He turns the engine off and climbs out of the car. As soon as he closes the door, I slam the locks closed from inside.
His face darkens. Not amused in the least.
Holding up the car key, he presses the remote's button, and the doors unlock. I immediately lock them again.
“Dammit, girl! You are testing my patience!” he growls dangerously, pushing the button and tugging the door open before I can lock it again. As he leans down to grab me, I catch sight of the gun tucked in the holster against his ribs. I already knew he had it. I saw him pointing it at my father, then at me. But the sight of it is a sharp reminder that I’m in over my head. If he’s not the police…. Who is he?
“Where are we?” I whimper as he drags me, tight against his side, into an elevator. His thick, muscular arm is wrapped around me, and as he presses me into his body, I can feel how solid he is beneath the suit.
“My lawyer’s office,” he snaps.
“Lawyer?” I say in surprise. “Why?”
But he offers nothing more as the elevator rises, and a deep anxiety grows inside me like a snake.
Is Dad in so much trouble that I have to go straight to court? Or to jail? I need to know what’s going on!
The elevator doors slide open, and he pulls me with him as we move down a long corridor toward an open office door.
“Mr. Volkov, it’s good to see you,” the man behind the desk says as he stands up and offers Adrian his hand.
“You are too. Are we ready?” Adrian replies, getting straight to business. I glance at the golden name plaque on the man’s desk, over his paperwork and leather-bound folders.There is a gold pen on a stack of papers, which is what he must have been working on when we came in.
I bite my lip, waiting to hear something, anything that will make this all make sense.
The lawyer pushes the papers across the desk toward Adrian. “Here you go. It’s all ready for you,” he says.
“And it’s legit? Everything.”
“Of course,” the man nods. He spreads the pages out into a neat row, concentrating on keeping them evenly spaced, as though he is meticulous or struggles with OCD. It gives me enough time to graze my eyes over the printed words on the crisp white paper.
Marriage license.
Adrian picks up the gold pen and begins to scribble his signature across the open lines and wherever the lawyer points.
Marriage license? What?
I turn to look at Adrian in utter confusion. “I don’t understand,” I say nervously.
Adrian hands me the gold pen. “Sign,” he demands.
The shock deepens. “I’m not signing that. I don’t want to marry you. I don’t even know who you are!” I protest adamantly. In desperation, I look toward the lawyer for help, but the man is clearly not interested.
“I’m not signing that!” I say again when Adrian glares at me and shoves the pen into my hand.
“You are signing it,” he snarls.
“No, I’m not! I already told you this is all a mistake. My father didn’t do whatever you think he did. We can clear this all up if you….”
Adrian grabs my upper arm and pulls me so close to his face that his breath is hot against my lips. “Listen very carefully, darling. You are going to sign because if you don’t, I’m going to kill your father. Is that motivation enough?”
Fear spills through every vein in my body. I gulp in horror.Is he being serious? Would he really kill my father? No, he has to be bluffing. This can’t be happening.
“But... but…he didn’t do anything…” I stutter quietly, still trying to find a way out of this. “He’s innocent…” This has to be a big misunderstanding.
“Innocent?” Adrian scoffs darkly. “You surely can’t be that naive? Your father, yourown father,used you as a human shield and held a gun to your head back there. Does that seem like something an innocent man would do? You’re his daughter, and hesoldyou to me in exchange for his debts. Does that sound right to you? Do youreallyknow who your father is? What type of person he is?” he growls at me, and his words strike a chord deep inside me.
No…he was in shock.
