Chapter 25
Chapter Twenty-Five
Holly
I have a specific selection of clothes I wear when I visit my parents or go out with them.
Expensive, classy, demure skirts, blouses, and dresses that fit the image my conservative father tries to portray.
Tonight, I’m angry enough with him to not give a damn.
I bypass all of those clothes and pull out a fun yellow sundress made of eyelet lace, with spaghetti straps and a full skirt.
I have a short-sleeve white sweater that goes perfectly with it, and high-heeled white sandals.
I curl my hair so it bounces around my shoulders and keep my makeup light.
Not because my father doesn’t like when I wear too much, but because Viktor keeps telling me how beautiful he thinks I am.
Instead of pearls, I’m wearing costume jewelry that has yellow and coral stones to complement the dress.
When I come out of the closet, Viktor lets out a soft whistle.
“You take my breath,” he whispers, coming over to wrap an arm around me and kiss my cheek.
I smile.
“You take mine too,” I whisper back.
We pick up his parents and aunt, and I direct him to my parents’ estate just outside of Atlanta in an area known as Virginia Highlands.
We glide through the gate and I glance back to see Viktor’s parents staring in a bit of awe.
I hate that everyone is always impressed by my parents.
The facade they portray is so different than who they really are, it frustrates me.
“Welcome.” My mother opens the door herself with a big smile. “I’m Veronica Grant. It’s so lovely to meet you all.”
I introduce everyone and I see the way my mother studies Viktor. I’m not sure if it’s that he’s so good looking or something else but she doesn’t even try to hide it.
My father, of course, waits until we’re all in the sunroom before making his entrance. And right behind him is someone I never wanted to see again—Nathan.
What the fuck.
My father always has a plan. A scheme. A carefully constructed strategy. It’s what makes him a great politician. And what makes him a terrible father. Probably a shitty human being but he’s still my dad, so I tend to give him the benefit of the doubt.
Until now.
This is completely inappropriate.
“Good to see you, Viktor.” He extends his hand to Viktor first, and Viktor immediately takes it.
“Thank you for inviting us.” He speaks carefully. So much so I realize he’s been practicing ways to minimize his accent—as if he was afraid it would somehow reflect badly on me.
Then my father turns to my in-laws with a smile and introduces himself.
Mr. Maslak introduces his wife and sister-in-law, and everyone makes a big show of smiling and exchanging niceties.
Except Nathan.
He’s standing off to the side, arms folded, a smirk on his face every time he looks at me. I just ignore him, though, keeping my hand firmly wrapped around Viktor’s.
“Is that him?” My husband is not stupid. “Your ex?”
I nod stiffly.
He doesn’t seem intimidated, though, and merely slides his arm around my waist, holding me closer.
My mother brings out refreshments and the small talk continues.
My mother and Mrs. Maslak start discussing food, which is a relatively safe topic, and the men start talking hockey.
Eventually my father drags them to his den to show him his signed football collection, leaving me behind.
And of course, Nathan doesn’t hesitate to sidle up behind me and tug a lock of my hair.
“You really married some Russian hockey player?” He shakes his head. “I give it a year.”
He has no idea how right but also wrong he is. And I’m sure as hell not going to tell him.
“Sometimes you just know,” I say simply.
He laughs but it’s a dark sound. “You mean, you know the best way to get the money you lost?”
“The money you lost,” I counter. “What are you doing here, Nathan?”
“Your father and I are going into business together.”
“Why?”
“I have good ideas.”
“Like the tech company you squandered my trust fund on?”
“Hey, you win some, you lose some, but I win a lot more than I lose.”
“So, you just lost my money.”
He shrugs. “It was a test. It failed. I told you I’d make it up to you but you just packed up your shit and canceled the wedding without even giving me a chance.”
Luckily, the men come back in the room and Viktor immediately comes to my side, resting an arm around my shoulders as he eyes Nathan. The two men exchange a look, as if sizing each other up, and then Viktor turns to me and presses his lips to mine.
Under any other circumstances, that would annoy me, the idea of him marking his territory or some other alpha male bullshit. But not today. Today it fills me with warmth. He promised he would protect me and he is.
“So, you’re my replacement.” Nathan appears perfectly carefree. “You know we were supposed to be getting married this summer.”
Viktor lifts one shoulder. “She upgraded.”
I manage not to laugh even though I really want to, especially when I see Nathan’s eyes narrow dangerously. That look used to make me cringe but with Viktor beside me, I’m not afraid.
“Everyone, come into the sunroom!” My mother calls out. “We’re going to open some champagne and toast the newlyweds.”
Without a backward glance, Viktor takes my hand and leads me into the room. My father just popped the cork and my mother begins pouring it into the crystal flutes she’s set out on the sideboard. I walk over to help her pass them out and she smiles at me.
“It’s good to see you,” she says in a much more formal tone than a mother should use with her daughter. But that’s how my father has essentially trained her to behave so I’m used to it.
“You too,” I say, taking two glasses and bringing them to Viktor’s parents. Then I go back to get two more, one for Viktor and one for myself.
“Cheers,” he says, softly clinking his glass against mine. “To my beautiful bride.”
Every time he says something like that, my heart flutters happily.
I’m almost starting to believe this thing between us might work out.
“A toast,” my father bellows in his public speaking voice. “To my daughter and her new husband, and to our new extended family. Welcome.”
God, this is a speech worthy of the campaign trail.
Everyone obligingly touches glasses—even Nathan—and then my mother laments that we didn’t have a real wedding.
“There is time,” Mrs. Maslak says with a smile. “Maybe we have ceremony in Russia.”
“Oh.” My mother’s eyes widen. “That sounds lovely—what do you think, Franklin?”
My father nods. “That would be something. I’ll have to talk to my PR people about it, see if they think we should bring a camera crew.”
I knew it.
He’s going to turn my marriage into a photo op.
“Dad, we haven’t even talked about planning something like that,” I interject. “And Viktor has to think about hockey right now.”
“Of course.” Dad gives me a patient smile that doesn’t reach his eyes.
“Viktor can think about hockey,” his mother says, her eyes twinkling. “We can plan wedding.”
I glance at Viktor, hoping he’ll nip this in the bud, and he shakes his head. “Mama, no plans until after the season is over. I cannot think about a wedding. Also, we have our honeymoon planned.”
“Honeymoon?” My mother looks up. “Where are you going?”
“To Egypt,” I say.
My mother wrinkles her nose. “Won’t it be terribly hot in July?”
I chuckle. “Mom, seriously—we live in Georgia. It’s going to be a thousand degrees in the next couple of weeks.”
“Well, I suppose there is history there.”
“You cannot have honeymoon before wedding,” Mrs. Maslak says, her expression somewhat horrified.
“We have already had wedding,” Viktor says firmly. “Please—we do not want big wedding.”
Everyone’s faces fall, like we’ve disappointed them. Well, everyone except Nathan, who has that smirk on his face again. I would do anything to walk over and slap him but that would create unnecessary drama.
“Seems to me, it’s not a big ask for your mothers,” my father says quietly. “Look how upset they are. Would it hurt you to have a little celebration for the rest of us? Give both families time to get to know each other?”
“You’re getting to know each other now,” I point out.
“Not everything is about you, Holly,” he says, giving me that look that in the past would instantly make me capitulate.
“Unless they’re not really married and this was all a ruse to make me jealous.” Nathan arches his brows and gives me a smarmy smile.
The room is momentarily quiet, and I see the questioning looks on my in-laws’ faces.
“To make you…jealous?” I sputter indignantly. “Are you kidding me right now?”
“We are married,” Viktor says quietly. To my surprise, he pulls a folded piece of paper out of the inside pocket of his sport coat. “You can see.” He hands it to my father.
Nathan’s grin fades and he blinks, as if he truly believed that we only pretended to get married.
My father puts on his reading glasses and inspects the marriage certificate. Then he slowly folds it and hands it back to Viktor.
“I will admit I didn’t think it was real.” He looks genuinely confused. “My apologies.”
Viktor graciously inclines his head, but his fingers are firmly laced with mine, holding on tight.
I can tell he’s annoyed. Luckily, we anticipated this so we’ve nipped it in the bud.
At least, some of it. We haven’t even begun to address what happened at my grandmother’s house earlier today and I’m not sure I should.
The more I think about Viktor’s offer to buy it, the more I like the idea.
And the best way to handle it would be to do it without telling anyone. Then, if he tries anything sneaky again, he’s the one who’ll be caught by surprise.
“I think small ceremony in Russia, at our church, is important,” Mrs. Maslak says cautiously, startling me back to the conversation at hand.
“Mama.” Viktor gives her a frustrated look but she ignores him.
“You must have ceremony in the church. For your babies. And when you move back to Russia, it will be easier with paperwork.”
“Mama, not now,” Viktor says quietly. “When the season is over, we can discuss.”
My heart sinks.
After the day we had, and everything we talked about, I thought he would tell her we’re not moving back to Russia. Or at least that it was a long way off and we didn’t have a plan. But that isn’t what he said. His only concern is getting through hockey season. Then he’s willing to talk about it.
I glance over at his profile and he’s perfectly calm, like discussing a wedding in Russia is perfectly reasonable as long as we don’t make any firm plans until hockey season is over.
This is probably my fault for getting my hopes up. He never made any promises either way and I should have known better.
I’m used to the men in my life letting me down—I just didn’t think Viktor would be one of them.