Duke visibly pales when he sees me, a reflection of my own bloodless complexion. He turns so I can only see his profile when he answers with one damning word. “No.”
The world tilts, but I still catch Hunter’s expression. He’s as shocked as I am. “What the fuck?” He glares at Duke, demanding an explanation.
Duke’s body is rigid, but he manages a stiff shrug. “I gave my word that I’d see this through. It’s going to be done before October 16thwhen she turns twenty-one. Isn’t it, Katarina?” he asks, grinding out the question.
There’s a tapping sound down the line that makes meshudder. Sharp fingernails pecking at a hard surface. “I’ll leave the day after my party,” she announces.
“What party?” Duke and Hunter ask at the same time.
Katarina sighs. “My twenty-first birthday party, of course. If I have to go into exile, I want to go out with a bang.”
Duke rakes his fingers through his hair. “Your uncle will expect you to be married by then.”
“Baby, is that another proposal? You’re such a romantic.”
Maddie squeezes my arm. If she wasn’t holding me in place, I’d be running back through the corridors by now.
“You shouldn’t worry about me so much, Duke,” she continues. “You can throw my party on the Saturday before my birthday and, just to make Uncle Vasili happy, we can have our wedding the day after. The adorable Griffins can whisk me away before or after the service, I really don’t mind which.”
“I fucking do,” he snaps.
“And here I am trying to be reasonable,” Katarina pouts. “Hunter, tell your brother I’ll allow him decide on my final destination. I’ll even let one of your harpies choose a suitable home.”
“How about the bottom of the ocean?” Maddie calls over.
“Not nice, Maddie,” Katarina scolds, unfazed that someone else has joined the conversation. “And I thought you championed women who’ve been exploited?” Before Maddie can come back with a remark, Katarina continues, “But enough chit-chat. We now have a more pressing issue to deal with, don’t we, Duke?”
“Which is?” Hunter asks when Duke simply scowls at the phone on the countertop.
“If it was this easy for me to uncover his little tryst, how long do you think it’ll be before Danyl and Andrey start to take an interest inGrace?”
Maddie shoots a look at Hunter, asking the question I’d also like to know the answer to. “They’re her bodyguards,” her husband says.
“Uncle Vasili’s spies take their work seriously,” Katarina adds. “You know I have no control over them and if they suspect my future husband is misbehaving, I won’t be able to stop them digging deeper.”
A shiver runs down my spine. Duke said I’d be safe, but I’m about to become a person of interest to the Bratva. What the fuck?
Duke straightens to his full height and turns to face me again. There’s no hint of the downtrodden man I’d glimpsed when I entered the kitchen. One look from him and I do feel safe. I feel protected. “Firstly, there’s nothing for anyone to find out,” he tells Katarina coldly. “But more importantly, your uncle’s goons won’t care whether I’m cheating on you with one woman or twenty because Vasili doesn’t give a fuck. If anything, it’s a way of life he approves of if his actions are anything to go by.”
The silence on the other end of the line stretches. “He’ll care if I tell him to care.”
“If that’s a fucking threat,” Hunter warns, his words razor-sharp and lethal, “you’ll quickly find your friends turning into your worst enemies.”
“In my experience, dear Hunter, there isn’t much difference between the two,” she says. “And for the record, I’m not threatening Duke. I’m merely pointing out the possible repercussions if he continues with his irresponsible behavior. He needs to haul his ass back to Chicago and pay better attention to his fiancée.Right.Now.”
Duke’s eyes don’t leave mine. He’s still holding me. He’s not letting me go. But he doesn’t tell Katarina to go to hell like I wish he would. He’ll do what she asks.
Hunter tries his best to get Katarina to make her disappearing act sooner rather than later, but it falls on deaf ears. I can hear the smile in her voice when she ends the call. No one else is smiling.
The food cooling on our plates is looking more and more unappetizing by the second. Bile rises in my throat and I fight the urge to be sick.
Hunter’s eyeing Duke carefully. “Care to explain what the fuck that was about?”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“Then let me elucidate,” he says. “As far as we’re concerned, if you want to call off the engagement, you can. You don’t have to put up with her shit, none of us do. It’s becoming more apparent by the day that she doesn’t want to sink back into anonymity. She’s acquired a taste for blood and revenge recently, and there’s a very good chance she isn’t going to follow through with this latest plan. Walk away, Duke, before you find yourself with a bride you never intended. It won’t end well.”
Duke’s jaw tics as he finally looks to Hunter. “I can wait a few more weeks.”
