Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
Amy
“Don’t show me up.” Alexei squeezed my fingers almost painfully tight as the front door opened and three people stepped through. Two men, dressed casually in shirts and slacks and a woman so glamorous I instantly felt like a country bumpkin.
Maybe this dress wasn’t as good a choice as I thought it had been because, next to hers, it looked like a potato sack.
“I’ll try—” I began to say, but didn’t get the words out before he let go of my hand and stepped forward to meet his guests, talking in rapid Russian and leaving me there standing like a lemon with no idea of what to do.
It wasn’t like I knew any of the language they were speaking, and even if I did, was it polite to join the conversation without being invited?
So, I stayed back, my hands nervously plucking at the dress and wondering how I was meant to play hostess. I’d never even thrown a party before, let alone hosted a dinner party for these kinds of people.
“Ah, Alexei.” The woman tapped his arm and spoke imperfect English. Her accent was neither American nor Russian. Somewhere in Europe, though. Which made me wonder how she had ended up here on the arm of a bratva.
Maybe the same way I had. It would give us something to talk about if she were.
“Talk English. Your poor wife is feeling left out.” She wandered towards me, her arms outstretched, and kissed both of my cheeks. “It’s so good to see you again, beautiful Amy.”
I stared at her blankly. Had I met this woman before? Catching my look, she laughed. “We met briefly yesterday, but I don’t expect you to remember. I know on my wedding day, everything was just a blur. I only had eyes for my handsome Misha.”
Urged on by her words, one of the men stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her shoulders so she could lean against him. He kissed her hair, and I felt a pang of jealousy. They were a happily married couple, and it showed.
I glanced at Alexei. He looked back at me with a look that said it was never going to happen. Sighing, I forced my lips to smile. “I’m so happy to make your acquaintance, again. Misha and—”
“Gabriella. And this is our mutual friend Kristoff.”
The other man stepped forward. He was younger than the couple and with a colder demeanor. His blond hair was cut short to his head, and his eyes were so pale a blue that they looked frosty.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you again, Kristoff,” I said with a polite nod of my head.
“Kristoff didn’t come to the wedding, Amy,” Alexei said through clenched teeth. I shot him a look because he sounded angry, but the look he gave me back was completely neutral.
“Not because I didn’t want to, brother. Business had me out of the country until the morning. But I do have a gift for your lovely wife. If I may?” From an inside pocket, he produced a dark blue velvet box.
Alexei became still. Finally, he gave the smallest of nods. His eyes were glued to me as Kristoff produced a ruby necklace, a teardrop gemstone on a shining gold band, and stepped behind me. He lifted my curls from my back and placed it around my throat.
The entire time, Alexei’s eyes didn’t leave my face, and it was easy to read the jealousy on his face.
“Thank you.” I stepped away and touched the stone. “It’s beautiful.” Flashing a smile towards my husband, I stepped to his side, and he instantly reached for my hand. “Shall we go and—”
“Oh no, you don’t.” Easily, Gabriella slipped between my husband and me, forcing us to step apart.
She hooked her arm through mine and beamed at him.
“You have all the time in the world to have her to yourself, Alexei. It’s been years since I had a woman my own age to talk to at these things.
You men go and smoke cigars or something. ” She shooed them away with her hands.
Everyone laughed except Alexei, whose unblinking eyes didn’t look away from mine. “Amy?”
“I will be fine,” I said quickly, although I didn’t know if that was going to be entirely true. Still, dealing with one new person was going to be a lot easier than three.
“So?” she giggled. “How did you meet Alexei?”
Panicked, I glanced towards his retreating back. Laughing, she pulled me the other way. “Come on now, Amy, we are all so interested in how you made the most handsome bachelor in the city fall in love with you. It was so quick. Was it love at first sight?”
I blushed. Why hadn’t we spoken about this before the guests had arrived and gotten our stories straight? “It was pretty quick,” I said truthfully because sticking to the truth as close as possible was going to be for the best. “Nikolai, I mean his grandfather, introduced us.”
Gabriella oohed theatrically. “You’re on a first-name basis with the old man already? Wow. Now tell me the story. Don’t leave out one single detail,” she gushed.
I lost track of the amount of time I told the same story as the night progressed. I kept it simple, and I didn’t fill in many details.
We ate, they chatted amongst themselves, and every now and then I caught Alexei staring at me. His whole face was a mask of bewilderment.
Towards the end of the night, when the vodka was flowing, I began to feel a little queasy. I wasn’t a big drinker. I never had been, and the wine with dinner was starting to make me feel a little too flushed. I didn’t want to embarrass him.
“Excuse me.” Scraping back my chair, I headed towards the door. Alexei caught my wrists and dragged me towards his chair. “Is something wrong, Amy?” he asked in a hissing whisper.
“I’m just feeling a little flushed from the wine. I’m going to get some air, if that’s OK?”
He nodded, his eyes firmly on my face. Tugging on my arm, he drew my face down to his and captured my lips with his. I could taste the vodka on his smooth hand, which made me feel worse.
“Shout if you need me,” he said against my mouth.
“I will.” I hurried away as quickly as my heels would allow me.
“Oh, Alexei,” I heard Gabriella gush. “She is the sweetest angel.”
“I agree, Amy is just perfect for you,” her husband said before I closed the door. I didn’t need to look behind me to know that Alexei didn’t agree.
It was cold outside, but it wasn’t raining, and the chill in the air helped settle my stomach. I don’t know how much time had passed when I heard the door to the patio slide open and then back closed.
My shoulders hunched. “Sorry, I’ve been gone so long, Alexei. I just needed a few minutes. I’ll be back in now.”
“It’s not Alexei. It is Kristoff,” a smooth voice said from right behind me, and I whirled around to find him less than two feet from me. My hand fluttered to my throat and pressed the ruby against my skin.
“Oh, I’m sorry, I thought you were Alexei.” I schooled my features into a pleasant smile but took a step back, glancing around. I didn’t know what he was doing out here, but I knew Alexei wouldn’t like me being alone in the dark with him.
I was suddenly hyper aware of the high bushes on either side of us, hemming us in. I took another step back.
“So in love with each other aren’t you?” He took a step forward, trying to look casual about it.
“Yes, of course.”
Just count to five and compose yourself, Amy, I told myself in a rush. This man scared me, but he wasn’t going to hurt me right here in the garden. Alexei wouldn’t allow that, surely? So why did I feel like kicking off my heels and running away?
I felt like a trapped animal.
“Is that right?”
“I love my husband very much,” I said quickly. “In fact, I should be getting back to him. He will be wondering where I am.”
“He isn’t,” Kristoff said slowly. I paused to stare at him, and he met my look with a cold calculated one. “But I think you know that already, don’t you, Amy?”
I froze.
“I’ve been looking into your background.”
“I don’t think that’s legal.”
He shot me a look that said I was a fool, and I bit my lip.
“Alexei isn’t in love with you, and you don’t look like you are in love with him either. So what is this?” His eyes searched my face.
“Of course, I love—” I cleared my throat. “Excuse me, I’m cold.” I tried to move around him and escape back inside.
Reaching out, he caught my wrist in his hand. “Being friendless in this world is a dangerous thing, Amy. I could be your friend.”
“I don’t think I like your tone, Kristoff. Please let go of my arm before I call for my husband.”
“He won’t come.” He didn’t let go. If anything, his fingers tightened. “I am not looking to fuck you, Amy. As pretty as you are, I like my women more polished.” There was a flash of white teeth as he smiled. “As does your husband. We always have had very similar tastes.”
My stomach twisted at his words.
“But I can be an ally to you. Believe me, you are going to need them.”
“Any friend of Alexei is, of course, a friend of mine,” I said quietly.
Throwing back his head, Kristoff guffawed a laugh. “Friends? Is that what you think Alexei and I are? Oh, sweetheart, we hate each other.”
“But—” confused. I tried to yank my arm back from him, and his grip grew painfully tight, crushing my skin into the bone. He pulled me further into the shadows.
“Oh, you have so much to learn, Amy. I could teach you. We could share information.”
Share information? My eyebrows slammed down. Was he asking me to spy for him?
“I don’t know anything.”
“But it would be easy for you to find out. He wouldn’t—”
Behind us, the sliding door opened.
“Amy.” Alexei’s voice was low and menacing. “It’s time for our guests to leave, and Gabriella would like to say goodbye.” He stepped out, his eyes fixed on the hand Kristoff wrapped around my wrist.
I tugged my arm away and hurried to stand at his side.
This was bad, really bad. I could see from the look on his face that he was jumping to all the wrong conclusions.
But what were the right ones?
Nothing about the situation was good.
“This isn’t what it looked like,” I whispered.
In answer, he entwined our fingers and drew the back of my hand up to his lips in a kiss that was the total opposite of sweet or romantic. His eyes bored down into mine with so much anger that I was suddenly breathless.
“Isn’t it?” he asked in a whisper meant only for my ears. “Don’t worry, you will get to explain yourself in detail later.”