I could feel the anger flash inside me. “It’s hard to show gratitude toward someone who is forcing me to do something against my will.”
“He’s also capable of changing his mind,” he said softly. “And we don’t want that.”
Fear washed over me again when I realized the truth of that statement. My uncle was volatile, and he took things personally all the time. For my own sake, I needed to play the game. At least until I was safely in Canada. “I can pretend to be happy.”
A smile ghosted across his lips. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
And without another word, I walked up the stairs, away from the man I had just agreed to marry.
CHAPTER EIGHT
AXEL
I foundGrisha alone in his office.
“Come in, Axel,” he said from his desk, where he sat smoking a cigar. “What can I do for you?”
I walked into the office. “Mila has agreed to marry me.”
“Very good.” He relaxed back in his seat. “Good thing, too. After seeing how you two behaved at dinner, Lena is talking about scheduling the church on Friday, two weeks from today. The church ceremony will be followed by a wedding reception here at the house.”
I wasn’t even surprised at how fast they were pushing this. “What next?”
“We’ll work to get you up to date on what is happening in Vancouver.”
“And the wedding planning?”
He looked baffled that I would ask. “Lena and Mila will take care of it.”
I wondered how well Mila could fake enthusiasm for all of this, so I added another lie to cover for her. “Mila wants this, butshe’s a little overwhelmed by how fast things are going.” I gave him a smile and a shrug. “So expect a few tears here and there, especially as she’s trying to plan her perfect day.”
Her uncle nodded seriously, as if he hadn’t even thought of what her experience might be in all of this. “What is a bride without tears?”
He seemed to buy my story. I switched gears.
“Sergei still acts like he’s the groom.” I didn’t tell him that I had whipped him with his own gun right after Mila had pulled it on him.
Grisha was unbothered. “I’ll talk to him. He’ll get over himself.”
I highly doubted that Sergei would go quietly. His opportunity to join the family was slipping away, and he wasn’t happy about it.
This whole situation was a ticking time bomb. The sooner we married and moved away from Sergei and this family, the safer our story would be. Once we were in Canada, we’d no longer have to pretend to be the happy couple.
I didn’t let myself think past that.
Yuri showedup at the back of the auto shop more than thirty minutes late, and he looked frazzled. He dug through his bag before pulling out a hard drive. “These are the files we got from the Canadians.”
I picked up the drive. “Anything enlightening?”
He sat down across from me, rubbing both his eyes. “The Volkov family has invested heavily in Canada, specifically in the city of Vancouver and they’re giving Grisha a lot of trouble.”
“Here too.”
“I’m sorry I bombarded you with Giselle and her objectives. I know that wasn’t fair, but we had a limited window to touch base with you.”
“It’s fine.”
“I pushed you the other day. I shouldn’t have. This Canada angle is taking everything further than the job.”
