10. Chapter 10 Cara
Chapter 10: Cara
I felt like I was going to vomit at the sight of Mikhail Sokolov and his brothers lounging in my father's study like they owned the place. Like they owned me.
I clenched my fists at my sides, fighting the urge to turn tail and run. But it would only delay the inevitable. I squared my shoulders and stepped into the room; my chin high. I wouldn't let them see how scared I was, how desperate. I was a Maguire, for fuck's sake. We didn't show weakness, not even in the face of our own destruction.
"Ah, there she is." Mikhail rose from his seat, his eyes raking over me. "My beautiful bride-to-be. Come, let me look at you."
I fought the urge to recoil as he approached, his meaty hand coming up to grip my chin. He tilted my face this way and that, examining me like a prize horse at auction. I could smell the vodka on his breath, the stale stench of cigarettes on his clothes.
"Very nice," he murmured, his thumb brushing over my bottom lip. "Such a pretty little mouth. I bet it will look even prettier wrapped around my cock, don't you think?"
I jerked away from his touch, bile rising in my throat. "Don’t touch me.”
Mikhail chuckled, a dark, oily sound that made my skin crawl. "Oh, but soon you will beg me for it, devotchka. You will know the pleasure of all the Sokolov brothers before long. We like to share, you see. It keeps things... interesting."
I felt the blood drain from my face, my stomach turning over in horror. Share? He wanted to share me, like some kind of fucktoy?
I looked to my father, desperate for some kind of reaction. Some sign that he gave a single flying fuck about what this monster was saying, about what he planned to do to me. But Declan just sat there, his face impassive as he sipped his whiskey. Like he couldn't even hear the vile things coming out of Mikhail's mouth, like it didn't matter to him at all what happened to his only daughter once she was married off to the monster he was handing me to.
And in that moment, I knew with a sickening certainty that my father would never save me, never lift a finger to protect me from the fate he'd chosen for me. I was on my own. The thought made me want to scream. Made me want to throw myself at Mikhail's feet and beg for mercy, for some shred of human decency. But I knew it would be futile. Knew that men like him, men like my father, had no concept of mercy or decency.
They only understood power. And right now, all the power was in their hands.
"I think," I said slowly, choosing my words with care, "that perhaps we should postpone the wedding. Just for a little while, until we've had more time to get to know each other."
Mikhail's eyes narrowed, his lips curling into a sneer. "Postpone? I think not, devotchka. The deal has been struck, the date set. You will be mine in two weeks time, and not a day later."
I swallowed hard, my heart pounding in my chest. "But surely, a bit more time couldn't hurt? Just to ensure that we're compatible, that the marriage will be a success?"
"Compatible?" Mikhail barked out a laugh. "What does compatibility have to do with anything? You are to be my wife, my property. Your only job is to spread your legs and bear my heirs, not to question my decisions."
I felt a hot flash of anger at his words, but I tamped it down, forced myself to take a deep breath and think. I needed to be smart about this, needed to find a way to buy myself some time. Time to come up with a plan, to find a way out of this nightmare before it was too late.
And then it hit me. The one thing that might give Mikhail and his brothers pause, the one card I had left to play in this fucked-up game of power and control.
"I can't marry you in two weeks," I said. "I... I think I might be pregnant."
Silence. Absolute, deafening silence, broken only by the sound of my own heartbeat thundering in my ears. For a moment, no one moved. No one even seemed to breathe, as the weight of my words sank in.
And then, all hell broke loose.
"Pregnant?" Mikhail roared, his face purpling with rage. "You fucking whore, you dare to stand there and tell me you're carrying another man's child?"
I flinched back from the fury in his voice, my eyes darting to my father. But Declan just sat there, his jaw clenched and his eyes cold as he stared me down.
"Is this true, Cara?" he asked, his voice deceptively calm. "Have you been spreading your legs for some piece of trash, letting him fill you with his bastard seed?"
I lifted my chin, meeting his gaze head-on. "And if I have? What's it to you, Father? You're the one who has forced this match, without a single thought for my happiness or well-being."
Declan surged to his feet, his hand cracking across my face with enough force to snap my head to the side. I staggered back, my cheek burning and my eyes watering from the sting of it.
"You ungrateful little bitch," he spat, his face twisted with disgust. "After everything I've done for you, everything I've given you, this is how you repay me? By shaming our family, by ruining the alliance I've worked so hard to secure?"
I laughed, the sound bitter and broken to my own ears. "Shame? You want to talk about shame, Father? How about the shame of knowing that my own flesh and blood sees me as nothing more than a bargaining chip, a piece of ass to be traded away to the highest bidder?"
Mikhail stepped forward, his eyes glittering with a malice that made my blood run cold. "The marriage is off," he said flatly, his gaze locked on my father's. "The girl is soiled goods, and I will not have my family's name tainted by her whore's blood."
Declan's face drained of color, his eyes widening in panic. "Mikhail, please. Let's not be hasty. I'm sure there's a way to salvage this, to come to some sort of arrangement—"
"No." Mikhail cut him off with a slash of his hand. "There will be no arrangement, no compromise. You promised me a virgin bride, Declan. And instead, you bring me a slut with a bastard in her belly."
He turned to me, his lips curled in a sneer of pure disgust. "I hope it was worth it, devotchka. I hope whoever put that child in you was worth the ruin you've brought down on your own head. Because mark my words, this insult will not go unanswered. The Sokolovs do not take kindly to being made fools of."
With that, he turned on his heel and stalked out of the room, his brothers falling into step behind him. I watched them go, my stomach churning with a sickening mixture of relief and dread.
I didn't know. Couldn't even begin to guess at the shitstorm I'd just unleashed, the war I'd started with a few well-placed words. I didn’t know I'd just painted a target on my own back.