I pull her phone out of my pocket and select a video, tapping play. She’s smiling into her camera lens, fluffing her hair. “Oh, Dmitri. You would reject me for my sister? For Lucya? She’s a whore. Watch this.”
The video angle shifts to show Lucya pushing away a male stripper, who’s trying to keep his grip on her wrists with one hand while pulling on her dress with the other. Lucya manages to free herself, hitting him over the head with a champagne bottle.
When she’s left the room, Inessa screams at the man, apparently forgetting to stop the video. “I told you this was her fantasy, you fucking idiot! She wants to be raped! Why did you stop?”
He touches his head, his hand coming away wet with blood. “What the hell? She hit me! I don’t play like that. I thought you meant a little struggling, maybe tie her up! She could have killed me!”
Inessa’s mouth is moving soundlessly as she watches the video, no doubt manufacturing a litany of excuses and lies, but too terrified to speak.
“I would have killed that man for touching my wife, but it seems you had it done first. No loose ends, Inessa?”
“I didn’t- I never-” she wheezes in terror.
“You did.” I cut her off. “I may not have been able to protect her from your cruelty, but I will protect her from knowing what a monstrous piece of shit you are. I’ll tell her you died, wanting to say you were sorry for everything she suffered.”
The realization hits her just as the bullet does.
“Now,will you go back to your room and let me clean this mess up?” Nikolai’s still leaning in the same spot as if he’s the only thing holding up the hospital. “Lucya will make my life a living hell if she finds out that I helped you get out of bed.”
“I think that wraps up the loose ends,” I agree, wanting to pull my wife back into bed with me, knowing that she’s finally safe.
Chapter Thirty
Now, THIS is the wedding of everyone’s dreams.
Lucya…
“It’s nearly time, sweetheart.”
I smile at my mother in the mirror, putting on my lipstick. “I’m ready.”
“It’s so quiet in here,” she muses, tucking a rebellious curl back into my chignon. “A nice change.”
Neither one of us wants to say anything about that horrible day. Alexi nearly punched Damien in the mouth for uttering the sentence, “Lucya’s first wedding.” I convinced Alexi before he beat up his poor brother that that ceremony meant nothing, since I’d always been his.
This time, we’re getting married in a small ceremony at the Smolny Cathedral, my favorite church in St. Petersburg. It has all the magnificent spires and stained-glass windows, but the gold and blue theme of the church is elegant without being overwhelming.
The only two people in the room with me are Mother and Alexi’s sister Irina. “The quiet is nice,” Irina agreed. “The crowd in the bride’s room the last- well, anyway, it was overwhelming, yes? And we get to consume all these tasty treats on our own.”
She grabs another fistful of grapes off the platter, grinning at me. I mourned what I’d never had with Inessa until Irina showed me what sisterhood truly meant.
The windows in the room look out on the front of the church, where a small stream of people are entering the cathedral. We’ve invited the remaining Four Families, of course, and other close allies, but it’s not the ridiculous spectacle like before.
“Here, let’s get your dress straightened up a bit,” Mother said, finishing up the last of the tiny pearl buttons on the back of the dress. It’s a simple gauze overlay with a white silk dress underneath. The seamstress had to let out the waist. At any other time, I would have been panicked, certain that I was gaining weight and hearing the taunts of‘Lucya the Snow Monster!’ in my head.
There’s no room for that mean little voice anymore. I’m not afraid of the extra weight. Not when it means my body is preparing for our baby.
There’s a knock on the door and I can hear Nikolai’s plaintive voice. “I’m here to bring Lucya to the wedding service. Please tell me you are all dressed or Alexi will shoot me in the face.”
Irina is laughing unsympathetically as she opens the door. “Thatishighly likely, but I’ll be happy to report this was all conducted quite properly if you give me your Lamborghini for a month.”
He gasps dramatically. “You would really risk my life just to blackmail me for my favorite car?”
“Yes,” she agrees with no shame at all.
Irina and I are going to be besties.
She leaves quietly and Mother fusses with my veil for a moment. “This is the wedding I’d always hoped for you,” she says. “Youwere never flashy, I knew you’d hate something large and pretentious. But the man waiting for you at the altar is the thing that truly matters. Most arranged marriages don’t turn into love matches. When I married your father, he was essentially a stranger. I was fortunate that we fell in love with each other.
