Chapter 14 - Katerina
At half past six, I park the car outside my brother’s home, my family home.
I want to sneak in before anyone else sees me and go straight to Artur.
He’s the only one I want to talk to. If I end up having to face all of them at once, it will be a nightmare.
No one will listen to anything I have to say.
I slip past the guards, around a back entrance I found just after we moved here. Inside the house, it’s still relatively quiet. It’s still early. Standing at the back door near the kitchen, I can hear people moving around upstairs, getting ready for the day.
I’ll go straight to Artur’s room. That way I can speak to him alone.
With one deep breath to try and calm the churning anxiety rolling through my body, I step through the back door into the kitchen and head to the hallway that leads upstairs.
Except my brothers are all there.
Artur, Abram, and Fabi are standing with their arms folded across their broad chests and dark scowls etched into their foreheads as they glare at me in anger. My eyes scan over each of them, my heart racing and my throat growing dry.
I open my mouth to speak, but close it again almost immediately. I didn’t want to speak to all of them, especially not like this.
“Welcome home, Katerina,” Abram snarls, almost hissing at me. He takes a step closer to me, and I stumble backwards, reaching behind me to rest my hand on the small plant shelf against the wall.
“Artur, can we speak in private?” I ask, my voice shuddering slightly as I try to ignore the intense stare of all three of them and focus only on him. His eyes are dark, narrowed slits. He’s past angry. He looks furious.
“Why in private? It seems like you’ve been very publicly shaming your family all over town,” Artur snaps. “Why would you want to be secretive now?”
My eyes dart to Abram. He told them?
He smirks. “Of course, I told them. I’m not betraying my family as you did, Katerina,” Abram snaps. “We don’t keep secrets as dangerous as that from each other.”
I bite my lip, my eyes again falling on Artur, pleading with him to give me the benefit of the doubt. But I can see this is a conversation I’ve already lost.
“You’ve been hanging out with the Andreevs, and then you come crawling back home now? Why? They kick you out? You realize your mistake in trusting them?” Artur spits.
“No, it’s not like that. Yulian isn’t who you think he is,” I say defensively.
“Oh, Yulian. How sweet. Yulian isn’t who we think he is, guys,” Abram snaps angrily.
Fabi shakes his head. “She’s been brainwashed.”
“Please, just listen to me. All of the Andreevs are different from how Uncle Boris explained it. Everything is different. He was wrong, Artur. I went to a party with them, and the Dubrovs were there, and I watched them—”
“Do you think I give a shit about how you saw them manipulating and tricking other families into thinking they’re good people?
Fuck’s sake, Katerina, I thought you were smarter than this.
” Artur is so angry that his fists are clenched at his sides, and his breathing is rapid.
I can see him trying to hold himself back, not to let the full force of his mood rain down on me.
How do I get him to listen when he’s like this?
“Abram, you were at the party,” I blurt out. “You saw everyone together, didn’t you see…”
“All I saw was my little sister, cuddled up to one of our worst enemies. The people who tortured and killed our uncle. Did you forget about that? Did you forget what they did when you were slow dancing and sipping champagne in a matching fucking outfit with that murderer? What kind of respect are you showing the family by being around those people, Katerina?”
“What were you doing there?” I snap, defensively, pointlessly trying to deflect so I can buy myself time to think. But there’s nothing to think about, because nothing I say right now is going to make any difference.
“I was scouting. I was gathering intel,” Abram snarls at me, his lips curling, his face menacing and terrifying. He’s the worst when it comes to controlling his emotions. He gets nasty and angry far too easily.
I close my eyes and shake my head. “None of you are listening,” I whisper, more to myself than my brothers.
“We don’t know if we can trust anything you say at this point,” Fabi says. His voice is gentler, sad almost. He sounds disappointed in me.
It breaks my heart to have them think of me like this.
How can I explain that Yulian basically held me prisoner, but it wasn’t bad because it gave me a chance to see who he really is?
I can’t.
I can’t explain that without triggering something worse.
“We need to move on with our business, now that she’s home,” Artur says, turning to Abram as though I’m not even there.
“Agreed. Have the guards watch over her, though. We can’t have her leaving again,” he replies.
“I’m standing right here, stop talking about me as though I’m not,” I snap angrily.
They all ignore me.
“I’ll contact Mikhail. He can finalize the arrangements for the wedding,” Fabio says before he turns away and walks towards the home office.
Wedding?
What?
Who’s getting married?
Panic shoots through me.
“Tell me what the hell is going on!” I shout, too loud, too angry, but I can’t hold back the emotions bubbling through me.
Facing my brothers has been overwhelming. Leaving Yulian without even saying goodbye is weighing down on me. I feel horrible, and they are making it a hundred times worse by treating me like I’m a criminal.
Artur and Abram turn to look at me. Abram is smirking. Artur is scowling. “Your wedding, Katerina,” Abram says, watching me closely, making me think he’s savoring the shock and anxiety flickering over my face.
“Mine?” I stammer, looking at Artur.
“I have a very strong alliance that’s been offered to the family. It will be a great move for us. A great move for all of us. The only catch was that the eldest brother, Mikhail, had insisted on a marriage. He wants you.”
“Artur, you can’t…you can’t force me into some arranged marriage with a man no one even knows.
What if he’s horrible? What if he’s cruel?
” I keep envisioning the married men at the party, ogling over me the moment their wives glance in a different direction.
What kind of a marriage is that? No respect.
No love. Nothing. Nothing good at all. And who knows what goes on behind closed doors. I don’t want that. I can’t do it.
“The arrangements have already been agreed upon, Kat. And this is the best way I can think of to keep you away from our enemies. Trust me, Mikhail will be a hundred times better than Yulian.”
Artur turns back to Abram to carry on their discussion. Tears sting the back of my eyes. My chest tightens. I need to get out of here. But I can’t.
I do the only thing I can think of, and that’s running up to my sister’s room.
Marie is sitting on her bed, staring at the door.
Her nose is scrunched up when I step into her room through the open door.
Her long blonde hair is loose over her shoulders, and her bright green eyes are full of worry.
She has the same smattering of freckles across her nose as I do. It’s clear we’re sisters.
“Marie,” I stammer, walking cautiously towards her. I don’t know if she also hates me right now. I don’t know if she’s also angry.
“I heard everything,” she whispers. “Are you okay?” she holds out her arm, gesturing for me to sit with her.
I shake my head, flopping down next to her with tears running freely down my cheeks.
“How can I be okay?” I sob quietly.
“I tried to talk them out of it when I heard them planning it last week. It sounds like a nightmare. I couldn’t even get them to show me a photo of the guy.
I’m so sorry they’re doing this. I know they’re angry with you, but this is extreme,” she sighs, wrapping her arms around me and hugging me close.
Marie lets me cry out my emotions onto the shoulder of her hoodie while she sits quietly waiting for me to catch my breath.
When I lift my head, there is a wet patch where my cheek was nuzzled against her. She giggles and brushes her hand over it. “Gross,” she teases me. “Snot.”
I giggle too, even though my heart is heavy.
She grabs me and pulls me further onto her bed. “Tell me what’s going on with you,” she demands, getting comfy against the headboard.
I bite the inside of my cheek, then sigh. “I’ve been staying with a guy called Yulian,” I start.
Marie listens to me talk for ages, and the more I talk, the better I feel. Saying things out loud is a good way to sort out the chaos running wild in my thoughts. It doesn’t solve the predicament I’m in, but it helps me see things more clearly.
By the time I’ve updated her on everything, Marie is grinning at me.
“What?” I ask, tilting my head to the side.
“You’re kind of glowing. Like you have this inner light that’s shining through. I’ve never really seen it before. I think it has something to do with this Yulian guy. Are you in love with him?”
“What? No, um, that’s silly,” I blurt out.
My cheeks flush pink. Marie giggles again, and I shake my head.
“I don’t have time to worry about love now, anyway.
Our brothers are busy planning my wedding, and it might be to some middle-aged, self-centered, arrogant asshole—in fact, it probably is one of those guys I met at Artur’s party.
Why else would they specifically ask for me if they hadn’t met me?
” The thought makes my stomach churn. There wasn’t a single man that I met at that party that I’d be happy to marry.
Well.
One man.
But he wasn’t supposed to be there.
“Ugh,” I huff.
“I know,” Marie agrees. “Maybe just give them some time. Try talking to them in a day or two, and maybe we can convince them together that this is going to ruin your whole life. I think they’re just angry now and making rash decisions.”
“Yes, maybe. But in the meantime, the wedding is in full planning mode. It might be too late in a day or two,” I sigh.
“They’re our brothers, sis. They love you.
Even though they’re angry now,” she says, sounding confident.
But I don’t share the same confidence. They are our brothers, and they do want us to be happy, but what they want more is for Artur to establish himself with strength and good alliances.
They want the family to be strong and safe.
They will put that before my personal needs.
“I’m going to go shower, or something. I need to clear my head.”
Standing up, I give Marie a hug and a tight smile. “Thank you so much for listening. And for understanding.”
“I’m here whenever you need me,” she smiles.
Downstairs, my brothers are all in Artur’s office. I can hear them in a heated discussion about me and my betrayal. And the wedding. They are all agreeing with each other that it’s the best option, which gives me no hope at all.
With a heavy, aching heart, I duck out the back door that I came in, tapping my pocket to check that the car keys are still there. I won’t leave them again, but I need air. I need to drive and think and clear this heavy feeling resting on my shoulders.
It’s as easy to get out as it was to get in. Maybe they haven’t told the guards to double down yet. Too busy planning my wedding to some asshole stranger.
I jog slowly to the gate and slip through it, out onto the road outside the property, then walk slowly around to where I parked my car out of sight.
Yulian’s car, actually. The one he bought for me when I first arrived at his place. A custom pink little 4x4 that makes me smile every time I get into it. It still seems ridiculous that he did that for me before he even knew me.
And when I think about it, as I have often, I can’t think of a single moment when he treated me badly. I was a princess living in his castle. He took care of anything I needed. He gave me freedom I’ve never felt. He gave me my dream. My own studio. Clients to design for.
I was actually happy there.
I mean, truly, genuinely happy.
If it wasn’t for the guilt of leaving my family, I would have stayed.
But then again, how can I stay when we are enemies, and at some point, whether now or in the distant future, it would have to come to an end?
Tugging the car keys out of my pocket, I press the little button on the fob, and the door clicks unlocked with one beep and a flash of the lights.
As I’m reaching for the handle, though, someone grabs me. My stomach drops, my heart somersaults, and before I can scream in terror, a hand slams over my mouth.
But as soon as the man pulls me close, I recognize his cologne. He drags me into the passenger seat of his car and slams the door closed. I don’t bother trying to get out. I sit quietly, waiting for Yulian to climb in on the driver’s side.
He pulls away, tires screaming against tar as he does so.
“You thought you could just leave like that? What was your plan? To feed your brother's information about me? Was that why you stayed?” he snaps, turning the corners too roughly, making me slide around in my seat.
My heart is so heavy I can’t even find the words the respond.
First, my family thinks the worst of me, and now Yulian does, too.
Maybe I am the monster in all of this. Maybe I am the bad guy after all.