Chapter 3 #2
“We’re departing this Friday night, and I want you to invite Axel as a guest.”
I stared at him in shock. “But we’re not married.”
He didn’t seem fazed that he was breaking his own rule, one that he had previously declared unbreakable. “Let him know we’re leaving on Friday morning. He can drive up one of the vehicles.”
Holy shit. Somehow I had negotiated my way out of marrying Sergei and into a contrived relationship with an unwilling partner. I tried to think of an appropriate reaction, but my face remained an emotionless mask. “I’m so shocked. I can’t believe this.”
He took that as appreciation and nodded gruffly. “Tell Axel he’s still hanging by a thread.”
“Thank you, Uncle.” I stood up. “Can I drive up with him?”
“Don’t push your luck.” He looked up at me sharply. “I haven’t made up my mind about anything, you understand?”
Which meant he hadn’t made up his mind about forcing me to marry Sergei either. “That works for me.”
He motioned with his hand for me to leave. “Tell Axel.”
I looked through the entire main floor but didn’t find Axel, so I moved out to the gardens. I was just coming around the front of the house when Sergei stepped out from the shadows of a pillar and blocked my path.
“What do you want?” I backed away from him, scanning the entire front of the yard, but as far as I could tell we were alone.
“You think you can make me look bad in front of your uncle?” His dead gaze reminded me of a reptile.
“I’m not trying to do anything,” I said in a calm voice.
He stepped toward me. “You’re just making it worse for yourself, you know.”
I stepped back, trying to create more space between us. “You don’t have any control over my life.”
“Soon I’ll control every aspect of your life.” He stepped closer. “I’ll control when you sleep, what you wear, what you eat and when you can suck my dick.”
With reflexes I didn’t know I had, I whipped my hand and slapped him hard across his wide face.
He blinked, and then with terrifyingly fast reflexes, he lunged for me.
I winced, bracing for an impact that never came. Suddenly, Axel was pushing Sergei backward across the deck until he had him pinned against the railing.
Sergei shoved back at him and grunted. “This isn’t your business.”
Axel gave him another hard shove. “You need to talk to Grisha.”
Sergei’s dead gaze shifted between me and Axel. Then with a bored shrug, he walked away from us both.
My voice shook. “We need to talk.”
His tone was polite sarcasm. “You think?”
“Privately.”
“Let’s go for a drive.” He motioned with his head toward the row of vehicles parked along the driveway.
My hesitation must have been written all over my face because he added, “Just to the end of the driveway.”
I followed him to his personal car, an expensive sports model. I watched in silence as he drove down the road and then parked beside the gate.
He killed the engine.
We sat there in an extended silence. My mind raced, but my thoughts were disjointed and uncoordinated. I couldn’t seem to form thoughts in my head, much less articulate them to him.
“What is your end game here?” His taut voice cut through my erratic thoughts.
“Obviously to avoid being married off to Sergei against my will.”
He looked frustrated. “Your little game put a target on my back with your uncle.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “It’s not a game.”
“You’re messing with my life,” he gritted out.
“Maybe you should have thought of that before you messed with my life and my freedom.”
“Freedom?” He sounded exasperated, like I was exaggerating my situation.
“Would you be willing to give Sergei complete control over your body, your finances and your freedom? You don’t get a gun or get to fight back. You just let him have control? You good with that?”
He clenched his jaw but didn’t answer.
“I almost made it.”
“They would have caught up to you eventually.”
“They never would have found me without you,” I shot back. “So this is a mess of your own making.” I thought about the reason I actually needed to speak to him. “Besides, I thought you’d be happy to get a chance to have seniority over Sergei.”
“How do you figure that?”
“Because my uncle is summoning you to Zavidovo as my guest.”
He looked at me, really looked at me, for the first time. “The family weekend in Zavidovo?”
“The one and only.” My tone was dry.
“How’d you manage that?”
My eyes widened as I comprehended his question. “You think I somehow coordinated that invitation for your benefit? What, to reward you for kidnapping me back to my fate?”
“I didn’t kidnap you.”
I glared at him without responding.
“Why am I invited?”
“My uncle is giving you a chance to earn his blessing.”
“Blessing for what?”
Could this conversation get any more awkward? “You need to prove that you’ll be a good boyfriend.”
I tried to sound disdainful, but I ruined the effect by blushing.
Axel assessed me with a critical stare before he finally responded. “Fine.”
“We’re leaving Friday morning, so plan to meet us there.”
“Got it.”
His resistance to our situation had vanished the second he realized he had an opportunity here.
I should have cared, but I didn’t. His motivations didn’t matter to me as long as he helped me stay out of Sergei’s reach.
The fact that he was willing to play along with the charade was surprising, but it bought me some time to plan another escape.
I didn’t like Axel, but he was reacting better than I thought he would. “He also said that you’re hanging by a thread.”
“If we do this, we need to go all in.”
I looked at him with suspicion. “Meaning?”
“We have to sell the story. It’ll be bad for both of us if they figure out this is an act.”
He had a point. Neither of us would benefit if the truth came out. “Fine.”
He didn’t look at me as he drove me back. He parked and sat staring at the house for a moment. “Last chance to come clean to your uncle.”
I wasn’t going to do that willingly. “See you on Friday.”