Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
Leah
The last pin was stabbed into my head, not my hair, and the woman behind me, who said she was a hairdresser, stepped back to appraise her work. I followed her movements in the mirror. Watching her eyes travel over my hair and smile before she looked at my face and winced.
Maybe it was the dark bags under my eyes and the angry red mark around my throat, or maybe she just didn’t like me very much.
All the women Viktor had employed to get me ready seemed much more his type than I was.
All tall, leggy, and beautiful, usually with blonde hair that seemed sleek compared to my riot of red.
It made me wonder why he had chosen me and not any of them. It was pretty clear that every single woman in this room would jump at the chance of being his wife, even if it was all pretend.
Maybe she didn’t like me because she was another one of his lovers who was jealous of what was about to happen. Little did she know that I would have swapped places with her in a heartbeat, just like she would have swapped with me.
I didn’t want to marry Viktor. I didn’t even like him. After being treated with such coldness, it’s hard for me to tell if I can still develop feelings of that kind.
The sex was amazing, some of the best I’d ever had. But as a person? As a man? I kind of detested him and everything he stood for. Sure, there were little glimpses of warmth under the icy exterior, but they were so rare that I couldn’t count on them. I couldn’t even be sure they were real.
“You look like shit,” she said plainly in accented English right to my face. “How are we going to make you look presentable?”
Open-mouthed I stared at her. I liked honesty, but there was blunt and then there was downright rude.
“I think what Sasha means to say is that you look like you didn’t sleep well,” Mrs. Colper swept into the room, a laden tray in her hands.
“Or at all.” Her wrinkled eyes took me in and narrowed down on the marks on my throat.
For a second, she looked disgusted, but it was only for a second before she smiled again.
“Ladies, why don’t you take a break. There are refreshments downstairs in the kitchen.” She didn’t say it like it was an order, but they scuttled away like she had barked it at them.
The moment the door closed, my hand went to my hair loosening the hair clip the woman had stabbed into my skull. Pouring me a glass of champagne, Mrs. Colper watched me silently.
“Here.” She passed over the glass, and I took a gulp gratefully. The bubbles fizzed up my nose. “It looks like you might need it.”
I took another deep gulp and nodded. “Thank you.”
“And let me redo your hair. I knew Sasha was the wrong choice. She’s always been a jealous cow.”
I couldn’t help it. I laughed, but it was short-lived. “Another of his girlfriends?” I lifted my eyes to her reflection. But she wasn’t looking at me.
“No. But she wanted to be, and Viktor knows it.” She slid the diamond clip into my hair and stepped back. “That’s better, and now let’s sort out those dark circles under your eyes and—”
“Viktor’s finger marks around my throat?” I asked sweetly, taking another drink .
“He’s not a bad man,” she said quickly. “But you have to realize his temper is short. He gets that from his father.” She surveyed the damage.
Tilting my head every which way and frowning.
“What you did last night was foolish, Leah,” she said finally.
“Going down there, undressed, and then causing a scene. ”
“I didn’t cause a scene. The other woman did. She is the one who started it.”
“And do you think that matters?” Her voice grew hard.
“You have so much to learn about how things work, Leah. Manda is a royal pain in the ass, and Viktor is done with her.” Finally, she met my eyes.
“But that doesn’t mean you get to talk to her that way or make a scene in front of his people.
There are certain,” she sighed, “appearances to be kept up. You broke the rules. Breaking the rules is dangerous here.”
Why did it sound like she wanted to tell me something? I finished the glass with a single gulp. “So he can sleep with anyone he wants to, but I can’t? I can’t even leave my room unless I am dressed.”
“You’re going to be his wife.” She gripped my chin. “That is more than any other woman has got from him. He chose you.” Her voice softened. “He chose you because you are not like those women. So be the woman he picked. Be sweet, be accommodating, be—”
“A total pushover?” I finished for her with a shake of my head. “Submissive.”
“If that is what it takes to keep you alive, then yes, Leah.” Reaching for the vanity, she found some concealer and began expertly blending it into my throat.
I watched in the mirror as she worked. “Would he really kill me if I didn’t act like the perfect wife?” I asked in a shaky whisper.
She didn’t answer me at first. “He doesn’t take disobedience or disloyalty lightly,” she said finally. “Remember that. Be the wife he needs and get out of this alive and a rich woman.”
I stared at her. She knew the truth. She knew this was just a business deal. “He told you.”
“Yes.”
“Just how do you—”
“I have never been his lover, Leah.” Her eyes crinkled with laughter. “ I was with his late mother when she came over from England. When she died. I was kept on to look after her son. I’ve been like a mother to Viktor since he was eight years old.”
Open-mouthed, I stared at her. In just a few seconds, she had told me more about Viktor than he had in the days I had known him. It just went to prove I didn’t know him at all. And yet I was about to marry him.
“I’ll call the others in now so you can finish getting ready.” Her fingers slid against my cheek. “You are allowed one more glass of champagne, but no more than that. I don’t want you falling down the aisle. Oh, and Leah?”
I lifted my eyes to her.
“Please don’t make him angry again. I don’t want you to see that side of him. I want you to see the good—”
She didn’t have a chance to say anything as the door opened, and the women poured back in.
For the next two hours, I was prodded and painted until the woman looking back at me from the mirror wasn’t me at all. I didn’t even recognize myself, as the satin designer shoes were slipped onto my feet and the final adjustments were made.
“You are done.” The women stepped back, smiling at themselves like they had made a swan out of an ugly duckling. And I had to admit I looked good. I just didn’t look like me anymore.
“So what now?” I asked because no one had actually told me a thing.
“You get married.” They swarmed out. And a man stepped in with a bow of his head. He was a tall, blond, and fresh-faced boy with a next-door face. He looked out of place here, he should have been playing football and taking his sweetheart to the movies, not running around with the Bratva.
“Good morning, Mrs. Petrov,” he said with not a trace of Russian in his voice at all.
I blinked in shock. Was that Viktor’s last name? Petrov?
“I’m not married yet,” I said quickly. “You should call me, Leah. ”
The smile on his face slipped just a millimeter before he fixed it firmly to his lips again. “I can’t do that, Mrs. Petrov. I’m Stephen. Mr. Petrov has asked me to escort you today and look after you when he isn’t around.”
“You’re my guard.” My voice was completely flat.
“Bodyguard.” He offered his arm, and I took it reluctantly. “I’ll be the one to make sure nothing happens to you.”
Except things were happening to me. Confusing things. All of them I had no control over. Things were all happening too quickly.
Letting him lead me down the stairs and into the back of the waiting car, I didn’t say a word, and neither did he.
But he did keep looking at me out of the corner of his eyes like he was scared I would bolt at any second, even if the car was moving.
Viktor had probably told him what had happened yesterday.
“I hope you don’t mind me saying, but you really do look the perfect bride.”
Ignoring him, I stared out of the window as the car sped along. Perfect bride. Maybe I did look like one. But there was not one ounce of happiness in my body. Brides were meant to be happy, weren’t they? They were meant to be in love and—”
I blinked back tears. Crying wouldn’t help me. It didn’t matter what I had dreamed of. This wasn’t a fantasy. It was real life.
My life, and it sucked, which was kind of my life all over. This was only day one of our agreement, and I already felt like I was losing myself. Would I even be Leah again when the year was over?
“Viktor is going to be amazed.”
I rolled my eyes. Of course, Viktor would be happy. Everything about me was what he wanted, the dress, the hairstyle. Even the shade of lipstick I wore was because it was his favorite.
This day wasn’t about me. It was about him.
No, I reminded myself. It was about business. That’s where I kept going wrong. I kept thinking like this was a fairytale, when in reality it was a nightmare .
I’d read the contract. One year was all I had to endure. One year of being what Viktor wanted me to be, and then I would be free.
I could be someone else for a year if it meant my whole future was set.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
“Please, don’t be so nervous. Viktor would never allow anything to happen to you.”
I knew that Stephen meant for his words to be reassuring, but they made the hairs on my arms stand up. What could he mean by that? What could possibly happen to me by marrying Viktor?
I was in more danger with Viktor than by anyone else, and everyone here knew it. That’s why I kept getting warned to behave.
“It’s time.”
I blinked in shock to realize the car had stopped outside a small church, somewhere on the grounds of the house. My door was opened, and Stephen’s hand appeared. I took it shakily, my whole body trembling with fear as I straightened.
From inside the stone church, I could hear organ music swell and the chatter of voices. My heart slammed into my chest, and my throat went dry. Not one person in there was my friend. I knew no one.
Anxiously, I glanced around, the fight or flight instinct kicking in as I tried to find a way away from this.
I couldn’t do it.
I couldn’t.
Stephan grabbed my elbow to steady me. “Don’t do that, Leah.”
It was a clear warning. If I ran, then he or someone worse than him would chase me down. There was no escape for me. Well, there was one. My eyes settled on the open doors. There was freedom that way, after a year, anyway. A year of being someone's possession, and I would have my freedom.
“I’m not going to run.” I straightened my shoulders.
For a heartbeat, he looked like he didn’t believe me, but then he nodded. “Then it would be my honor to walk you down the aisle, Mrs. Petrov. If you will allow me?”
I set my shoulders in a hard line. “Go right ahead. It’s not like I have any other choice, is it?”
This whole situation was about choice, and I didn’t have any. I knew that now.
“Let’s just get on with it.” And just like that, the fight went out of me.