Chapter 25
Chapter Twenty-Five
Leah
I ran, my bare feet slapping across the gravel driveway as I sped away into the darkness. I didn’t look where I was going, and quickly, the manned gate came into view. My feet slowed and then stopped altogether. Fuck.
I had forgotten about the guard on the gate, and I didn’t know the grounds well enough to know whether there was another way out.
Half-hiding behind the trunk of a wide tree, I surveyed my surroundings.
There was only one man at the gate that I could see. Pacing back and forth, back and forth with a cigarette in his mouth. I could see the orange glow of the end illuminating his face every time he took a drag.
There was no way past him, and there was even less chance he would let me stroll up there looking like I was and open the gate for me. I wasn’t even dressed, I didn’t have shoes on, and I was pretty sure my feet were bleeding. No, I would have to find another way out of the grounds.
Turning in a right circle, I looked. In the middle of the night, it was almost impossible to get my bearings, but I didn’t know whether I could wait until morning. The snow was coming down thick and fast, and I was shivering uncontrollably.
My feet were, well, I didn’t want to think about the damage the ice and snow were doing to them. I needed to get out of here. Behind me, it sounded like someone shouted my name again, or it could have been the wind. I wasn’t sure.
But my body was flushed, not with heat, but with the need to flee. At any minute, Viktor would find me. In fact, I was surprised he hadn’t come rushing after me. I’d expected him to. But I didn’t know why.
Viktor had chosen, and he had chosen someone who wasn’t me. Bringing her into our house on Christmas Day was unforgivable. There was no going back from it. No amount of apologies and sweet gestures would ever take away the sting of his betrayal.
Our marriage was over. The contract was over. We were done.
Lights flooded the circling driveway.
Ducking down, I wrapped my arms around myself to make myself as small as possible, but my heart was beating so fast that I was sure someone would hear it, even over the throaty roar of the engine.
But I didn’t take my eyes off the car and the gate when it pulled to a stop in front of it.
Stephen, my usual bodyguard, was driving.. His face was strained. In all the months I had known him, and in that time I had made him angry on numerous occasions, I had never seen him look so furious, and the reason was sitting in the passenger side.
Manda.
The woman Viktor had chosen over me.
There was a moment of conversation between the two men, and then the guard nodded and the gate began to slide open. That’s when she moved, throwing herself out of the car. She bolted back toward the house, and both men went after her.
I watched for a second before I realized this was my chance. The gate wasn’t open fully, but it was open enough to slide my body through sideways.
Keeping low and running as fast as I could, I slipped through and bolted down the empty road. They didn’t see me, and as long as I found somewhere to hide every time I saw headlights, they never would.
Manda might have ruined my life, but she might have just given me my freedom.
When I couldn’t run anymore, I walked, but somehow, that made it worse because going slow meant my adrenaline was dipping, and suddenly, all I could concentrate on was how cold I was and how much my feet felt like they were cut into ribbons.
But still, I kept walking, head down and hugging the treeline. Every time a car went past, I hid. Using the darkness as a cover.
Three cars went by with drivers I recognized. And then the fourth car approached. It was coming from the direction of the house, but this one was different.
I didn’t know why I thought that, but instinctively I knew it was.
All of Viktor’s men drove similar cars, like vehicles in an army. This one was different. Something older and bigger, and as I peered out from my hiding space. Expensive. Not a sports car or a town car, but was it called a Rolls Royce?
I didn’t know much about cars, but I think that’s what it was called.
There was a moment where I thought it might be Viktor himself coming to get me, but that thought evaporated as the car pulled to a stop right next to me, and the driver opened the door.
“Get in. We will take you somewhere safe.” He didn’t say anything else.
I had a solid second to decide whether getting into a stranger’s car was stupid or not, and then I was swinging open the back door and scrambling inside. And it was warm. So warm.
“Thank you.” Slamming the door behind me, I could barely speak through my chattering teeth. “Thank you so much.” Wrapping my arms around myself, I tried to force myself to relax enough to enjoy the car’s toasty interior, but it was hard.
Outside, it had been easier to ignore just how bone-cold I was.
“It’s my pleasure, Leah.” A male’s voice spoke from right next to me. His accent was thick and Russian, but it wasn’t Viktor. “I couldn’t let my beautiful daughter-in-law freeze on the side of the road, could I?”
Viktor’s dad.
I had gotten into a car with Viktor’s dad.
This was bad, so bad. I’d barely spoken to him at the party, but I knew this was a bad thing. I didn’t want to be alone with this man.
Desperately, I reached for the handle, and the locks clicked into place.
“I’m sorry, Leah, but I can’t let you go until we talk. Drive.” The car pulled away, not moving fast enough to draw attention, but fast enough that if I managed to open the door and throw myself out, I would do myself some real damage.
And kill my baby. I wouldn’t allow that to happen.
“Here.”
I flinched as his arm lashed out, curling my body into the car door. The overhead light flicked on, and I instantly felt stupid. He hadn’t reached out to strike me or even touch me. Instead, he was holding out a thick plaid blanket.
“Take it, Leah. You are freezing.” He moved it closer, and I plucked it from his fingers gratefully, wrapping it around myself.
For several long seconds, he stared at me, with eyes that were the same as his son’s but a lot more lifeless, and then he nodded.
“I was coming to see you and my son when I saw Manda being driven by. ”
He waited for me to answer, but he hadn’t asked a question, so I kept my mouth shut. Plus, he was lying. It was after midnight. People didn’t come visiting at this time of night.
“Yes, I think Stephen was taking her home.” I had to keep my voice calm and my anger under control. I didn’t know much about Viktor’s business, but I knew something of his relationship with his dad, and I knew he wouldn’t want our private matters being told to him.
I didn’t owe Viktor anything. He had betrayed me. But I did owe myself something.
“I see.” He steepled his hands under his chin and waited for me to say something else. When I didn’t, he sighed.
“You need to be careful of Manda, Leah. She’s never really been what people call emotionally stable.”
I couldn’t help it. I rolled my eyes. No wonder Viktor was so attracted to her. He wasn’t exactly Mr. emotionally stable himself.
Boris chuckled. “I can see by your face that you know this already. I can also see by the state of your attire that her visit to your home wasn’t welcomed,” his eyes narrowed. “At least by you.”
Still, I said nothing.
“I know what this can be like for ladies as young as you.” His eyes raked over me, but not in the kind of way that a man should look at his daughter-in-law. More like he was peeling back the layers of my clothes so he could sweep his eyes over me.
I tightened the blanket around me and recrossed my arms. He gave that sardonic chuckle again. Almost like he knew his look was making me uncomfortable. That was just the kind of man he was.
“You expect to be loved and adored. It’s what women in your position expect and the reason men like me and my son.”
Viktor was nothing like his dad.
“Why we marry women from good and connected families, and to women who know that we keep mistresses. You have a lot to learn. Viktor should have chosen Manda, and they both know it.”
I flashed him a look, and he threw up a hand. “Now I am not saying that Viktor doesn’t care for you in his own way, and by all accounts, he has been quite doting on you these last few weeks.” His eyebrows shot down. “Is there any particular reason for that?”
Under the blanket, my fingers skimmed over my stomach. “He’s always been—” I struggled to find the right words, “quite attentive, he chose me after all.”
“Yes, he did, and we both know why.” Throwing back his head, he laughed.
“If you are saying I seduced your son, then you’re wrong. Viktor doesn’t marry the women he sleeps with,” I spat. It was weird because my marriage was over, but here I was still defending him. What was up with that?
“No, he doesn’t. Otherwise, he would have married Manda years ago. She’s a much better fit for his particular lifestyle.”
“You’ve said that before. It doesn’t change the fact that Viktor chose me and not her.” I snapped.
Glancing out the window, I frowned. We had been driving for a while, and I should have been able to see the city skyline by now, but there was nothing surrounding us but darkness.
Coldness settled around my heart. Where were they taking me?
“Well, of course, he chose you, Leah. He needed a wife he could dispose of when he gained control. What did your contact stipulate? One year? Two?” His eyes searched my face.
Shocked, my mouth worked, and nothing came out.
“You didn’t think I knew? Leah, I know pretty much everything.
You weren’t even on his radar six months ago, not even four months ago, and then suddenly, there were rumors.
My son, the ever-loving bachelor, was seen with you and seen watching you, and then, boom you were married. It didn’t take much to figure out.”
“You were spying on him?”
“Spying is such an ugly word, don’t you think?
But I keep tight tabs on my son and my organization.
” He paused for a second, and I heard his breath rasp in his throat.
“So let’s talk like adults. I have done my homework on you as well, Leah.
You are a resourceful and hard- working young woman.
You know this is all a business arrangement.
So let’s talk business. How much is my son paying you? ”
“I don’t know what you mean. Our marriage is based on feelings and romance.”
Wow, that lie slipped out easily.
“And yet your love match involves another woman, and you running around in the countryside without a coat or even shoes in the middle of a snowstorm. Come on, Leah. My legs might not work, but my brain is sharp. You don’t love my son, and he is incapable of that feeling, so it’s money that keeps you locked to him.
Unless—” his eyes skimmed over my face. “Oh, you poor child. You’ve fallen for him, haven’t you?
Leah, Leah, Leah.” Boris shook his head.
“You must know that it’s hopeless to love a man like Viktor. ”
I turned my face away. Staring out of the window. “Where are you taking me?” I whispered, changing the subject.
“Does it matter?”
“To me, yes.”
Boris sighed.
“Where we take you depends on your answers to the following questions.”
I shuddered. Well, I didn’t like the sound of that at all. Gathering my courage around me, I met his cold eyes.
“Then, ask them.”
“I like your directness, Leah. It speaks of a woman who knows the way of the world, maybe better than my son does. You’ve had a hard life, haven’t you? That’s what your files say.”
“If you have a file on me, then you don’t need me to answer, do you. It’s not a question.”
“Touché, you’re married to my son, but these things can be dissolved pretty quickly. That doesn’t mean you can’t marry—”
“No.” I snapped. Hell no, not even if he was the last man on earth and the survival of the human race depended on it.
“Then let me make you another offer. Stay married to my son, for however long you have left on your contract. Play happy families and in love newlyweds, but come out of that marriage an even richer woman than you would have been. Five million dollars and all you need to do is—”
I gulped loudly. Five million dollars? It was more money than I had ever dreamed of. So much more than Viktor had offered me, and that was a fortune. I could do so much with that money. The baby and I could disappear and live a life I had only dreamed about.
“Let me know.”
I blinked. I hadn’t heard a word he had said, but I knew what he was asking me. He wanted me to spy on my husband for him. He wanted me to be disloyal. And loyalty was the thing that Viktor valued the most. But five million dollars.
“Thank you, Boris,” I said sincerely and closed my eyes. “Your offer is really generous, but I made a promise to your son, and I won’t break my word.”
“Your marriage is a sham. It will be over within the year.”
I shrugged. “Possibly, but that’s not the promise I am talking about.”
I had promised never to run away from my family. That I would never betray them. And I wasn’t about to become a liar. Not even for millions of dollars.
“I am sorry, Boris, but I can’t accept your offer. Please take me back to my husband.”