Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
Viktor
I didn’t turn toward the sound of her footsteps as they approached the altar because I didn’t want the others to see the look on my face when I first saw her.
Showing too much adoration would be seen as weakness.
But I couldn’t help the gasp that left my lips as she took her place beside me, and I saw her for the first time.
Even with the veil covering her face, she looked like an angel.
The dress molded to her torso like a second skin.
The high lace neck made it completely modest, but at the same time, the cut of the dress left absolutely nothing to the imagination.
Even the full billowing skirts seemed sexual, because I could easily picture myself disappearing under there and licking her into submission, like I had done back at her apartment when she had cum all over my lips and chin. I licked my lips, and it was like I could taste her all over again.
Lifting my hands, I pushed the veil back over her head. Her heart-shaped face was expertly done. I frowned.
She was beautiful, but she wasn’t Leah. This caked-on makeup wasn’t her, and neither were the teased and coiffed hair and perfect makeup. She didn’t even look like her anymore. She looked like how people thought I wanted her to look.
“Hi,” she said shyly.
I didn’t answer her, instead reaching up, I swiped my thumb against her lips and rubbed the too-pink lipstick off of her mouth. Smearing it. “That is not your shade,” I hissed. “Don’t wear it again.”
Her eyes widened, and for a second, there was a spark of anger in her eyes, but she blinked and it was gone again.
“Yes, Viktor.” She gave me the smallest of smiles.
“Good girl.” I smiled. She was learning and learning quickly. That was good. It would make the next twelve months easier for both of us.
Taking her hand, I turned her toward the front. “Let’s get this done,” I ordered the priest, who shuffled forward with a pained look on his face. Just another person who didn’t agree with what I was doing, one in a long line of people. And I hadn’t even told my father yet.
How that would go, I had no idea, but I didn’t fool myself.
The old man would be furious. But then again, he was always furious when it came to me.
As a child, I’d done everything to please him and failed every time, but I hadn’t been a child for a very long time.
I no longer craved his acceptance. I was the real power in our organization, and everyone knew it.
And now that I was married, he couldn’t deny me any longer. I would be head of the Petrov family. I would finally rule.
The priest started talking, and I let my mind wander, not to the woman standing next to me, who was so nervous that I could feel her trembling, but to how I was going to tell my father.
Concentrating on anything but that until I had his blessing would be disastrous. Blessing? I stifled back a laugh. He would never bless me, but it wasn’t his blessing I needed, not really. He couldn’t go back on his word. My marriage was legit.
Control of all the family’s businesses was now legally mine. The old man just had to step down quietly and sign the damn paperwork I had ready, and if he didn’t— Well, there were other ways of taking over.
Vows were said, crowns were put on our heads, and then I was acting on autopilot and turning Leah to me. And fuck, she looked amazing. Even with that bright pink lipstick smeared across her face, she made my balls ache.
I wanted her, and that was the problem. Because wanting something in my line of work was dangerous, and I was sure even my lust was clear on my face.
“You may now kiss the bride.” The priest's voice boomed out, and a cheer went up.
Expectantly, Leah tilted her chin up, her lips waiting for mine, and her eyes already half closed. She was so fucking perfectly demure at that moment.
I lowered my face over hers, my body aching to pull her into my arms and kiss her properly. Instead, I brushed my lips against her cheek and stepped back.
It didn’t matter how much I ached for her. I couldn’t let myself show that kind of weakness, not when I had to see my father. Not when every small thing I did would get back to him.
“Take her back to the house,” I ordered Stephen. He nodded politely. “Of course, Mr. Petrov. I will keep her safe.”
I already knew he would. He might not have any Russian ties, but Stephen was as loyal to me as any dog. I had saved him once, and he had saved me numerous times since.
“Viktor?” Leah’s voice trembled. Her bottom lip was quivering. “You’re not—”
I tore my eyes away from that bottom lip. “Go back to the house and wait for me there, Leah. I have things I need to do.”
Walking away, I ignored the gasps that went up, and I ignored the stare I knew she was leveling at my back. She was hurt, or maybe humiliated was a better word for it, because there would need to be feelings for her to be hurt, and I knew there wasn’t any of those.
On either side. And yes, maybe it was the asshole thing to do, leaving her right after our ceremony, but there were things moving in my world that were more important, and they had to come first.
Business always comes first. Striding towards my car, I took off at high speed, the gravel under my tyres scattering as I sped away.
There had always been something about speed that I enjoyed. Whether it was cars or women, it didn’t matter. I wasn’t the type of man who enjoyed the chase. I saw what I wanted, and I got it. Hard and fast.
Just like I’d taken what I wanted when I had seen Leah, I was about to take my father’s organization from him, and there wasn’t a moment to lose.
All I had to do was show him that I’d done everything he wanted me to do. I’d married. Ok, the fact I’d married someone of my choosing and not his might be a problem, but that wasn’t my problem.
The only thing he had specified was that I needed to find a wife, and that’s what I had done. My wife, instantly, my thoughts went back to the church and the way she had looked. The soft parting of her lips and her defiant eyes.
Leah was full of fire. Even when she knew she had lost that spark still shone out of her eyes. I liked watching that spark morph into something else, equally as fiery but different.
My hands tightened around the steering wheel.
I had to stop thinking of her waiting back at the house for me.
It wouldn’t do me any good when I had to concentrate on the meeting ahead.
So that’s what I did. Leah wasn’t going anywhere.
She would be there when I got back, and then I would lose myself in her body and forget the shit-show that was about to happen.
I knew my father would try to cross me. He would attempt to rescind the deal we made, and I had prepared for it. I was the real power in our family, not him, and it was time he gave me his crown.
The open road quickly turned concrete, buildings towering overhead as I drove into the city, and an icy calmness settled over me. By the time I reached the townhouse that had been my very unhappy childhood home, I was so still and calm that it felt like I had taken something.
No emotions. They made you weak. How many times had that been beaten into me when I was too weak to fight back? Unfortunately for the old man, I was neither small nor weak anymore.
“Viktor.” The door swung open, and a tall, willowy woman, a little younger than me, smiled at me. She hovered on the stoop.
“Helena.” Dutifully, I brushed my lips against her cheek. It felt powdery with makeup. “Is he expecting me?”
She swept back and closed the door behind us. “Yes, but I think we were expecting both of you. I hear congratulations are in order. I was hoping you would bring her.”
I bit back a laugh. They wanted no such thing. Helena might live in my father’s house. She was his favorite, but she wasn’t his wife. She was nothing more than a mistress with no hope of ever being more. Not that it stopped her pretending she was Lady of this house.
“And yet neither of you came when you were invited.” I snapped back, which wasn’t fair. For all of her faults, I liked Helena. She deserved better than my dad, and I really did understand why my father hadn’t come.
He didn’t go anywhere these days. He didn’t want people to see how weak and feeble he had actually become.
“I—”
“It’s ok, Helena,” I sighed. “Hopefully this won’t take long, and I’ll be out of your hair.”
Not waiting for a reply, I moved down the wide, shadowy hallway, only pausing at the end door to knock hard and slide inside.
“And there he is, the prodigal son.”
Turning towards the window, I found him sitting and staring outside. His once muscular frame was frailer than the last time I had seen him. His shoulders were hunched, and his breath was rasping every time he inhaled.
God, he looked weak. I hated weakness. He had made me hate weakness.
“Did you think I wouldn’t come?” I asked, and my voice was quiet but strong. I pulled out the chair on the opposite side of his desk and waited for him to turn so we could talk.
His hands moved to his side, and he struggled to maneuver the wheelchair.
It was clear that he usually had help, probably Helena.
She was probably more nurse aid now than beautiful mistress.
But my father wouldn’t call her in for help when I was here because he didn’t want me to see how much he was struggling, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to help him.
He had taught me that as well. Don’t help the weak. Don’t give in to it. He had hammered that lesson into me with his fists.
“So the news is that you got married.” His face was bright red by the time he managed to turn to me.
Leaning back, I steepled my hands under my chin and studied him. He was still a handsome man, but those looks were fading quickly. In a few months, there would be nothing left of the feared man he once was.
“Seeing as I invited you to the ceremony, I should think you have heard father.”
He said something angrily in Russian, and my lips pursed. “No, she isn’t here. She is at home,” I said pointedly in English. “Waiting for me like a wife should. Business does not concern her, and I am here to discuss business.”
The refusal to speak in Russian pissed him off, which was exactly what I wanted to do. It was time he realized that he was no longer in charge.
“So you think I am just going to give you everything because you married some cashier?” His voice was a bark.
I tried to hide my shock and failed, and his smile grew almost manic.
“Oh, you thought I didn’t know, Viktor? I’ve done my research on her. I probably know more than you,” he cackled. “And I know a business deal when I see one. I’m old Viktor. I’m not stupid. This is all a sham.”
I moved forward so quickly that for a second, his eyes widened in fear and shock. “A sham?” My voice was low and menacing. “My marriage to Leah isn’t a sham, old man, and if you have really been watching me, you would know that. Or do I need to show you—”
“So you are telling me there’s a prenup and—” his eyes skirted away, and I could tell, at that moment, that he didn’t know as much as he thought he did.
“Of course, there is, if she leaves me, she gets nothing.” Apart from the money I was paying her, I added silently, and only after the year was up. But he didn’t need to know that.
“But she won’t leave me.”
“You sound sure of yourself. Women are snakes. Just look at your mother.”
I fought the urge to clench my fists. I didn’t want to show how much his words got to me.
My mother had always been my weakness, and he knew it.
He hated her. I had idolized her, and my entire life, he had talked badly about her to try to change my mind.
It used to get to me, but that was before I had learned to hide my emotions.
And before I had started hating her a little as well. Forcing myself to relax, I threw back my head and laughed. “Maybe it is just the women you chose father.”
He fell silent, and I did too.
“Well,” he said finally. Plastering his face with a smile that was more predatory than anything else I had seen since I had arrived.
“I look forward to meeting my new daughter-in-law, in time, of course, when our business here is concluded. Isn’t that why you are here, Viktor, to take my empire from me? ”
Something was going on. He was up to something. I kept my face neutral. “I’m already running it,” I shrugged. “I might as well wear the crown.”
“Maybe, but there’s lots to discuss before that can happen. Open the door, the others will be waiting.”
My eyebrows shot up. “Others?”
His lips twitched like he was trying not to laugh. “Did you think I was just going to hand the empire over to you without advice, Viktor? Open the door, and let’s discuss what is going to happen next.”
I bit back a retort. Of course, he wanted to discuss things. When it came to him, it was always something, but this time, I wasn’t leaving without the power I wanted.
Standing, I threw open the door and came face to face with his cronies, old men, powerful men.
“Come on in, gentlemen,” I said smoothly and clenched my jaw. “It’s time we discussed a command change, don’t you think?”