“I didn’t…” My voice tapers off.
“Now…” he rumbles, standing again, so that he’s almost touching me. I don’t mean to, but I stumble back. “You’re going home?—”
That starts me trembling again. If Dimitri finds out what I’ve done, what will he do to me? How fast will he marry me off?
“Please.”
“Begging isn’t going to help you.”
“You can’t take my money. I need it.” I feel the panic rising again, and I can’t keep the tremor from my voice.
“For what?” his dark eyes search mine, giving away nothing. He’s like a snake.
I can’t tell him that I plan to run away, that I’m trying to escape the very fate he’s designed for my sister. “Without money, I’m completely trapped,” I whisper.
His mouth presses into a firm line. “You’re trapped either way, little bird.”
I shake my head, tears welling in my eyes. That’s another thing that irritates me about myself. I can’t hold back my emotions even when I try. And the truth of his words has hit a nerve. “You could help?—”
“If you think I’m the hero that comes in and saves you after you tried to take…” He looks behind me at one of the guards.
“She’d won over fifty grand when we pulled her from the table.”
“You tried to take fifty thousand dollars from me and now you want to ask me for help?” he makes a tutting noise with his tongue that jangles across my nerves.
My eyes close again. I was already trapped between my father and my brother. But now…my situation has gotten a whole lot worse. “Please.”
“If this is your cry for aid, denied. If this is your request for mercy. Also denied.” His voice grows harder with each word.
I sit back in the chair, the air stuttering out of my lungs. “Grace then?”
“How’s that?” For the first time, something flickers in his eyes.
“If you’re going to kill me, would you do it quickly?” Surprise makes his gaze lighter, brighter, and for the first time I notice the warm brown specs in his near black gaze.
“I’m not killing you,” he answers, the light disappearing. “But you will have to pay.”
“What…what do you mean?” I gasp, gripping the arms of the chair.
“You’ll find out soon enough. First. The wedding. Then, we’ll talk about what you can do to thank me for not calling the police and sending you to prison.”
“Prison?” Why had that not occurred to me? My whole goal in some shape or form is freedom. But the trap just keeps getting tighter. “I’d rather you just killed me.”
“Noted.” And then holds out his hand. “And what about your brother? What is he going to think about your little adventure tonight?”
Dimitri? Would he marry me off? Return me to my father? Keep me locked away forever? I have no idea what he is capable of, what he has planned. “He can’t find out.”
“Good. Then your attempted theft is going to be our little secret.”
I’m Russian. Which means I know what he really means. He’s blackmailing me.
He reaches out his hand, like I’m supposed to touch him. I ignore his offer of help, pushing up from my chair, my back stiff and straight. Because I’m trying to show I’m strong, even when I know the truth.
My future brother-in-law has me completely under his heel. And I am about to be crushed.
CHAPTER THREE
Ryker
