Chapter 1
WILLOW
“I’ll do it,” I tell my grandmother, my voice shaking. “I’ll marry whoever you want.”
The words seem to hang in the air for a long moment, filling the space between us.
Between all of us. I can feel the Voronin brothers react behind me as if their emotions are a physical force, anger and disbelief practically radiating from them.
I know they still want to get between Olivia and me, to stop her from forcing me to do this, but I won’t let them.
Because whatever they might try, it won’t work.
My grandmother is holding all the cards right now.
As I stare into her eyes, bile crawls up my throat.
In the weeks since we met, I’ve been getting to know her, coming to understand her.
Or so I thought. Her eyes are hazel, not brown like mine, but I could see something in the shape of them that always reminded me of my own.
They’re the eyes of the one living relative I have left…
but they might as well belong to someone I’ve never met.
Despite her outward appearance, Olivia Stanton is a cruel and calculating woman who’s willing to blackmail me into marrying someone just to rebuild her empire.
She’s using me like a pawn in a game she intends to win.
Before today, I would never have thought my grandmother was capable of something like this, but I guess that just goes to show how thoroughly she had me fooled.
The petite older woman smiles, seeming pleased, as if she’s read my thoughts and knows I understand the threat she’s holding over my head.
“Very good,” she says. “That’s the correct answer, Willow. You’re making the right choice here. It wouldn’t have gone well for you or your men if you’d tried to deny me.”
“You—”
Malice bites off what probably would’ve been a string of curses, and he and his brothers step forward again. Their anger is even more apparent now, and I know they must hate this just as much as I do—being so out of control in this situation, having their fates decided by someone else.
A raised hand is the only reaction from Olivia at first. She stops them in their tracks, her eyes cool and her posture straight.
“Do I need to remind you of your position in all of this, Malice?” she asks.
Her tone is pleasant, but edged with steel.
“My husband got you out of prison, playing the part of ‘X.’ You would have been in there for many more years if he hadn’t stepped in.
And I could send you back with a snap of my fingers.
I wonder if you would survive this time?
Or if your brothers would.” She looks to Ransom and Victor.
“They’ve done criminal things for my husband and myself, and evidence of those things would probably be enough to put them away for a good long while too. ”
My heart clenches in my chest just hearing her make that kind of threat. I don’t even want to imagine it.
I went from being afraid of these three brothers, to being angry at them for the way they pushed me around and seemed to want to control my life. But despite the rockiness of our beginnings, I’ve come to care for them, so much and so deeply that it’s overwhelming.
So much that I know I can’t let anything happen to them. Especially not going back to prison. Not when I know how hard it was for Malice the first time around, and how hard it would be for Ransom and Victor if they ended up there.
They’ve saved my life more than once.
They’ve come to my rescue when no one else would.
Now this is something I can do for them, and I’m determined to see it through.
I extend my arms out, holding them off. “Don’t,” I say, turning to look at each of them in turn. “Please. Don’t risk this.”
They’re all bristling, anger tightening their expressions. Malice is almost shaking with it, as if the pressure inside him might explode outward at any moment. But they stay where they are, and when I’m somewhat confident that they won’t move, I transfer my focus back to Olivia, glaring her down.
“I already agreed to do what you want,” I snap. “I understand what’s at stake. Leave them alone.”
Olivia narrows her eyes, glancing between me and the brothers.
There’s a calculating look on her face, as if she’s trying to evaluate how intense the emotions between us are.
Maybe she’s trying to see how far she can push this, or just trying to make sure that we all really do understand the threat she’s making.
“Yes,” she finally says, smiling again. Fine lines appear at the corners of her mouth, her eyes wrinkling slightly at the corners.
I used to think that smile made her look kind, but now it just makes her look like a devil in a designer dress.
“I do believe that you understand what’s at stake here. That’s good.”
My grandmother’s eyes move down to the grave we’re still standing near, and I blink, caught off guard when I follow her gaze.
Misty’s grave. The reason we’re all here.
Less than half an hour ago, I was focused on burying my adoptive mother.
It’s hard to believe that things have gone so far off the rails since then.
Everything has changed, my entire world shifted on its axis.
Everything I thought I knew, thought I could rely on, has been yanked out from under me, and I still feel like I’m struggling to regain my balance in all of this.
As I stare down at the deep hole that contains Misty’s casket, my throat gets tight. My adoptive mother was unreliable at best and a manipulative user at worst, but in comparison to my grandmother, she was a much better option. And now she’s gone.
My stomach twists when it hits me that I’m honestly thinking of Misty as someone who treated me better, when Misty was never a good mother to begin with.
She did the bare minimum, and even that was a stretch sometimes.
In the end, there are only three people in the world who have ever truly stood up for me and protected me.
Malice, Ransom, and Victor.
They’ve saved me time and time again, put themselves between me and the people who wanted to hurt me, and promised that they’d keep me safe.
And that’s why I have to do this. Why I have to protect them now.
I square my shoulders, clenching my jaw as I tear my eyes away from Misty’s grave and look back to my grandmother. “What happens now?”
The smug, satisfied curl to Olivia’s perfectly colored lips makes my blood boil, but there’s nothing I can do about it. I can’t attack her any more than the men can, even though for the first time in my life, I think I might be capable of the same sort of violence they are.
“You’ll have to come with me,” she says.
The guys tense all over again at that, a sound almost like a growl rumbling in Malice’s throat, and my stomach drops. At the beginning of this funeral, all I wanted was to go back home with them and let them help me forget my grief. But that won’t be happening now.
I turn to face them, my mind and my heart buzzing with so many things I wish I could say. I wish I could tell them everything that’s building in my chest, but there’s no time. And I couldn’t say it anyway, not with Olivia listening.
Instead, I look at all three of them, my gaze lingering on their faces as if I’m trying to memorize them.
The set of Malice’s jaw, the brightness of Ransom’s eyes, the intensity that sits just below the surface of Victor’s expression.
They stare back at me, and for the first time since I met them, they all look as lost as I feel.
“I’ll be okay,” I say, my voice low. “So please, don’t… don’t try anything. She’s not going to hurt me if I do what she wants. She needs me, so as long as I do this, it’ll be alright.”
Malice grinds his teeth, glancing from my face to Olivia and then back again. “You don’t have to—”
“I do, though,” I tell him. “You know I do.”
“Fuck,” Ransom bites out. “Goddammit, I fucking hate this.”
“Me too,” Vic says quietly. “Willow…”
He doesn’t finish the thought, shaking his head instead. His hand taps out a rhythm on his thigh, agitation written in every line of his body. They’re all tense and furious, and it feels like they’re half a second away from snatching me up and trying to make a run for it.
I take a step away from them, just to make extra sure that doesn’t happen.
“I don’t want you to go with her,” Malice says, his voice so strained that it sounds like gravel.
“I know,” I whisper, tears burning the backs of my eyes. “But I have to. It’s going to be okay.”
Okay. No matter how many times I say that word, it doesn’t feel more true. Nothing about this situation is even remotely close to okay, and we all know it.
But I have to get them to let me go. None of it will matter if they try to get involved and end up getting thrown in jail or worse.
Olivia has already shown that she doesn’t give a shit about them as more than a means to an end or as leverage against me.
They’re pawns to her, just like I am. But unlike me, they’re completely disposable in her eyes.
My chest feels like it’s full of lead, but I try to keep my face from showing the despair I feel. There’s no hope or optimism in my heart, but I don’t want to make this worse.
Suddenly, as if something has snapped inside him, Malice strides forward.
For a terrifying second, I’m afraid he’s going to shove me aside and try to kill Olivia with his bare hands.
But instead, he closes the distance between us, palming the back of my head and pulling me toward him as he leans down.
At first I think he’s going to kiss me, and my heart leaps, both with want and with fear.
I don’t know what Olivia will do if he kisses me right here.
But he just presses his forehead to mine, closing his eyes for a moment as his strong fingers thread through my hair. I cling to the front of his shirt, wishing desperately that I could bury my face there and let him make this all go away.
But in the end, I let go.
Ransom takes Malice’s place as his brother steps back, and he looks heartbroken on top of being angry.
He doesn’t smile, just reaches up and tucks a bit of my blonde hair behind my ear, following the motion down so his fingers graze across my neck.
I shiver at the touch, and he sighs softly, pain burning in his blue-green eyes.
For a moment, it looks like he wants to say something, but then he thinks better of it and steps back.
As Malice and Ransom stand side by side, I shift my gaze to Victor.
He doesn’t move at all for a long moment, just stares at me hard from where he seems rooted to the spot.
My heart thuds in my chest, and as our gazes lock, a memory of our kiss in the kitchen flashes through my mind.
It seems very far away right now, even though it wasn’t long ago at all.
Vic drums his fingers against his thigh, counting out a pattern only he knows, and then shakes his head as if snapping himself out of his stasis.
He moves in closer, stopping with several inches still between us. He swallows hard as his hand stretches out, and he grazes his fingers over my cheek, feather-light and soft. He barely lingers, and my breath catches as he pulls away.
I can still count on one hand the number of times he’s touched me, but this one… this one means a lot.
I blink away the tears blurring my vision and cement the image of them standing there in my mind, then turn back to Olivia. Lifting my chin, I take a deep breath and will my voice not to shake as I say, “Let’s go.”
She nods, then jerks her head imperiously. I follow her as she leads the way out of the cemetery, toward her car.
With every step I take, I can feel the distance between me and my men growing. I can tell that they haven’t moved, still standing in the exact spots I left them in, watching me get farther and farther away.
And as the distance between us grows, my gut twists, dread at what’s to come rising in me.