My hands ball into fists as an anger I’ve never felt before slowly simmers under the surface of my skin. I hate Dimitri Sokolov. I’llneverforgive him for this. And I make my own vow in that moment that I’ll find a way out of our marriage contract. Even if it’s the last thing I ever do.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Savina
Now
THE ONLY GOODthing about going to an all-girls’ school across the country is the distance between Dimitri and me. I swear I could sometimes still feel his presence, like he was watching me somehow, and it unnerved me to no end. But after several months, I forced myself to stop thinking about him, and eventually it worked. I managed to complete high school and also a couple years of college. I received an associate degree that I’ll most likely never use, since my destiny has already been determined by my father, before returning home to New York City.
Home.
Honestly, it doesn’t even feel like home anymore. I feel like I’ve aged twenty years instead of just seven. And moving back home and dealing with my stepmother has proved less than ideal. My father welcomed me back with open arms, but I still resent him for sending me away. Our relationship has suffered significantly. Not that it was ever that great to begin with.
The only person I even looked forward to seeing was Darby, who remained my best friend despite the distance. She kept me sane over the years, constantly getting me on FaceTime and texting me at what were probably unhealthy levels. She was my rock, my confidant, and I have never been so happy to see another person in my entire life when we finally reunited.
Darby and I meet at our usual coffeehouse. I’ve been home for about a month now. My father hasn’t so much as brought up the marriage contract between Dimitri and I even though my twenty-third birthday is in just a few months. Part of me hopes that he changed his mind. That the agreement is null and void, for some reason, and I can escape this living hell that I’ve been in since I was thirteen. But let’s face it, I’m not that lucky. This contract has been following me around like a black cloud, constantly raining on all of my future plans and drowning out all of my dreams.
“I’m tired of living above my bar,” Darby says. We’re tucked back in a quiet corner of the café with our usual order of muffins and iced coffees.
“Why did you start living there in the first place?” I question. I know her parents left her and her stepbrother a massive mansion in the rich part of town, but she moved out as soon as she turned eighteen and started her own business at twenty-one with the inheritance she received from their untimely deaths. She purchased and gutted an old bar and made it her own. Now, it’s one of the more popular places in the city. It’s all dark and spooky. Just like Darby. She put her entire personality into the place, and people love it.
“I moved there to get away from my evil stepbrother,” sheconfesses while rolling her eyes and popping a piece of a blueberry muffin into her mouth.
“He can’t be any worse than my stepmother,” I counter.
She shakes her head and takes a sip of her iced coffee. “No, girl, trust me. He’s worse. Way worse.”
Her stormy, gray eyes look off into the distance then, like she’s thinking about something way deeper than what we’re talking about, and it worries me. Darby hasn’t told me too much about her stepbrother over the years. I just know that after their parents’ death, he became controlling and demanding. I like to think that he did it out of love since he was technically her legal guardian at such a young age, but maybe she’s right. Maybe he’s more than just a dick. Maybe Darby is keeping secrets from me just as I am with her.
“Hey, we should get an apartment together,” she says with a hopeful smile that has my chest aching.
“Uhm, I can ask,” I murmur. I’m pretty sure there is wording in the marriage contract that I’m supposed to live with my parents until the ceremony. My living arrangement was amended when I went to the all-girls’ school as a suitable exception. But now that I’m back, there’s no way in hell Dimitri would agree to me moving in with Darby. I’m sure he still hates me just as much as I hate him, and I don’t see him being amenable to any of my requests anytime soon.
“You’re twenty-two years old. Who the hell are you going to ask? Your daddy?” Darby asks, laughing.
I try to force a smile, but fail miserably, because I know just how pathetic all of this sounds. Instead, tears fill my eyes at the thought of even marrying Dimitri. I’ve been holding my emotions back for so long that it feels like a dam is about to break, and I quickly try to compose myself.
“Damn, Savina, I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.”
“No, it’s not that. It’s just…” my voice trails off. Where do I even begin? Darby doesn’t know about any of this. “Darby, there’s something I haven’t told you.”
She leans in and whispers, “Are you pregnant?”
“Oh god, no!” I gasp.
“Oh, thank fuck,” she says with a relieved sigh before leaning back in her chair. “Well, then what is it?”
“My family has some old traditions,” I start, not even sure how I’m going to spill all of this to my best friend and have her not think I’m crazy; that we’re all crazy. “I signed a marriage contract when I was thirteen. I’m betrothed to Dimitri Sokolov.”
That gets a reaction out of her. “What?!” she practically screams before I look around the café and desperately try to shush her. “That can’t be legal!” she protests in a forced whisper.
“It is, unfortunately. It’s how my biological mother and father were married, and my father’s parents before him, and so on and so forth.”
“I mean, I’ve read about this shit in books, but I’ve never knew anyone in real life that was going through it,” she whispers in awe.
Oh, Darby and her books.“It’s been happening for centuries in my family, and there’s no way to stop it. Trust me, I’ve tried.”
“So, youhaveto marry Dimitri?” she questions slowly.
