chapter 19
Iselyn
Tomorrow is the day. My wedding day. And standing in the party hall of the gathering wing of the palace, I feel the closeness of the event even more intensely.
Kaz comes and stands beside me. “Do you like it?”
I nod, sipping my coconut water. “It’s pretty. At least I’m going to have nice pictures.”
He chuckles. “Please don’t leave us peasants on at least, princess. Give us all your demands and we’ll fulfill every single one of them. We don’t want you to compromise on anything. You are the most precious daughter of Russia, your wishes are orders for servants like us.”
I laugh. “The most precious daughter will be the daughter-in-law of the Mikhailovs.” I look at him. “Your wife will hold that title forever. By tomorrow’s sunset, I’ll be precious in America.”
His smile fades into a sigh. “I’ve been thinking about adopting a child. I don’t want to get married.”
My brows shoot up. “Why?”
His face hardens, eyes fixed on some distant point. “After dating a few women over the years… I’ve realized I don’t want to marry one.”
I chuckle. “Then why don’t you try finding a man?” My laugh dies the moment I see his lips don’t even twitch in response, neither smiling nor denying.
“Holy shit.” I almost drop my bottle. I grab his arm and spin him toward me. “Don’t tell me you just realized overnight that you’re into men.” My voice is thick with horror.
“What if I am?”
“The Pakhan of all Russia can’t be gay. People would never accept it—never, not in a thousand lives.
And you can’t just resign, because that’s a death sentence.
Whoever becomes the next Pakhan would kill you the very next day, even if they had to blow up an entire state to make sure you’re dead.
But I guess you already know that, right?
” The weight of the situation hits me fully. “Brother… you’re done for.”
He takes a slow breath and looks away. “We’ll see what happens. I’m still figuring it out.”
“Figuring out what? Your sexuality, or how to survive this without dying?”
“My sexuality. I’ve never felt any kind of attraction to a man before…”
“Before?”
“Before him.”
“Who?” I need to know who this man is who turned my brother gay in just a month.
He pulls out his phone and shows me a photo.
A stunningly beautiful Asian man. I take the phone from his hand, my mouth falling open.
Dark brown, round eyes, short black hair, a small mouth with red lips, every feature perfectly sculpted, like a painting.
His soft, feminine features make him look more like a goddess than a man, just add a wig, and he could fool anyone.
I hand the phone back, patting his shoulder. “It’s not your fault. Any man would fall for someone like this. But who is he?”
“My new chef.”
“You don’t have to worry—” I’m cut off by Zan’s voice. “Ah, here you are! I’ve been looking for you everywhere.”
He smacks Kaz on the back. “And you said you were in the garden.”
Zander is Uncle Ruslan’s son. He’s two years older than me and two years younger than Kaz.
“I was in the garden just ten minutes ago,” Kaz replies.
Zan grins at me. “So, you can’t wait to get married to the man you were dying to marry, huh? Want to spend the night on the dais?”
I roll my eyes. “Congratulations. You just made the best joke of the day.”
He comes to my side and drapes an arm around my shoulders. “Tell me honestly, you’re just putting on this I don’t want to marry him facade so we won’t tease you, right?”
I elbow him in the stomach. “I really don’t want to marry him. He’s even more irritating than you. And he’s a psychopath, which is the cherry on top.”
Zan sighs. “Being a psychopath is not his choice. He had no choice, like Kaz, either kill or get killed. These guys torture people on a routine basis. You can’t do that if you feel bad about someone else’s pain. They’re conditioned into becoming the way they are.”
I stare at his face. “Since when did you start talking so intelligently?” I scoff. “And you’re wrong. Kaz is not a psychopath. He doesn’t charm people for his benefit. He doesn’t think no one is above him. He never lies. He doesn’t manipulate people.”
Zan laughs and steps in front of us. He turns to Kaz. “Tell her how delusional she is.”
My eyes snap to Kaz. “What the fuck!”
Zan laughs again. “You are so sweet, Lyn. Now let me tell you something very earth-shattering.” He looks at Kaz and then back at me.
“Kaz charms people better than Uncle Maksim, though yeah, less than Matleon. That guy is natural. He is the Pakhan of the entire Russian crime syndicate, and he is not humble about his position or the amount of power he holds. He doesn’t lie in front of you because he doesn’t need to.
He manipulates people almost daily, otherwise, he would never be able to expand his empire across all of Asia. ”
He adds, “So long story short, you can’t hate a cat for meowing. You can’t hate these poor boys for being psychopaths. If they had been raised in a less violent environment, like you and me, they would’ve turned out like us.”
I open my mouth to protest again when noise from outside cuts me off.
Kaz mutters, “They must be here.”
I frown. “Who?”
Zan walks past me with a grin. “Your in-laws.”
“Then why are you so happy about it?” I call after him.
He turns his head and winks at me, grin widening. “I have my own personal guest coming with them.”
I narrow my eyes. “Don’t you dare bully Autumn here.”
He chuckles and sprints outside. I walk with Kaz, with each step, my heartbeat increases. It’s been four months. When Zo was hospitalized, I still didn’t go, just to avoid Matleon. Avi gave me all the reports over video calls.
Today, Zo and Avi won’t be coming. Zo has recovered a lot, but not enough to travel or move his body this much. He’s been discharged from the hospital and is now resting at home, with Avi there to take care of him.
I haven’t seen Matleon in the past four months, but there hasn’t been a single day when he didn’t text me. Good morning. Good night. How was your day? Random updates about his day. I never replied to any of his messages, just like he never used to reply to mine back then.
The garden is filled with people, laughing and chatting.
Even among so many faces, it’s effortless to spot him.
He towers over everyone, wearing a dark brown suit, standing with my papa and uncles.
He talks to them with that harmless, charming smile, deceiving my family into believing he’s a sweet, caring gentleman.
And then he looks at me.
Everyone else fades from my peripheral vision, leaving only him at the center of it all. I take small sips of my coconut water, keeping the straw between my lips to keep both my mouth and my mind busy with something, anything that isn’t him.
He takes me in from head to toe, leaving a trail of discomfort beneath my skin. I become painfully aware of what I’m wearing—silk sleep pajamas, wrinkled from not changing since yesterday evening, topped with Nana’s woven red sweater.
I haven’t even combed my hair after waking up, it’s tied in a messy bun with curly strands falling all over my face and neck.
Who had told them to come so early? It’s only 2 p.m., I haven’t even taken a bath, and now I’m standing here looking like a homeless mess in front of a man who is coming closer, not a single crease on his suit, not a single hair out of place, clean-shaven, broad, and tall—like a mountain now towering over me.
He leans down and takes a sip of my coconut water without looking away from me. “If you keep staring at me like this, I’ll start thinking that you’re in love with me.”
I blink rapidly and press the bottle close to my chest. I don’t even realize when the straw slips from my mouth.
Matleon
Finally, the wait is over. She’s here, standing in front of my eyes.
My Angel. Sunlight hits her hair, making it look like it could catch fire.
Her blue eyes are fixed on me. Does she even realize she’s staring?
I don’t think so, her slightly parted lips just let the glass straw drop into her bottle, and she doesn’t even notice.
I walk closer, her gaze never leaving mine. I take the straw that had been in her mouth and sip from it, relishing this indirect kiss. So, she’s been drinking coconut water… that means if I were to kiss her now, she would taste like this. I draw a long sip and then leave it.
“If you keep staring at me like this, I’ll start thinking you’re in love with me,” I smirk.
And just like that, whatever trance she was trapped in breaks. She presses the bottle against her chest as if I’m going to steal it.
“Come on, Angel, you’re better than this. I’m going to steal you whole, what’s this poor little thing you’re protecting from me?” I drawl.
She raises her chin defiantly. “I’ll protect every little thing of mine from you.”
I chuckle at her kitten-like aggression. “We’ll see about that.”
Just at that moment, Kaz comes up beside me and pulls me into a hug.
He grins. “Don’t you think you’re too young to get married?”
I glance toward her. “I don’t want your uncle giving what’s mine to someone else.” And I can’t wait any longer to take what’s mine. But I keep the other half of my thought unspoken.
She rolls her eyes, turns her back to me, and walks toward the group of women.