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His gaze flicks to Kira, who meets his stare with a scowl. Kira’s appointed herself my guard dog, snarling at Belov every chance she gets, even though I’ve told her it’s not necessary or helpful. Instead, it creates an electric tension every time they are in the same space.
I don’t miss the way Belov’s gaze drifts appreciatively down Kira’s body before snapping back to her face. “Kira,” he says, with a hint of a challenge. “You look lovely as well.”
She responds with a vicious eye roll as he steps further into the room. “And you look like the devil incarnate.”
A muscle ticks in his jaw. “If you can’t play nice, you can spend the night in the dungeon. I’m sure you’ll find it lacking compared to the accommodation upstairs, but I won’t have you ruining tonight for her. Or for me.”
Kira’s eyes narrow, her ruby-red lips press into a thin line. If there weren’t half a dozen guards milling about, I bet she’d break a champagne flute and use the broken glass to shank him.
“Whatever,” she says, crossing her arms and looking away.
Belov turns towards me. “It’s time to come downstairs and greet your guests.”
My fingernails cut into my palm.My guests. They are hardly my guests, but there’s no point in a rebuttal. I made a deal with the devil and now I must see it through. Kira and I exchange a final look before I follow Belov out of the room, towards the destiny I never asked for and don’t want.
One day at a time, I remind myself. I just need to get through tonight and not think about everyone and everything I am leaving behind.
Not think about Leonid Kozlov, and what we could have been.
What we almost were.
CHAPTERTHIRTY-SIX
ALYONA
“What a wonderful surpriseit must have been to learn about your father,” the wife of the interior minister says to me, a blank smile on her face.
Her husband chortles his agreement. “And what luck,” he winks. “You certainly won’t want for anything ever again.”
I choke back a sarcastic reply. “Yes,” I say between clenched teeth, “a happy surprise.”
The whole night’s been like this. Distinguished guests whose names I forget the minute I’m introduced fawn all over me, telling me how damn lucky—lucky!—I am to be Belov’s heir. To be brought into his strange and suffocating world. The guest list is a testament to the spheres he straddles— business tycoons, politicians, and organized crime heads mingle like it’s the most natural thing in the world. And maybe it is.
But fuck, it’s not a world I want to be part of. As the couple drones on, I scan the opulent ballroom, searching for Kira, my anchor in all of this. I need to feel like myself again, even if it’s just for a moment. It’s not hard to find her, not with that vibrant-red dress, the color of blood. Afuck youto Belov if I was to guess.
She’s in a corner of the room, talking to my father, and it doesn’t seem to be a friendly chat. Belov appears irritated, his hands gesturing, brows pressed together.
This again.
Even though I’ve told her to drop it; I have no doubt that they are arguing about me. She’s on thin ice here. Because if Belov is pushed too far, he will come out swinging, and I don’t want her to be on the receiving end.
“Would you excuse me,” I say to the older couple. “I need to have a word with my father.”
They wave me off, and I head in their direction, sticking to the edges of the room to avoid being sucked into any more useless conversations. Just as I make it to the edge of the room, a big male body carrying a tray full of hors d’oeuvres steps into my path.
“Shrimp toast, madame?”
“No thanks,” I say, and then stop. Because that voice, I know that voice. That body, the broad shoulders and hulking frame a head taller than almost anyone else in here, it’s more than familiar.
It’s mine.
“Leo, what the fuck are you doing here?” I whisper-yell. Dressed as a server, he’s wearing a ridiculous blond wig and thick black-rimmed glasses, a tray delicately balanced in his enormous hand. And even though I’m horrified that he’s here, I also desperately want to fall into his arms.
“I’m offering you an appetizer.”
“Jesus, you’re going to get yourself killed.” Desperate not to attract attention, I pull him further into the corner. “You need to leave. Turn around now and go.” Fear curls low in my belly. I’m terrified what will happen if Belov’s guards see him, if they realize who he actually is. Belov will interpret this as a declaration of war.
“That’s right, I do need to leave. With you and Kira. My brothers and Yulian are all here and we’re not leaving without the both of you.”
