Total pages in book: 106
Estimated words: 103852 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 519(@200wpm)___ 415(@250wpm)___ 346(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103852 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 519(@200wpm)___ 415(@250wpm)___ 346(@300wpm)
The moment I’m within reach, he squeezes my waist, and in spite of my crutch, he carefully pulls me close so his chest nearly crashes against mine.
The stormy winter skies in his eyes bore into mine as he orders the priest, “Start.”
I don’t want to look at his eyes or get caught in the lack of empathy there. Sometimes, they’re too apathetic, too black. Like now.
However, there’s something else in there, something akin to carnal possession.
I rip my gaze from his to focus on the priest, an old man with a half-bald head who speaks with a thick Russian accent.
“Skip that,” Adrian orders again when he starts to talk about marriage and its values.
“Do you, Adrian Volkov, take Lia Morelli as your wedded wife, to be with you always, in wealth and in poverty, in disease and in health, in happiness and in grief, from this day until death do you part?”
“I do,” Adrian says with so much conviction, I want to stab him for taking such vows so recklessly.
The priest turns toward me. “Do you, Lia Morelli, take Adrian Volkov as your wedded husband, to be with you always, in wealth and in poverty, in disease and in health, in happiness and in grief, from this day until death do you part?”
I stare at Adrian, at the promise of retaliation in his closed off features if I don’t say the words he wants me to.
He really shouldn’t have threatened me, because now, I’ll be completely on board with Luca’s plan. If not for anything else, then to get rid of him and the negative influence he has on my life.
Ever since he walked into it, I’ve lost complete control and I need to get it back.
During the past few weeks, I was planning to tell Luca I wouldn’t spy on the man who’s taking care of me, but Adrian showed me his true colors tonight.
“I do,” I say meekly, with no emotions at all.
“Are you sure, miss?” the priest asks, and Adrian stares at him as if contemplating whether or not he should chop his head off.
“I am,” I say. Because I’m going to make Adrian regret everything he’s made me live through since the day I first saw him in my parking garage. While I was ready to overlook that with the connection I thought we’d formed, nothing can forgive what he’s done to me tonight.
I’m still not over my ended career, but now, I find myself pregnant and also forced to marry him.
Adrian takes two small boxes from Kolya and slides a diamond ring onto my finger. It’s big, perfectly cut, and elegant. Simple and a flawless fit. However, I find no joy looking at it. If anything, it feels like an imaginary weight on my hand.
He places the other ring, a simple white gold band, in my palm and I turn off my emotions as I glide it onto his finger.
“I now pronounce you husband and wife,” the priest says with a regretful tone. Maybe he knows exactly what type of man Adrian actually is and he’s pitying me. “You may kiss the bride.”
Adrian pulls me against his chest as he grabs me by my nape. “You’re mine now, Mrs. Volkov.”
I hate having his last name attached to mine. For some reason, it feels like I’ve sold my soul to the devil.
Worse, I actually married him.
But while Adrian considers this a win, for me, it’s only the beginning.
He forced me to be his wife? Fine.
But it’s by his wife’s hands that his life will end.
I don’t close my eyes as he presses his lips to mine. His kiss is all-consuming and meant to dominate me, to tear all my walls down.
But I’ve already lost everything.
Now, all I can do is win.
26
Adrian
It’s done.
Lia is now my wife, bound to me for life, whether she likes it or not.
If I wasn’t so pressed for time, I would’ve done this under different circumstances, after her leg was healed. It would’ve happened anyway, but my methods could’ve been gentler.
However, not only did she fall pregnant sooner than I expected, but I also finally have an alliance with Lazlo Luciano without having to get her involved.
I planned it for weeks on end, creating the perfect circumstances so I’d somehow end up in the same club as Lazlo during a meeting with one of the other Italian families, the Rozettis.
I had to make Yan into an assassin, have him kill one of the other Italians to save Lazlo, who’s always been at the crux of territorial wars. Even though the Lucianos have been ruling with an iron fist, they have a bloody history with the Rozettis, so it wasn’t a first that one of them would try to kill him.
By killing one of their capos and saving Lazlo’s life, I assured myself a direct line to the Don of the Lucianos. One he confirmed when he invited me to his house over a phone call.