***
Wolfgang and I have breakfast in silence on the terrace overlooking the forest. The feeling of dread is still with me. Maybe not as prevalent, but it’s still here. He doesn’t ask me what Sasha and I talked about, and I don’t ask him any questions either.
I eat my granola slowly, savoring the little time I’m granted out in nature. I feel pathetic for not standing up to him, but every time I tried, it ended in his favor. And I’m not ready to be taken back upstairs to my prison.
I watch Wolfgang sip his coffee and text someone on his phone.
Out here, between the flowers and the birds chirping above our heads, he looks like the odd one. His hard features, scars, and tattoos attest to that. And when the clouds shift and shadows of the leaf-clad branches stretch across his face, I suck in a breath at how handsome he is. Handsome and cruel. A deadly combination I never imagined I’d come across, especially in someone who is about to become my husband.
His golden eyes slide over to me with the wind, hair swaying softly above them. And when they do, I get that flutter of electricity coursing through me again, like someone shot it down from the sky, aiming it straight at me.
Just for a second, I look away, and when my gaze returns, he’s preoccupied with his phone again, but the corner of his mouth is tilted up.
Arrogant prick.
My lips part so I can make him aware of my thought, but he beats me to it.
“Be good,” he says.
“Why would you say that—”
The sound of taut footsteps crushing grass and pebbles registers from behind me. I rotate my neck a few inches to the left. A dark silhouette walks past me before I get the chance to see a face. New cologne tickles my nostril, smoky and sophisticated.
“Enjoying your day?” the man says, stooping to pick up a blueberry from the table with his tattooed fingers.
When he straightens up, he rakes his gaze over me and smiles. Of course, it doesn’t reach his empty eyes. It even looks abhorrent on his face, next to the tattoo that stretches on the side of his neck.
A shiver runs through me, reminding me of the kinds of people I’m dealing with here. Cold-blooded criminals.
Wolfgang places his phone on the table and interlaces his fingers in his lap. “We were, actually. Until about five seconds ago. What can I do for you, brother?”
Brother.
“Hmm, I don’t know. Introduce me to your pretty little girlfriend, for one,” he says, hands now in his pockets. “Then…maybe you can tell me why we’re not already on the way to meet with the others and take what’s ours.”
A few seconds of silence pass between them, the tension settling.
“Victoria, please meet my brother, Mikhail. And Mikhail…” He holds his stare. “Do not mistake her for a pretty girlfriend. She is my wife. And she’s exquisite.”
“Exquisite, yes,” Mikhail echoes, extending a hand in front of me, his palm facing up. Instinctively, my eyes shift to Wolfgang for approval, and he nods. I don’t know why I trust him all of a sudden, but it’s better to be around a monster you know than one you haven’t met yet.
I give Mikhail my hand, and he takes it, stooping to brush his lips to my skin.
“Lovely to meet you, Victoria. But I don’t see a ring on your finger. You know what that makes you…?”
I frown.
“…up for grabs.”
I pull my hand back, and he laughs as he straightens up.
“I’m not a fucking toy,” I seethe.
“How feisty! Is this why you picked her?”
Is it? I turn to Wolfgang for the answer, but it never comes.
“The wedding is this Saturday,” Wolfgang says, taking me completely by surprise. “Now, what do you want, Mikhail? You’re taking away my sun.”
