NATASHA
“Hold still,”Edik whispered, fumbling with the knots at my wrists. He’d rushed into the room minutes ago. Saw me bound and commenced the apologies. As he searched the dresser by the window for something sharp, he’d told me of Pop’s arrival.
Now, hunched with a steel nail file, Edik’s long hair—so blond it reminded me of Borya’s, my fri … my old guard’s deceit—brushed his face.
Jesus, I doubted Your love after getting raped.
I’d lost every shred of faith, and here I was, like so many others. In the frying pan and praying …Please, please, please save me.
Edik glanced up at me through wheat-colored lashes that fanned wide. So soft. Pop was delusional every time he’d appraised Edik Mikhailov’s protection as more worthy than Lachlan’s. I wish Pop saw Lachlan’s influence on me. All he’d done for me.
“Natasha, I have meant to apologize for my remarks. For all of it. Sima showed me those images of you in a hospital bed after we enjoyed tea, I-I repaid your kindness with?—”
“Doesn’t matter.” I snorted. Later, when she moved in with us, my cousin shared why she had shown him the images. She wanted to save me. Remove me from the contract. “We’re not reliving how I overheard you complain that Lev stuck you with the sick one. Just help me out of the restraints your psycho father put me in!”
“I am.” He growled, taking the old nail file to yet another zip tie. “But hear me out. I had polio as a child, Natasha! I tried … to tell you when I agreed to nullify the contract. We both should marry for love. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. Please accept my apology.”
Polio? It wasn’t as prominent in Russia anymore but still could be deadly for children. “Oh?” My shock resonated sharper than the echo of gunfire from outside. “Thanks for being honest, and for helping me while your family hides in the attic. They left me here.”
Snap. Another zip tie loosened. “You think it’s this Lorenzo person?”
I nodded. “You said my father was walking toward the house. No issues, right? Someone shot from a distance?”
“Da.”
“Hurry, Edik. So, I can stop waiting for a bullet! We gotta reach your father and have him call off his guards. My father will if he will. My family’s more honorable than yours.” I cracked a smile.
With a smirk playing on his lips, Edik prepared a teasing retort, but the door creaked open.
My breath locked in my chest.
“And she will be m…”Click. The soldier filled the doorway like some nightmare carved out of shadow and obsession. Wild-eyed, hair damp and unkempt from sweat. His chest rose and fell with the raggedness of a man who’d murdered many on his way.
Yet his gaze locked on me, and only me.
I froze. My lungs forgot how to move. My wrists throbbed against the myriad of restraints Lev Mikhailov ordered his henchmen to use on me.
Edik surged to his feet, planting himself between us, the dull nail file clutched in his hand. “Stay away from her!” The steel in his tone surprised me.
Lorenzo smiled—thin, cruel. Feral. “Ah, the youngest Mikhailov. Not brave like your brother or father. Kidding, they have others fight their battles.” His boots hit the marble with slow, predatory weight. “Still, you don’t know her like I do.”
“Natasha. Is. My. Friend.” Edik lunged. They collided hard, fists cracking against flesh, bodies slamming onto a dresser, shattering the mirror. Glass crashed to the floor. Brutal, raw, two men matched in strength, neither yielding.
Lorenzo’s snarl ripped through the air. “I know about your family. Old-school Russian. Lachlan had her, you know?” He growled, choking an exhausted Edik, whose fist slammed repeatedly into his jaw. “But …I had her first.”
His gun might be empty, but the words struck deeper than a bullet.
Lorenzo’s glare pinned me, his pupils dilated. Black pits that sucked me in whole. With eerie excitement in his tone, Lorenzo repeated his words from the hospital. “Will we plant Rain’s tree in the garden?”His eyes glittered.
My skin ran cold.
“But before we had that night, you marked me, Natasha. You laughed so hard the air became jealous.” He scrubbed a hand over the back of his neck. “Never been to a rom-com. Never been kissed the way we kissed after that movie. You marked me then.”
He … raped me? Then screwed around with my mind! All this time, I’d wondered how I could’vemarkedmy rapist. My stomach plunged. My heart ripped wide. Memories clawed up—the scent of cologne. His cologne. He’d worn it at theChinese Theater. Then again when he’d raped me. Sharp. Zesty mandarin orange and nutmeg. How could I have forgotten?
Edik froze, shock flooding his face. “Youraped … her? Wow. I thought the Mikhailov name stood for cruelty.”
Lorenzo’s smile widened, victory gleaming in the madness. He used Edik’s hesitation to slam a fist into his jaw. The next blow hit him in the stomach, dropping him.
