I look up. “How long before?”
“Two weeks. Maybe three.”
“Three weeks.” I don’t understand. But as the seconds tick by, something slides into place. “You’d beenwatching mefor three weeks?”
He nods. “Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I knew Yuri would come after you when he learned of your existence.”
My chest tightens. "You told him about me?"
He shakes his head. “No, I never mentioned you to him. But he’s got good instincts. He knew I was withholding information. So he had someone follow me. By the time I realized I was being followed, it was too late. I had led them to you.”
“How?”
“Because I couldn’t stay away,malyshka. I knew I had to protect you from the men he would send. So I followed you. Watched you.”
“You stalked me? Why didn’t you approach me?”
“Would you have believed me if I’d told you any of this?”
I’m finding it hard to believe him now, and I’m married to him.
I shake my head and look down. “No, I wouldn’t.”
“I knew I had to come up with a plan to protect you. That’s when I decided to marry you.”
“How would marrying you protect me?”
“The alliance Yuri and I are in. We live by a strict set of rules. The first rule being that all spouses and family of each member are off limits. They are protected. And if that rule is broken, then the member responsible for breaking it is not only removed from The Six, but they are also stripped of everything… fortunes… lives.”
“Meaning?”
“As my wife you’d be safe.”
“But why would you care if I was safe. I wasn’t anyone to you.”
“Because the moment I saw you, I wanted you to be.”
Warmth tugs at the edges of my frayed nerves. All this time it was about protecting my life.
But then another thought creeps in and sends an uneasy feeling into the pit of my stomach.
“How much was the inheritance Yuri stole from my mom?” I ask.
Nikolai hesitates long enough to feed the doubt circling in my gut.
“A hundred billion dollars.”
A gasp falls from my lips. “A hundredbilliondollars?”
And there it is.
A hundred billion reasons why he would want to marry me.
Not because he wanted a wife.
