Chapter 7 - Elisse
“You have lost your mind,” I said, my voice low and lethal.
He didn’t look at me as he said “No”, the one word making me angrier than I already was.
The space was exactly as I remembered it: understated and deliberately expensive, with floor-to-ceiling glass framing Miami’s skyline.
It was accented by clean lines on dark wood.
A bachelor’s empire disguised as minimalism.
But now I could see what it truly was. Nothing but a mask of coldness, built as a form of control.
There was nothing personal here that could be used to weaken him.
I turned to face him. “You have five seconds to start explaining why you abducted me, and then I am getting out of here.”
“I didn’t abduct you.”
“You locked me in your car and brought me here.”
“And yet you’re standing here perfectly calm.”
My hands curled into fists. “You don’t get to twist definitions and assume how I feel.”
He stepped around me, shrugging off his jacket with unhurried precision. “Come with me.”
“No. I am not going anywhere with you.”
He paused, stopping to look at me fully now. There was something different in his expression, harder than before. It was neither desire nor teasing, but instead, it looked like resolve.
“We’re not doing this here,” he said.
“Doing what?”
“This.”
He gestured between us.
“There is no this,” I snapped. “There is you behaving like a criminal.”
His jaw tightened slightly, but he didn’t rise to my bait.
“Come to my study. Now,” he said, his tone leaving no room for argument, but I didn’t care.
“I’m not going anywhere with you. I am getting out of here and going straight home.”
He crossed the room in three strides and stopped in front of me, close enough that I had to tilt my chin to maintain eye contact.
“You are already here, and you are mistaken if you think I will let you leave so easily.”
“I will leave, and you will see.”
“Try me.”
The challenge ignited something reckless in me, and I turned sharply and walked towards the main door, which opened right in front of the elevator doors.
To my surprise, the door didn’t open even after I pushed and pulled it with all the force I could muster.
Of course it didn’t. I definitely should have known better.
I spun back around, my eyes blazing with fire. “Unlock it right now.”
“No.”
“You cannot keep me here against my will. That’s a crime.”
“Watch me. You are mistaken if you think I care. ”
My heart pounded, not from fear, but from the humiliating realization that he meant it. Every single word. Which only meant that I was trapped here until he decided to let me out. If I wanted to get out of here, I had to play smart rather than do whatever it was I was doing.
“You think this is a game?” I demanded, unable to control my anger.
“No.”
“Then what is all this? Why are you doing it?”
“It is necessary. I don’t have much of a choice.”
I laughed, sharp and incredulous. “Necessary for who?”
“For you.”
“Do not,” I said, stepping towards him, “pretend as if you are doing this for me.”
He didn’t even flinch.
“Come with me to the study,” he repeated, something in his tone shifting into a sense of finality.
He wasn’t going to take no for an answer for much longer.
I could see I was already testing his patience more than enough.
I didn’t know why, but a flicker of unease threaded through my anger as I looked at him.
“Why?” I demanded again.
“You’ll see.”
“I’m not—”
The doorbell rang just then, and we both went still.
I looked at him as he looked at the entrance, a knowing look on his face.
Whoever was out there, he had been expecting them, which only meant it would not play into my favor.
Instead, ice crawled down my spine while he moved towards the door to open it.
Two men in dark suits stepped inside, carrying large white boxes.
Behind them, another man wheeled in an arrangement of flowers, white orchids and roses arranged with clinical precision.
I stared uneasily, my pulse beginning to roar in my ears.
“What is this?” I asked quietly, but the men didn’t answer.
They didn’t even look at me as they carried the boxes past us, towards the hallway leading to his study.
I followed automatically, dread blooming with every step.
The guy didn’t stop them, and he didn’t speak either; he simply continued to watch me.
The study door was already open, and when I stepped inside, everything tilted.
There was a man standing near the window dressed in a simple black suit.
He seemed older and rather serious, with his hands folded in front of him as if he were waiting for something.
The flowers were placed near the large oak desk in the center, and the men efficiently opened one of the boxes.
White fabric spilled out of it. It was a beautiful soft silk with a lace bodice, the dress a perfect shade of ivory.
My stomach dropped the moment I realized what it was.
“No,” I breathed, the word barely making it out of my horror-struck mouth. The man by the window gave a respectful nod in Fyodor’s direction, who was right behind me.
“Good evening,” Nikolai greeted him. My head snapped towards him, no longer concealing the anger I felt.
“What is this?” I asked, but he closed the study door behind us, the click echoing like a gunshot.
“Elisse,” he said calmly.
“Don’t.”
“You must listen to me.”
“No.” I took a step back. “No. You do not get to do this to me. If this is what I think this is, it is not happening.”
The older man looked mildly uncomfortable, and I couldn’t blame him. He had no part in the drama that was unfolding between the crazy man and me before me, but he was still caught in the middle of it.
I turned to look at him, resolve shining on my face. “You can leave.”
He didn’t move, exactly as I had expected. It almost felt as if he hadn’t even heard me.
“You are not authorized to be here,” I snapped at him when he didn’t budge. “Whatever he told you, this is a mistake. No one here is getting married tonight, so you are not needed.”
The man glanced at Nikolai, and he simply nodded once.
The officiator cleared his throat. “I was informed the bride would require a moment. I am more than happy to wait outside while the two of you settle your differences before the wedding ceremony begins. I am sure these men will also require some time to set up the flowers.”
Bride.
The word detonated inside my skull, and I looked at the dress and flowers again.
The men in the room continued to take bunches of flowers out of boxes with a calm, prearranged efficiency that made me feel as if they were both deaf and blind, unable to see me lashing out.
None of this was intimidation or part of a theater performance.
It was preparation, and that too for my wedding.
“You’re joking,” I said slowly, unable to breathe.
“I don’t joke about things like this, Elle,” he replied, his face expressionless.
“You think you can just, what? Drag me in here and marry me against my will? Why exactly do you believe it is that easy or that I will agree to this? Does it look like I am some sort of helpless little girl who gets intimidated easily? If I had my pistol on me right now, I would have shot you in the head.”
“Well then, I am glad you don’t have it. But in case you still might want to try, I have a nice little weapon in the house I can give you.”
The simplicity of his words stole the air from my lungs. He certainly could not be serious. How could he be? Right?
“You have lost your goddamned mind, and I am not playing any part in this,” I said, almost shouting at him, but his gaze didn’t even waver.
“You don’t get my consent, and you will never have it.
You will have to force a screaming bride in front of the officiator because I will never say I do willingly. ”
“You’ll give your consent, and you will also say I do.”
I laughed again, hysterical and disbelieving. “You have completely lost your mind if that is what you believe.”
“If you cannot be reasoned with,” he said evenly, “you will be forced to understand, my love.”
Something in his voice shifts and turned cold and strategic, as if he had already rehearsed this conversation in his mind a hundred times. I could see it wasn’t passion, but it was calculation instead.
“Why?” I demanded. “Why are you doing this to me?”
My question was met with silence as if he didn’t even have the words to explain this cruelty.
“Is this about my family?”
He stayed silent again.
“You said something about leverage,” I pressed. “Is that what this is? Some sick revenge tactic?”
His jaw flexed.
“Answer me!”
He stepped close without touching me, but still remained close enough to dominate the space.
“Because if you are not my wife,” he said quietly, “you will become someone else’s hostage, and I will not see you become that.”
The words landed like ice water, but still didn’t make much sense.
“You’re lying. I come from a powerful family, and no one can treat me as leverage. Not you, nor anyone else. So tell me the real reason you are doing all of this, because it certainly cannot be leverage.”
“I am not lying, Elle. I am simply preventing escalation.”
“You are the one who is escalating things without any reasoning or explanation!”
“I am protecting you!”
“You’re insane,” I whispered. “How the fuck is any of this protection? Marrying me out of force is not protection, it is a crime against my autonomy, and I will not stand here and become a part of it!”
“Possibly, yes. It is. But it is still happening no matter how much you try to resist it or run away.”
“I would rather die.”
His eyes sharpened.
“I know.”
I stepped towards the desk, grabbing the edge of the open box which displayed the dress, and shoved it away out of pure, unconcealed anger, making the silk spill to the floor.