I felt heaviness in my eyes. They blurred as tears ran down my cheeks. I cleaned them off and tried to keep calm. I knew Roman was right all along; there was nowhere I was safe. I was unsure of everyone, and whoever I was going to be sold to might also be an enemy of my dad.
I felt lost, carried away by the ambiguity. The only thing I was sure of was that my best chance of finding safety for now was with Roman. He'd keep me safe as long as I remained close. Suddenly, the forced marriage I thought was a curse didn't seem like a curse anymore. I looked at it as an opportunity because Ihad no other option. So, I decided to play along. And being with a handsome and sophisticated man like Roman wouldn't be too difficult, right?
Chapter Five
Roman’s POV
My study was unusually quiet. I poured myself a whiskey. Bourbon to be precise, with a few iced cubes which had already melted. I wasn’t totally intoxicated when I saw my PR manager’s draft of the press release announcing Liza and me as a Merger/Engagement. Whatever they had in mind before placing that title in bold was definitely not my concern. It didn’t bother me; it only made me wonder what sort of crook Liza’s father was, and the reasons behind his absence.
“This could backfire,” Stepan warned. His hands folded into a fist.
“It already has, Stepan. Now, we own the narrative.”
This becoming a family affair was something I would not have initially imagined. Taking Liza was the best option, although I never expected her to be a hot head. Not every lady knows how to stand their ground when they come face to face with abductors. Liza proved she wasn’t every lady. Her defiance overshadowed the situation. I still recall the way she patted her black hair and adjusted the collar of her furry coat right before she started to walk ahead of my men. She held her head up high, and her lips shimmered. I didn’t know why she wore so much red gloss, but at that moment, her calm and easy demeanor gave her a striking beauty that I had never seen on any lady. I didn’t find her attitude to be just attractive; I found it to be seductive as well.
Damn, I think she’s getting the best out of me.
I had never taken the time to figure out any woman the way I did with Liza. I mean, the way she carried herself during the press conference, she didn’t just speak, she controlled the environment around her, an epic move of genius. Regardless of the way I treated her, forcing my will on her and eventuallymarrying her, she still stood firm and composed. Unmoved by the situation.
That’s a real woman right there.
Maybe that’s why I found it hard to get into her head. Liza was effortlessly smart. Something about her made me want to treat her better. She didn’t just stand for herself before the press release. She stood for us, and it only meant that I should do the same.
It made me realize that I couldn’t treat her like a chess piece anymore. It would take more than that to get the required information from her. No more trying to force anything out of her. Besides, she’s a Russian princess. Patience might be my best shot, but how long could I wait?
“No,” I said to myself while my teeth bit the center of my bottom lip. “I need a new strategy, and fast.” But what? It was easy to torture and threaten. The world, to me, was just a ball filled with interesting people that I could control. Liza was the only one I was sure I didn’t want to feel pain of any kind. She never asked for anything that wasn’t hers. She had a high sense of fashion, spoke like royalty, and lived like the princess she was. And that was the very reason I wasn’t going to underestimate her.
**********
I headed back to my mansion and walked up the staircase, which was a longer route to my room, before arriving at my suite. The minute the door opened, I saw Liza reclining on the bed wearing a silk robe. She didn’t smile, not like I expected her to, but she turned to look at me.
The mansion was a little bit noisy. The clank of plates and pots and people communicating orders in low tones that travelled on the breeze through the window until they reached me.
She tried to ignore me with her silence until I walked in and sat next to her on the bed. Her eyes looked at me with keen awareness, and I knew I had to put her at ease.
“How are you?”
“I’m fine,” she said plainly.
“What have you been up to? What happened?”
“Nothing interesting happened, so I tried reading some magazines, which I found boring.”
Silence ensued for half a minute. I sighed, turned to look into her eyes, before adding, “Now that we’re married, there are some things you’ll need to know.”
“Things like?”
“Rules. I’m going to lay down some rules you need to follow at any cost.” Liza smiled, and it bothered me a little bit that she found this funny.
“What do you want me to do?” She asked. I took a deep breath and exhaled.
“First and most important, you should never walk around without the guards’ protection.”
“Yes, my Lord.” She smiled, and it burned me from the inside that she didn’t take the conversation seriously. “Sorry, I thought you’d like it if I called you Lord.”
“Don’t fucking mess with me, Liza.”
“I’m not,” she said. Yet her eyes warned me to expect more. So I sighed and continued.
