Chapter 4 Hailey
HAILEY
Iblink away the cloud of confusion in my mind. What little control I have over my tongue disintegrates as I take in my predicament—I am tied to a chair after having been drugged and kidnapped by my onetime stepbrother, a bratva boss.
“Who’s the lucky groom?” I spit, testing the bonds. He’s got me tied up good. He drags over another chair and sits on it backward, his arms resting across the top of the backrest.
“I am.”
I laugh. I don’t care if he’s hotter than sin.
I am not getting married on his, or anyone else’s, orders.
Blearily, I glance around. The chloroform, or whatever he used to knock me out, is rapidly wearing off.
This apartment has a sterile lifelessness to it that reminds me of a fancy hotel room—the kind Mom used to clean.
“You think this is joke?”
I’d forgotten how sexy his accent is. His English is excellent.
Dmitri sent his son to a fancy boarding school.
I know that much from before. Dropping indefinite articles from a sentence is a sign that he’s losing his temper.
God knows I used to test him whenever possible.
Still, the way he pronounces his r’s and replaces s-es with z’s, creates a velvety buzz in the back of my brain that courses down my spine.
Or maybe that’s just the abject terror at having been kidnapped talking.
“I think you’ve lost your mind if you think I’ll marry you.” This has to be some sort of weird dream. Therefore, only dream logic applies. If I can fight hard enough against the absurdity, I’ll wake up, probably with a piece of hair glued to my mouth with drool and one arm dead from paresthesia.
“Would you rather die?” Rafail asks, as if this is a casual conversation.
Again, I laugh in his face. “Really? You’re so desperate for pussy that you have to hold a woman at gunpoint to get her to marry you?”
His slight smirk disappears. I’ve made him mad. He rises, the chair creaking in protest, as he shoves it aside and grabs my chin. “I told you I am the only one who gets to defile you. Unlike my sire, I protect my family. You are family.”
“Not anymore, I’m not. Mom divorced Dmitri—”
“You will never say that again. He allowed her to leave because she asked him to. Her disloyalty broke him.”
Fury explodes in my chest. “Mom was loyal to him until the day the cancer took her. She did it to protect me, and it killed her. Where were you all that time, Rafail?”
A muscle in his jaw ticks. His fingers tighten on my chin.
“Am I supposed to look away while you go around criming and murdering people?” My words come out garbled from the way he’s squishing my lips. His grip actually hurts. I stare into his amber eyes, unrepentant, despite the way my heart hammers against my ribs.
“If you want to live.” He releases me abruptly and moves to the wall, where he yanks open a hidden closet.
Despite myself, my breath catches. Hanging inside is a white gown with a sash and crystal beading.
Almost an exact replica of the one I wore to my sweet sixteen party, but with long sleeves. “You have thirty-six hours to accept.”
Despite myself, I’m touched that he remembers how much I loved that dress.
“If I don’t marry you, you’ll kill me, is what you’re saying.” I lick my lips.
“Not me, or my men, printsesa. My enemies. They have discovered my weakness.”
“Which is?”
“You.”
A fist of panic slams into my sternum. This is no dream.
This is really happening. “Bullshit,” I blurt out, babbling like I’ve acquired a sudden case of verbal diarrhea.
“You hated me when I was a kid. I mean, understandably. I was an annoying teenager following you around. You left the room as soon as I came in.”
“You were a child then.” He gives me a sidelong glance that scorches down my torso.
“You aren’t now.” His steps are almost silent on the thick carpet.
He bends, dropping one hand onto either arm of the chair I’m tied to.
“You have something my enemies would kill to possess. They have searched for it for five long years.”
“The thumb drive,” I whisper.
“It is an encryption passkey.” His mouth hovers over mine.
“The only secure way to access a trove of information that could take down the global network of bratva, if it fell into the wrong hands. My father entrusted it to me before his arrest, and I gave it to you for safekeeping. Although you have so carelessly lost it, my enemies will not believe such a simple explanation. Now that they know it exists, they will hunt you down. When they find you, they will torture you.”
Part of me deflates. Of course this isn’t about me. He just wants his stupid fob. At least I know what it is now. I should’ve given it to the Feds when I had the chance. Now that Rafail has me in his clutches, though, I can try to negotiate for my freedom.
“It’s in my jewelry box,” I tell him, tripping over my own words. He’s so close. His scent curls around me, a hint of cologne tinged with a metallic scent I can’t quite identify but suspect is from a gun. “You can have it back. Just let me go.”
“Oh, printsesa, it is too late for that. My men found it hours ago.”
Fuck. There goes that plan. Wait… “How?”
He ignores my question. “You are still in danger. My enemies will hunt you down to hurt me. They will be vicious when they find you. It was sheer luck that I got to you first tonight. If not for me, you would be dead by now. Very, very painfully.”
I swallow. A single tear escapes and rolls down my cheek. Maybe it wasn’t a glamorous life, but it was mine, one I built with hard work and hope for the future. Now, it’s slipping through my fingers just as surely as that brief time living on Dmitri’s generosity did.
“I ask you again, Hailey or Lila, or whatever you want to call yourself. Will you be my bride?”
He drags his thumb along my lips. Against my better judgment, I open just enough to let the tip of my tongue touch the meaty pad.
An electric jolt strikes deep in my core.
Everything below my navel tightens when he pushes his thumb deep into my mouth.
I suck, tasting salt, my eyes fluttering closed as a tiny whine wheezes out of me.
He pulls away. My cheeks flame with embarrassment. What did I just do?
“One way or another, I will have you.”
He rises with fluid grace, but not before I glimpse a sizable bulge tenting the front of his tailored black pants. My core clenches at the sight.