the prom, not that I went. The material is already wrinkled, and we haven’t left the limo. Smoothing it with my hand is not helping. I look like a peach throw pillow that’s burst open and been put back together with double-stick tape.
We’ve driven almost an hour and still haven’t arrived. My right leg bobs up and down like a piston until the limo passes through a pair of towering ironwork gates leading down a drive to a massive mansion.
I jump when a man with an earpiece peers into the tinted window directly at me. The only thing separating us is the glass. Intricate tattoos cover his hands and neck, and my heart sticks in my throat. He eyes me warily and then Nikolai.
Nikolai barely turns his head as he continues talking with Rurik, Larissa’s husband. Rurik lifts his hand and motions the man away.
The man taps on the window, motioning for the window to lower. I slowly move closer to Nikolai, and he looks over.
“What does he want?” he asks Rurik.
“Our guns.” Rurik rolls his eyes and starts cursing.
“It’s fine, Rurik.” Nikolai nods, and hands his gun to Rurik. “Make sure he doesn’t lose it.”
Rurik enters the limo again a minute later and frowns when he glances at me. It’s not my fault, but he doesn’t care. I tremble, looking at Rurik. His cold blue eyes ignore me now, but I remember the first time I met him and how he served at Nikolai’s every beck and call.
“Eden, are you all right?” Larissa presses her hand on my knee to keep it still.
The conversation in the limo stops, and everyone looks at me expectantly. “I’m okay,” I whisper.
Larissa turns to Nikolai. “It’s just nerves,” and then she smiles at her husband. “I remember how nervous I was before we married.”
Rurik’s chiseled jaw, typically set in a severe line, now softens as his lips curl into a warm smile. The coldness in his eyes melts away into tenderness as he gazes at Larissa. Despite his scary attitude, his expression displays affection and adoration that only Larissa can inspire.
I wish I had something like that.
“No.” The sound of my voice interrupts their moment. “No, I’m …”
They all stare at me as I swallow my words. I breathe nervously. “Yes, I’m just nervous.”
Larissa smiles warmly as she pats my cheek. “You’ll be all right, Eden.”
I feel Nikolai staring at me and then at my dress. Before we left the penthouse, he asked if Dominika had helped me dress. When I said yes, Nikolai looked confused and then, shrugging slightly, he walked off.
Following Larissa out of the limo, I step awkwardly through the tall wooden doors into the massive mansion in the Berkshires. Larissa assures me that the owner, Sonia Karamazov, is thrilled to host my wedding shower, and more importantly, to welcome me into the family.
Family …I think bitterly. She means the Bratva.
“Are you and Sonia related?” I whisper to Larissa as we pass a security guard standing in the hallway.
