Chapter 9
CHAPTER NINE
Sasha
Anna wiggles out of my arms and I let her go, my eyes on the bag that holds Katarina’s wedding dress.
It’s a beautiful white mermaid gown, with a lace overlay that is see-through on the chest and arms.
In it, Katarina looked sophisticated and just a touch daring with her long, lean body encased in tight fabric.
My dress has spaghetti straps with a V-neck to make my cleavage look more substantial. It has an empire waist to show off my petite frame but the skirts flow to disguise the fact that I’m neither sophisticated nor daring.
“Mama,” Anna calls, bouncing over to her stepmother. “When we dance?”
Ava gives a nervous laugh, her eyes skittering to mine. Does she think I don’t know? “I’m very aware that Katarina has yet to arrive.”
“She will,” Ava says like she’s trying to convince everyone, including herself. “She’ll come.”
But it’s been too long, and I know the truth. She made her move, just like I made mine. But, unlike me, Katarina was successful.
I know she didn’t know about what I’d done two nights ago, but her groom, he already wants revenge and now he’s been jilted by my sister.
I am in terrible trouble.
As if he heard my thoughts, Ryker strides into the back room. I only catch him out of the corner of my eye, but I don’t turn, don’t make eye contact.
Logically, I know he’s not going away, and I know he knows I’m here. But I’m frozen like a small, helpless prey. And somehow, I feel like if I don’t look at him, he’ll forget about me.
He doesn’t.
He moves close enough that I feel his heat. “Hello, luv.”
His British accent has never been stronger, and it makes my chin snap up to meet his gaze.
That’s when his hand comes to my back, his fingers splaying out on my skin. I jump, tensing at his touch.
“Settle,” he whispers close to my ear. His voice isn’t harsh, in fact it’s soothing in a way that actually calms my jangled nervous system and I feel myself relax.
“Sasha,” Dimitri comes in behind Ryker. “This man says that the two of you are in love.”
I slow blink, my mind trying to catch up to those words.
“What did he say?” Ryker asks soft and deep close to my ear. It’s only then that I realize Dimitri spoke to me in Russian and Ryker didn’t understand.
Ryker’s touch is gentle, his voice smooth and calming. But as I look up into his eyes…
I see the truth.
His irises are dark and bottomless, no emotion. No soul.
I suck in a small breath, trying to catch up to what is happening. The last time I met Ryker, he warned me that if I didn’t comply, he wouldn’t tell just my brother about my attempted theft, he’d involve the police.
This is his play. I feel it deep in my bones. He’s closing the cage.
My knees threaten to give out from under me. “Love?”
What Ryker is doing could not be any further from love.
“It’s time your brother knew the truth,” Ryker rumbles. “Don’t you think?”
Those words ring with a threat, a steel edge underneath his smooth baritone.
“The truth?”
“About our feelings. About the future,” he answers, a smile pulling at his lips even as his gaze remains distant and cold.
Is he trying…does he want me…
My own eyes grow impossibly big, the color surely draining from my face.
I look over at the wedding dress, still tucked in its bag, then I look back at him. His hand presses harder against the small of my back, a clear indicator that I am being guided, but I can’t make myself say the words he wants to hear so instead, I ask another question. “Our feelings?”
“I know how I feel about you,” he returns, the lines of his face growing harder, deeper.
“Sasha?” This from Ava. She sounds as uncertain as I feel which I appreciate.
“How do you feel about me?” I ask as I look back at the bag. I don’t need to look at his face to know what he’s going to say or what he wants.
It’s all clear in my mind.
“You have to know of my interest. Of my desire,” he rumbles low.
I do know of his interests and his desires. None of them are rooted in anything good for me. But I don’t really have much of a choice either. “I do.”
“And I’d like to believe that you share them.”
I don’t. Not at all. But his fingertips bite into my back, drawing my gaze back to his face.
I look into the dark depths of his eyes, every line on his face making it clear what he wants from me. And then he leans down in whispers in my ear, “This is my price.”
In my attempt to escape, I’ve been thoroughly and completely trapped. And if I don’t want to end up in prison, I’m going to have to live with a new jailer.
I don’t even realize I’ve started tapping against my stomach until his other hand covers mine.
“I want you to be my wife, Sasha.”
I can’t make my throat work as I begin to tremble. “Right now? Today?”
“Today.”
I draw in a jagged breath, knowing that if I say no, I’m at his mercy.
If I say yes, I’ve clicked the lock on my own cage.
My tongue darts out and I lick my lips. He catches sight of it, his gaze narrowing in, his whole body growing harder. His reaction makes it even more difficult to think, so I give one last look at the garment bag.
This is happening.
And I am about to be my sister’s replacement.
Katarina has always been better suited to this life. Stronger. More versatile. In hindsight, it should have been completely clear that she would escape, and I would not.
I could have tried to join her. Created a plan where we escaped together. But we’ve been trained to be islands.
I close my eyes as tears form in the corners. And then I force my lips to move. To says the words…
“I accept.”