This is simply business, a treaty. If she agrees to this marriage, then she has to know it’s nothing more than an alliance.
She can do whatever she wants. Whoever she wants. I won’t stop her, nor will I intervene. I won’t rob her of her life as long as she stays out of mine. I’ll place her in the wing on the other side of the house, far from me. I want nothing to do with her. This marriage is in name only.
I feel more at ease with that decision. To not involve myself with her. I’ll fund her life and put her on my card, but besides that, we’ll have no interactions.
Despite this, I still can’t alleviate the pit in my stomach.
I don’t want to do this.
I don’t want to share my space and live with her. I don’t want to be tied to her. I don’t want to be around her.
It’s not often I get to do what I want. But it’s even rarer I have to do something I don’t want to do.
Being the boss, duty tends to take over my life. I don’t have time for galas and festivities like Matthias, my younger brother, who runs Syndicate Enterprise, our legal front. Nor do I have time to start a family like my other brother, Roman. Despite being the enforcer for the Syndicate, he still found the time to marry his woman and impregnate her. Our youngest brother, Sebastian, works on both sides of the law, but he still manages to do…I’m actually not sure what he does. I barely see him outside of work and family dinners.
Matthias and Roman are both married. And they seem happy in their marriages. But that’s not in the cards for me. I’ve never seen myself as a married man. A wife seems like more of an inconvenience than anything else. Especially that young, tiny, timid woman.
It’s not that she isn’t beautiful, she is. With hair so blonde it’s almost white, eyes an icy blue, and fair skin, she’s breathtaking. But all that pink shit on her ruins it. And she’s tall. I’ve always preferred women who can look me in the eye without craning their necks. She must be almost six feet tall. She’d be perfect if she weren’t so skinny. Not that being thin is an ugly thing, but her lack of muscle shows how weak she is. I’d break her if I ever took her to my bed.
I shudder at the thought. There’s nothing I’m less interested in than sex with Katerina Sokolov. Her father’s boasting of her being ‘pure’ and ‘untouched by any man’ had the opposite reaction on me than intended. I don’t want some young, inexperienced woman in my bed. It’d be a chore to teach her everything.
But that won’t be an issue. I truly don’t remember the last time I was with a woman. They’re distractions, and I don’t trust any of them.
Which is another issue with my marriage alliance plan.
Trust.
I don’t trust her. I can’t trust the spawn of Viktor, even if she seems clueless to the Bratva. This porcelain doll will surely be loyal to her father and would betray me for him.
I’m going to have the enemy living under my roof, taking my name, and I have no clue how to address it.
Ignoring her is a given. If I pretend she doesn’t exist, then maybe she’ll be less concerned with me.
I’ll have to be careful as to which meetings I take outside my office. My home office is soundproof, but the rest of the house isn’t. I also need to install biometric locks on all the weaponry around the complex.
I live on a huge complex that houses the Syndicate. The gated community is guarded and patrolled at all times. There’s the main house where I live, then a few barracks around the acres of land for guards. Stefan has his own house on the grounds as well. There’s also a gym, gun range, and running trail open at all hours. We have an indoor pool and many armories on the grounds. My fortress is perfect for running the Syndicate. However, the only private office I have is in my house. I figured there was nowhere more secure than my home which is heavily guarded. I never foresaw the enemy moving in.
This is a fucking nightmare. And it’s one I designed.
But I’ve handled worse. I’ve been shot, tortured, and stabbed.
If I can handle those, then surely, I can handle a sweet, kind woman.
Chapter 7
Katerina
“Nik, I can’t do this!” I cry out as I throw a shoe across my bedroom.
“Calm down, babe,” Nikolai, my best friend, chides me. His words only piss me off.
I change my aim and throw the other shoe at him instead.
The bastard, of course, catches it.
“How am I supposed to calm down when I’m being married to an asshole that runs a crime family?” I cry out.
I continue digging through my closet, looking for my favorite sweatshirt. Viktor is away for the weekend, which means I get to dress like a normal girl for once. But that also means finding my contraband clothes.
