"Make her family."
The words came out before I'd fully thought them through, but once they were out there, I knew they were right.
Olek blinked. "What?"
"Make her family. Bind her to us the same way Katrina is bound to you." I stepped closer, the plan forming even as I spoke. "I'll marry her. Make her a Volkov. Then she's not just some witness. She's bratva. She's protected by our laws, but also bound by them. She can't testify against family."
Olek stared at me for a long moment, his eyes searching mine. "You're serious."
"Completely."
"Marriage is permanent, Mikhail. You understand that? This isn't just about solving a problem. You'd be tying yourself to her for life."
"I know." And I did. I wanted it. Had wanted it since the moment I'd taken her out of that warehouse. "I want her anyway. You said it yourself. This just gives me a reason to move faster."
Olek was quiet, thinking. I could see him weighing the options, calculating the risks.
"If you can get her to agree," he said finally, "it would solve everything. Dmitri couldn't touch her. She'd be protected. That would keep me from being the reason that my wife shed tears."
Relief flooded through me. "Then I'll get her to agree."
"That's the problem though, isn't it?" Olek's expression was almost sympathetic. "She wants normal. A regular life. School, friends, maybe some boring guy who works a nine to five. Marriage to you is the opposite of normal."
My chest tightened. He was right. Shanice had been clear about what she wanted. Focus on herself. Independence. Normalcy. Marriage to an enforcer was none of those things.
"I'll figure it out," I said.
"You better. Because if you can't convince her, I'm going to have to find another solution." Olek's voice was heavy. "And I don't want to do that to Katrina."
I nodded and left his office, my mind already racing. I had to marry Shanice. Had to bind her to me before Dmitri decided to take matters into his own hands. But how the hell was I supposed to convince her when she'd made it clear she didn't want a relationship at all, let alone marriage to someone like me?
I went to my room, showered quickly, and changed into fresh clothes. My mind kept turning over the problem, looking for angles, looking for leverage. By the time I went downstairs, Shanice was waiting by the door, her bag over her shoulder, a bright smile on her face.
"Ready?" she asked, chipper and happy in a way that made my chest ache.
She looked so normal. So free. Like the weight she'd been carrying had finally started to lift. And I was about to make everything complicated again.
"Yeah," I said. "Let's go."
We got in the SUV and headed toward campus. Shanice chatted about her classes, about a paper she needed to write, about some group project she'd been assigned. I listened, responding when appropriate, but my mind was elsewhere.
How do I ask her to marry me without telling her it's because she's a liability? Without making her feel trapped? How do I convince her that marrying me is the right choice when she's finally starting to feel free again? How do I protect her without destroying the progress she's made?
"Mikhail?"
I blinked, glancing at her. "Yeah?"
"You okay? You seem distracted."
"I'm fine. Just thinking."
"About what?"
About how to keep you alive without ruining everything. About how to make you mine without making you feel like you’ve given up even more of yourself.
"Work stuff," I said.
She studied me for a moment, then nodded. "Okay. But if you need to talk, I'm here."
