Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
Amy
“Good morning, Amy.”
The voice was unmistakably my new husband’s, and my head snapped around to find him through the open doorway of what was clearly a dining room.
Blushing, I headed in that direction, my bare feet taking the last few steps downstairs slowly. He wasn’t even looking at me, and had gone back to eating his breakfast, so why was I blushing so much?
Maybe because it was embarrassing to face him after the things he had done to my body last night. The things he had made me feel and still feel weren’t something I had ever felt possible, and there was still a dull throbbing ache between my legs.
When I had dreamed of my first time with a man, it hadn’t been like last night had been. He had hurt me and pleasured me, and I was totally confused about the whole thing.
“Good morning.” My voice shook.
“You may sit and eat,” he motioned to the chair opposite him without lifting his head to look at me, and I scrambled into the offered chair.
“I didn’t know what you like for breakfast, so I ordered my usual.
If you would like something else, you will have to tell the staff.
” He sighed, flicked his eyes up to me, and then with a scowl, went back to eating, like looking at me somehow disgusted him.
“You will need to take the next few weeks to learn how to run the house. I guess menus would be the first thing to manage. They know what I like, but you are welcome to add things you like also.”
This time, when he looked at me, there was more than disgust in his eyes. It was a look I couldn’t hope to understand.
“What do you want for breakfast? You aren’t eating. Why aren’t you eating?”
For the space of ten whole seconds, I mulled over what I could say. “I don’t usually eat before work. Just coffee for me.” I flashed him a smile. “Thanks, anyway.”
“What do you mean work?”
“It’s—well, I am on the schedule.”
“Not anymore, you’re not.”
I blinked at him stupidly. “I’m sorry, what?”
“You will not be going to work today. In fact, you will not be working at all. Maybe in a few months, when you have learned the ropes on how to be a wife and run my household, you can look for some charities to support. It’s very important that we are seen to be charitable. I think you would agree.”
I didn’t think Alexei had a charitable bone in his body. That’s what I thought.
“I like my job.”
He flicked the newspaper at the side of his plate open angrily, lifting it over his face so I couldn’t read his expression. Not that I needed to. He was angry and sullen because he was always those things.
“Alexei, please.” Maybe if I begged, he would let me go back. “I can do both, I don’t even have to go back full-time. Let’s compromise.”
He smashed the paper down with so much force that the glassware rattled.
“The answer is no, Amy. You will have too much to do here. Running the house, learning how to be a good wife. You don’t need to worry about the financial side of things.
I’ve even gone so far as to pay off your lease.
Yours and your sisters’ belongings have gone into storage. ”
He didn’t get it. I didn’t just work because I had to. I actually enjoyed being useful and helping people, but there was no way Alexei, who was Mr. Cold and Heartless would understand that.
“Thank you, but you didn’t need to do that.”
“Of course, I did. You’re my wife. You don’t need another property.”
Sucking in a breath, I tried to calm my rapidly beating heart. He was doing all of this to trap me. He didn’t want me to have an escape plan if this marriage went south, which it already seemed to be doing.
He hadn’t even come back to bed last night. I had woken up alone. That’s how much he wanted this marriage to work.
“OK. I would not cry. I would not cry. “Thank you.”
“You sound like an ungrateful child, Amy. I would have thought you would show more gratitude for being able to spend more time with your sister.”
It was my turn to look at him in shock and bewilderment. “My sister?”
“Yes, I had a call from the doctors this morning. She woke up and is doing much better. I informed them that you would be along to visit.” His dark eyes searched my face. “That is what you want, isn’t it?”
The empty pit of dread that I had been feeling since I woke up snapped shut. “More than anything.” Without thinking, I was on my feet and almost running around the table to him.
Reaching down, I meant to kiss his cheek, but at the last minute, he turned his face, and my lips landed squarely on his. In the same instant, his tongue flicked across my bottom lip.
“Oh, I am so sorry.” I stumbled backwards. What the hell had just happened? Had he been about to deepen the kiss? Because it felt like he had been about to.
“I’m happy that you are excited and happy, Amy,” he went back to his paper.
“But maybe learn to control yourself in a more ladylike manner.” Ten seconds passed before he looked at me again.
“I have to get some work done. As long as you introduce yourself to the staff and arrange this week’s menu with them, you may spend the rest of the day with your sister.
I like dinner at 7 p.m. You will be here for that. Is that understood?”
He was talking and treating me like a child, but my sister was awake, and I get to see her, so I really didn’t care.
“What work do you have to do today, Alexei?” I asked, slipping back into my seat and reaching for an orange. Now that I knew my sister was awake, I could eat without feeling sick.
He stood. “That’s really none of your business. I will see you at dinner.”
He walked away, leaving me sitting there alone the day after my wedding with a half-peeled orange. One breath and then another, and I smiled and went back to peeling my orange.
I’d been dreading today since the moment I had woken up, but now I wasn’t so sure it would be bad at all.
“You look worse than I do, Amy,” my sister said, her bloodshot eyes appraising me. “And I am dying.”
“You are not dying, Alessia,” I said quickly, maybe too quickly, before her pale lips lifted in a smile. “Don’t say things like that. You’re going to get better, and then we are going to travel the world just like we planned.”
She rolled her eyes. “Of course, we are, even if my heart gets fixed, how do you suggest we pay for this trip around the world? Like how did you pay for this hospital, Amy?”
She’d asked that question in many forms since I had arrived a few hours ago, and every time I had side-stepped the question.
“It’s complicated.”
“So that massive diamond on your finger doesn’t have anything to do with it?” she asked. I quickly hid the ring, but it was too late. She had already seen it. Alessia sighed. “Please tell me you aren’t a mistress to some rich guy.”
“I’m not.”
“Amy.”
“I am the wife of what I’m pretty sure is a Russian mobster.”
I answered truthfully, and my sister went pale. She stared at me for the space of several heartbeats, and then she began giggling.
Two seconds later, I joined in because it was funny. A few weeks ago, I was a nursing school dropout, desperately trying to keep my family afloat, and now I was the wife of a mobster and never had to work again.
“You fell in love with a bratva?”
The laughter died on my lips. “I don’t think love has anything to do with what is between Alexei and me.”
My sister’s eyes narrowed. “You married Alexei Petrovov? Jesus Amy. Why would you do that?”
“Have you heard of him?”
“Everyone has heard of him. He’s dangerous, Amy. I don’t like this. You need to end it now. Get out while you still can.”
“I can’t,” I whispered.
The blood drained from my sister’s face. “He’s paying for all of this, isn’t he? That was the deal: you marry him, and he pays for my treatment?”
I remained silent because she already knew the truth.
“Fuck, Amy, I am not worth that kind of sacrifice.”
“You are worth every sacrifice, Alessia. It’s really not that bad.
Honest.” I lied. “I don’t have to work, so I can spend all my spare time with you, and that’s worth a little coldness.
” I reached for her hand and squeezed. She squeezed back, but her grip was a lot weaker than mine, and her skin was clammy.
She was getting tired.
“You should rest now. I’ll be back tomorrow.”
She clung to my hand. “At least tell me he’s not a monster. Tell me he isn’t cruel to you, Amy.”
Lifting her hand to my lips, I brushed my lips against it. “He isn’t cruel to me. He barely talks to me at all.”
There was no way I was going to tell her about last night. It would be better if Alessia never found out that we had been intimate. She wouldn’t understand that I would do anything to keep her alive.
“Good. Because if he hurts you. I’ll kill him.”
I laughed because that’s what was expected of me, but deep down, I knew nothing and nobody could help if Alexei decided to be cruel. There was a man waiting in the hallway when I stepped out of Alessia’s room. The same man who had brought me here.
He stepped forward.
“You didn’t have to wait for me.”
He looked at me like I was stupid. “That’s my job, Mrs. Petrevov.” He said in accented English. “Alexei wants to make sure you are safe.”
I rolled my eyes. Alexei didn’t care if I was safe or not, and everyone knew it. “You mean he wants to keep tabs on me.”
He nodded his head.
“Thought so. What is your name?”
A wary look entered his eyes. “Why are you asking, ma’am?”
“Because if we are going to be spending time together, and you’re going to be reporting back on my every move, I should know your name. My name is Amy.”
“Micah, Mrs. Petrovov.”
OK. So he wasn’t going to call me Amy.
“Nice to meet you, Micah.” I outstretched my hand for him to shake, and he stepped away.
“Anyway, will you drive me anywhere I want to go?”
He nodded. “Of course. Is there something you need?”
“Yes, I’d like to go to Lakeside Retirement.“
He cut me off. “You are not allowed to work, Mrs. Petrovov. Mr. Petrovov has been quite clear on that.”
“And do you always do what he tells you?”
The look he gave me told me he did.
“I’m not going to work, Micah. I want to visit Nikolai for a little while. That’s allowed, isn’t it?”
For several seconds, he looked confused, and then he nodded. “I guess that would be OK.”
“Perfect.” I beamed at him. “Lead the way.”