Artur never planned to hear me out.
I was a fool to think he would. Naive.
My brother isn’t my brother anymore. He’s a Bratva leader. That’s all.
With my heart sinking, I realize that my one chance to escape this arranged marriage is to offer something better. My heart races as I speak.
“I will marry Yulian Andreev. Our family will be allied with his instead of Mikhail. They are well known in this city. They have a lot of pull, a lot of strength. It will be a good alliance forourfamily,” I speak clearly, diplomatically, trying to keep my voice free of the flood of emotions stealing through me.
“You’ll marry an Andreev? Are you fucking kidding me? This is what you’re telling me? You’ll betray our family like that? You’ll choose them over us?”
Sighing, I squeeze my eyes shut and press my fingers into them. “Artur, you’re still not listening. It’s an alliance. A better alliance than the one…”
“It’s not a fucking alliance. It’s a betrayal. It’s a giant fuck-you to our family, Katerina.”
“No, it’s not. And if you take even a second to speak to Yulian, you’ll realize…”
The phone goes dead.
Artur has hung up on me. He wasn’t even willing to consider my counteroffer.
A better marriage. A better alliance. I don’t know who this Mikhail guy is, but I know the Andreevs, backed by the Dubrovs, are a stronger family to have on your side.
Just from that aspect, I thought Artur might bend. But he wasn’t any more interested in that than he was in my plea for my freedom, for my life.
My heart is heavy, and my thoughts are filled with stress when I head downstairs to have dinner with Yulian.
He notices my somber mood right away.
“I take it the call didn’t go well?” he says gently.
“It’s okay, he’ll come around,” I smile, trying to make light of my brother’s response because I don’t know how to handle it yet.
“He’ll come around,” Yulian says, pulling a chair out for me. “Sit, let’s eat some food and maybe watch a movie. Something funny?”
“Sure, that sounds nice,” I agree as Yulian places a hot plate of food in front of me. It smells amazing.
His smile is amazing.
My heart is so confused about everything that’s happening. Did I really tell my brother I would marry Yulian? Would I? My heart somersaults as I ask myself the question. I would. I definitely would. But I would feel deep guilt for trapping him in a marriage with me when he probably has the choice of any girl he wants.
Putting my head down, I pick up my fork and focus on the flavors of my dinner.
I’ll figure it all out.
I have to.
Chapter 17 - Yulian
Katerina has been miserable. She’s clearly struggling with the issues between her brother and herself, and the arranged marriage.
She hasn’t said any more to me about the conversation she had with Artur. The only thing I managed to get out of her was thathe’ll come around.But come around to what? I don’t know. Not proceeding with the arrangement? Letting her marry me?
I don’t want to push Katerina because I can see she’s already buried in her thoughts. She needs time to process things for herself.
I told her I’d wait, and I really meant that. I want her tochooseme. I want her to marry me, but I won’t do what her brother is doing and force her into it.
I want her towantit.
