I swallow hard, fighting back the true fear that bubbles up from beneath the surface and makes my eyes burn. “I don’t want this. I never have. I don’t want anything to do with your family or whatever bullshit Yuri has planned.”
“Too bad,” Sergey murmurs, letting the smooth leather of his gloved thumb slide across my jaw, feigning a look of pity. “I hate to break it to you, but this isn’t about what you want. This situation is bigger than both of us, sweetheart.”
In a different situation, that touch might’ve softened me slightly, but it only makes me recoil.
No part of me wants to cooperate, but in every sense, Sergey has me completely cornered.
***
I hate him.
And I show him exactly how much every step of the way. Down the elevator, across the parking garage, and into the black SUV waiting for us.
Even with my squirming and refusal to hand myself over on a silver platter, Sergey’s grip doesn’t loosen.
It infuriates me how he doesn’t even seem to strain, almost like handling me is effortless.
I despise the way he looks at me like he’s already won. Like he has far bigger plans that I don’t know about yet.
And by the time we reach an office building across the city, that gut feeling has been confirmed.
My attempts at struggling lessened the moment the exhaustion caught up with me, and now, I can only follow.
Not because I’ve given up, but because I’m thinking and trying to find a way out. I’m waiting for my chance.
Sergey guides me into a dimly lit office where a man waits behind a glass desk wearing a tailored suit, where a gold chain just barely peeks out from beneath his shirt. Everything about him screams money, and I have every reason to believe it isn’t the clean type.
“Sit,” Sergey orders me while his hand brushes against the small of my back as he pushes me toward the chair.
Regardless of how tired I am, I glare at him, not moving. “You’re out of your mind if you think you can bully me into agreeing to anything. I’m not your little hostage.”
“You don’t need to like it,” he mumbles, moving a touch closer to steal my air, letting his cologne surround me in the intimate space between us. “I just need you to cooperate and do as I tell you.”
“Or what?”
“Or Yuri dies on Lukov turf, and I’ll be sure to treat you with significantly less care,” Sergey whispers, words brushing against my cheek.
“Care?” I return, riddled with disbelief.
But he sighs and tips my chin up again, keeping his voice down. His lips pull slightly, almost like a part of him is enjoying this. “Be smart, Kat. If you care about your brother or the life you’ve curated for yourself, you’ll do exactly as I say.”
My stomach twists at the mention of Yuri again.
Yuri and I have a complicated history, given everything we’ve endured, and the different paths we have taken, but he’s still my brother. We were both little once. Innocent.
I may not know where we stand, but that doesn’t mean I want anything to happen to him. Even if that means giving this bastard what he wants.
“Fine,” I hiss out. “But don’t assume I’m being agreeable.”
Sergey smiles slowly and dangerously. His voice sends prickles down my back. “You will be.”
I hate how sure he sounds. And I hate how something foreign stirs beneath the surface of my resolve in response.
To make matters worse, as the impromptu meeting unfolds, each glance from the apparent lawyer and every word he utters causes the dread in my gut to thicken.
Then I see it. The papers on the desk.
A marriage license.
