My entire body goes cold. “So, you’re only doing this to hurt Dimitri?” I knew he wanted to hurt my brother. That’s not new. But I thought, maybe, Alek wanted me for me. It’s naïve but it’s there.
He places his hands on my hips. “Not just for Dimitri. The second I saw you, I knew you had to be mine.” He kisses the spot right behind my ear, making me gasp. We haven’t even had a first real kiss yet. Just a brush of our lips on our wedding day.
“Alek…”
“Do you want to be mine yet, Katya?”
“You’re at war with my brother. You kidnapped me. My brother is panicking right now, trying to get me back. I can’t be yours.”
“And yet, you have my ring on your finger.” He interlaces our fingers together to prove his point.
“Because you forced it onto me.”
“True. I did. But can you honestly say that you hate me?”
I can’t answer him because… because I don’t know the answer to his question. Do I hate him? Yes, of course. But… there’sanother part of me deep down that doesn’t hate Alek as much as I should. That feels excited to be around him. Thrilled.
Those are dangerous thoughts.
“We don’t want to be late for the show,” he says when I don’t respond. “Come along.”
I cling to Alek after we arrive at the opera house. So many people are mingling about inside the grand elegant lobby. I could look around the space and keep finding more and more things to discover.
I have to admit, if Alek had never kidnapped me, I never would be seeing something so beautiful right now. I never would have gotten something like this hidden away in my room.
“You look like you’re seeing the sun for the first time,” he murmurs as we walk through the lobby.
“It’s beautiful.”
“It sure is.” He keeps his eyes on me as he says it.
I can’t help but blush. This is all so new for me and it’s terrifying and thrilling and I have to make sure I breathe so I don’t pass out from it all.
“Alek,” a man says, approaching us with a thick, booming voice. He has an even thicker beard that covers the entire lower half of his face.
“Ah, Rocko. Nice to see you again.” They shake hands. The power in their stances is enviable. I wonder what it would be like to feel that powerful. To be a man in this world. A rich, handsome wealthy man.
“Who is this?” Rocko asks, sliding his eyes onto me.
“My wife, Katya.”
Rocko takes my hand and kisses the back of it. “A pleasure.”
I rip my hand away without even thinking.
Alek’s laugh is strained as Rocko gives him a confused look. “She’s been through some challenging things in her life. The touch of a man is not easy for her.”
“My apologies then.” Rocko settles his eyes back onto me. “My, I have to say, that you are effortlessly beautiful. Where did you two meet?”
“On a date,” Alek lies. “We met and just knew we had to be together.”
“How long have you been married?”
“For a day. This is our honeymoon.”
Rocko claps his hands together as if he’s happy and yet there’s a darkness underneath that belies that fact. “How novel. How sweet. You are a lucky man to have such a beautiful wife.”
“I am lucky.” Alek’s hand stiffens on my low back. He doesn’t like Rocko telling me this. It probably doesn’t help that Jack tried something with me just yesterday.
