Chapter 30
ANDREI
The drive back to the penthouse is silent with the weight of a brewing argument.
After the display I put on for her, she was ready to leave.
I knew it would be too much for her to stomach, but I couldn’t stop myself.
He deserved no less than what he got. It was the perfect public forum to punish him for his crimes.
At least I thought so. My wife does not seem to agree.
Alina sits beside me in the backseat, hands folded loosely in her lap, the diamond on her finger catching stray flashes of streetlight each time we pass beneath another signal. The ring looks unreal against her skin. It fits her perfectly, like it was always meant to sit on her finger.
She’s my wife now. Tonight should feel joyous for so many reasons, but the victory is hollow. I know she’s angry. I’m angry too. Not at her, but at this situation. After everything I’ve been able to uncover in the last few days, this victory feels almost hollow.
When we get to the penthouse, she walks inside without a single backward glance.
She goes into her room and slams her door shut.
I guess the honeymoon is already over. Just as I’m about to go back to my room for the night, I hear her door open, and she comes out in a pair of sweatpants, her face scrubbed clean of the makeup. She looks radiant. And pissed.
“Why did you do that at our wedding?” she nearly shouts.
“I thought you would be happy,” I say, ignoring the way my pulse spikes when she says “our wedding.”
“Why would that make me happy?” she spits back. “Kendra was horrified. I have so many things to explain to her now. I wanted her left in the dark about all of this.”
“Yes, well, that’s your MO, isn’t it?” I say harshly. “You love keeping people in the dark!”
“And do you understand why?” she seethes. “Because of what you did tonight. Because you punish people who don’t do exactly what you want them to do.”
“That isn’t fair, Alina,” I say to her back as she stomps to the kitchen and grabs a bottle of water from the fridge. “Kostya tried to kill me. He tried to kill you. He got exactly what he deserved.”
“But I didn’t need to see that!” she shouts, turning on me. “And you could have at least warned me it was going to happen. You could have told me that you found out it was him. You could have said more than ten goddamn words to me for the last few days.”
“And you could have told me you were pregnant,” I say before I can stop myself. “You should have trusted me with that news.”
“Then I guess we’re both assholes,” she snaps, throwing up her hands in resignation.
I can’t help but laugh. This whole situation is so bizarre. Here I am, on my wedding night. I’m married to a gorgeous woman who’s pregnant with my child. I should be the happiest man in the world, and I should absolutely not be fighting with her.
“Alina,” I say softly. “I’m sorry for not telling you about Kostya.”
She crosses her arms and narrows her eyes like she doesn’t believe me.
“Seriously,” I say, putting up my hands in surrender. “I am so sorry for springing that all on you. Would you like to know how it all happened?”
She thinks for a moment before reluctantly nodding. She approaches slowly and I lead her to the couch, where we both sit down and take a beat to collect ourselves. Finally, I speak.
“You’ll remember that after your attack, the guards got a license plate,” I start.
She nods, looking at the floor. I know that day is hard for her to talk about. She’s spent almost two weeks in bed, unable to function.
“It led nowhere, obviously,” I say. “They were dummy plates. But those idiots ditched the van anyway, and didn’t scratch out the VIN. From there, it was easy connecting all the dots. The van belonged to a shell corporation that belonged to Kostya.”
She looks up at me in surprise.
“So it’s really been him this whole time?” she asks. “He’s the one who tried to kill you? The one who sent those men to grab me?”
I nod gravely. “If it’s any consolation at all, he wasn’t trying to hurt you,” I tell her, even though the words burn like acid in my throat.
“I think he really did love you in his own twisted way. He thought he was saving you from me. Finding out you were going to marry me must have really set him off.”
“I don’t understand.” She sighs.
“I won’t tell you exactly how we got this information, but let’s just say, he got very chatty. He told us that he’d been looking for a way to get into my organization for years. Then he came to the worksite posing as the cousin of one of my managers. That’s when he met your dad.”
“So I’ve been part of the plan from the beginning?” she asks in horror, starting to shake. “Why? I didn’t know anything about any of this!”
I grab her hand and rub slow circles against the back of it with my thumb. I don’t want her to feel scared or like any of it was her fault. It wasn’t. She was just a pawn in a very sick man’s game.
“That’s what made you the perfect mark for him,” I tell her calmly. “And he wanted us to meet. He knew that putting you in my path would make me vulnerable.”
She looks up in surprise. “What?” she asks incredulously. “How could he have possibly known that we would meet?”
“Because he knew that if he cheated on you, that would send you right to that elevator. They had it all planned, Alina. There were so many of his men and some of mine who were working to make sure that we met exactly when we did.”
She pulls away slightly, shaking her head. “I don’t understand,” she says slowly. “He faked an entire relationship with me just so we could meet that night of my engagement party? That seems…”
“Elaborate,” I supply. “Desperate, maybe?”
“Psychotic,” she finishes. “Was any of it real?”
“He says that he fell in love with you along the way. That he wanted to call it off, but it was too late. By the time he’d come to his senses, the car bomb had already gone off.”
“I was supposed to die that night too, wasn’t I?” she whispers in horror.
“Yes.” I nod gravely. “I’m so sorry, Alina. In the original plan, if you were dead, he could just move on and play the grieving fiancé.”
She looks up with me with tears in her eyes, but she doesn’t seem sad. She stands up and starts pacing.
“Why didn’t you kill him?” she shouts at me.
I can’t help but chuckle at her. She’s so beautiful when she’s angry.
“Alina,” I say softly. “Believe me when I tell you that the fate he’s going to suffer is much worse than death.”
She stops pacing and looks at me, nodding once in agreement. “Good,” she says. “That’s good. I hope his life is a living hell.”
“It will be,” I promise. “I’ve already executed all of his co-conspirators, including the men in my organization who were helping him. I only left him alive as an example to anyone else who would ever try to hurt me. Or take what’s mine.”
She looks at me sharply then, her face softening just a fraction.
“What does that mean for us, then?” she asks slowly. “You always said this marriage was just to keep me safe. The threat is gone now, right?”
My heart sinks. If she wants this to be over, I can’t stop her from walking out.
“I’d never make you stay where you don’t want to be,” I tell her. “I’d never treat you the way Kostya did. You aren’t a pawn to me, Alina. You never were. From the moment I met you in that elevator, you’ve intrigued me in a way that was too dangerous to ignore.”
Her eyes fill with tears again, but I can’t remotely tell what she’s thinking.
“I know why you kept the baby a secret. It hurts, but I get it. You didn’t trust me to protect you, and why should you? It’s my fault you were in this mess at all.”
I stand and take a tentative step forward. She doesn’t move away, so I take that as a good sign.
“But you should know that my feelings for you were always real. From the very first moment. I’ve tried my damnedest to fight them off. I’ve tried to tell myself that loving you is a weakness I can’t afford. Truthfully, though, I don’t think I can afford to lose you. Not ever. I love you, Alina.”
A quiet sob rips through her and she swipes at the tears already falling down her cheeks. I take another step and she meets me in the middle, falling into my arms.
“You have to stop being so controlling,” she says through her tears, clutching at the lapel of my tuxedo. “You have to give me some breathing room, and you have to trust me. Otherwise, we don’t have a chance in hell.”
I kiss her then. I can’t help it. She is more than I ever hoped for, and more than I ever thought I’d get in this life. I kiss her because I love her more than I thought was possible. Our mouths feel magnetized, our breath starting to come in shallow spurts as we lose ourselves in one another.
“You’re my wife,” I tell her. “My queen. I will do whatever I have to do to make this work. I will take any chance you’ll give me.”
“Then you’d better take me to bed, husband,” she says huskily against my lips.