Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
Viktor
It takes us a second to react.
Then I move quickly, rolling off her and grabbing my shorts.
“No one should be here!” she whispers, fear in her eyes.
I yank on my shorts and scoop up her clothes so I can toss them at her. “Do you have your phone?”
“It’s downstairs,” she whispers.
“Hello?” It’s a woman’s voice and there are steps on the stairs. “This is private property.”
“No shit,” Holly mutters, hurriedly getting dressed.
“I’ll go.” I look around, hoping for a weapon, something I can protect us with, but there’s nothing.
I step into the hallway just as a well-coiffed woman in a suit holding a clipboard gets to the top. She shrieks and nearly loses her balance.
“Who are you?” I demand.
“Who are you?” she counters, recovering enough to scowl at me.
“I ask first,” I reply, an edge to my tone.
“I’m Monica Cantrell from Southern Charm Realty. I’m here to inspect the property for Senator Grant.”
Before I can respond, Holly steps into the hallway, and I’ve never seen a look on her face like the one I see now. Hard. Annoyed. Powerful. It’s a little intimidating.
“Senator Grant doesn’t own this house,” she says without hesitation. “And you’re trespassing.”
The woman just looks confused. “He gave me a key and said I could come anytime.”
“This is my house,” Holly says, approaching the realtor with her hand outstretched. “And I’d like my key back.”
Monica frowns. “I have to return this to the senator and—”
“I’m seeing my father tonight. I’ll get it to him.” Holly’s hand is still outstretched.
Monica seems conflicted. “I don’t think—”
“Let me be very clear about something,” Holly says, her hand still extended.
“I own this house, free and clear. It is not and never will be for sale, no matter what my father tells you. And if he presents you with paperwork, a power of attorney, whatever the case may be, do your due diligence and come to me because I am never, ever selling the house. Do you understand?”
Monica nods hurriedly and hands her the key. “I, er, apologize. I had no idea…I’m sorry.” She turns and practically flies down the stairs and out the front door, closing it firmly behind her.
“God damn him!” Holly snaps, closing her eyes. “He just won’t take no for an answer.”
“This property has value.”
“It does. But it’s mine. My grandmother would roll over in her grave if I allowed him to turn it into some kind of AI mining ground or whatever big corporations are doing these days.”
“Where did he get the key?” I ask quietly.
She frowns. “I don’t know. He didn’t have a key to my old apartment, the one I shared with Nathan, and he certainly didn’t have access to the barn apartment Serena let me live in.”
“Is possible to call a lock person? I don’t know the word, but someone who can make a key?”
“A locksmith. And yes, I suppose it is. He’s a senator, after all. No one would doubt that he’s the owner if he made the call personally. So that’s probably how he got it. Which means he can do it again.”
“We can buy expensive lock, the kind that cannot be duplicated without code. I have this in my home in Russia, for when I am gone.”
“Yes, I’m going to have to make some calls.” She huffs out a breath. “And now I have to have a difficult conversation with him tonight because I’m sure that realtor is already on the phone with him.”
“You say nothing,” I suggest gently. “Let him wonder what you will do. What we will do. Because now you have power too. You have me. And I will not allow him to intimidate you.”
She glances up and I see a plethora of emotions move across her pretty face.
I’m almost positive she’s thinking about what we just did in the bedroom, and the things we said.
My plan had been to talk about all that in the aftermath of our lovemaking, but that plan went to hell with Monica’s arrival.
“Come,” I say softly, reaching for her hand. “We should clean up.”
“Okay.” I lead her to the bathroom since it’s attached to the bedroom but she just sinks onto the edge of the bed. “I’m so tired of him trying to control me. I love this house—I don’t want to sell it. Not for any amount of money. Even though it would really simplify my life.”
“Then you will not sell.” I sit beside her and take her hand in mine again. “You can trust me, Holly. I will help you. Take care of you.”
It’s obvious she doesn’t fully believe me, and I understand that.
Trust takes time and we haven’t had enough of it yet.
We will, though. I have a year to convince her to stay with me.
And this is definitely a case where I believe actions will speak much louder than words.
I can tell her that she can trust me a million times but I have to show her to make her believe it.
“I’m going to use the bathroom. Then we can go home to shower and get dressed for tonight.”
She nods and I gently take her chin between two fingers. Then I lean down and lightly kiss her.
“Can you try to trust me?”
She blinks up at me, searching my face intently. “I can try,” she says at last.
“This is all I ask.”
I walk into the bathroom and use the facilities, my thoughts racing. I have an idea but I’m not sure how to make it work. The only way is for her to trust me completely, and I already know it’s too soon for that.
But if she sells me the farm and land, then it will be almost impossible for the senator to try to steal it from her.
He’ll know that I can afford lawyers just as powerful as his, and forging documents with my name on them will prove much more complicated than doing it for his daughter, where they share a last name.
I can have the prenuptial amended to include that she gets the farm and land back any time she asks for it, which should give her some security. And for the next year, if not longer, it’s one less thing she’ll have to worry about.
I’ll have to mention this to her after I speak to my lawyer, to make sure there’s a legal way to make it happen.
I think about it as we pack everything up and get on the road, the whole way back to the house, and even while we shower, although I do forget for a while when I see my wife naked again.
I take her up against the wall, with her legs wrapped around my waist and her nails digging into my back.
I silence her screams with my mouth, kissing her until we can both breathe again.
She’s calmer after that, her posture and expression relaxing, but I know she’s frustrated with her father.
“I have an idea,” I tell her as we get dressed, and I explain what I was thinking about. I wanted to check with my attorney first but seeing how stressed she is forces my hand. It’s like I’ll do anything to make her smile, to take away anything that’s bothering her.
“You think we can do that?” she asks, frowning.
“Yes. But we will discuss with our attorneys first.” I turn to her, leaning against the dresser as she puts in a pair of earrings. “You have to trust me, Holly, and I know it is difficult for you.”
“I’m sorry.” She dips her head.
“Do not apologize. I understand. I would not trust me either, if I were in your place. We have been together only weeks. It takes time.”
“Why are you being so…kind?” she asks after a moment.
“Should I be unkind?”
Our gazes lock and then a slow, sad smile creases her face. “I guess I’m so used to people being unkind, I’ve come to expect it.”
I hate hearing that.
“I will never be unkind. Never. You have my word on this.” I lean over and kiss the side of her face. “I am…loyal,” I continue. “Sometimes too much. But with you, I cannot seem to help it. I cannot explain the way we are together. How good it is to touch you. How much I enjoy to take care of you.”
She leans over and rests her head against my shoulder. “And you have no idea how much I enjoy letting you take care of me. No one ever has. Not really. Sometimes I wonder if it’s me, you know? If there’s something wrong with me.”
“There is nothing wrong with you.” I say firmly, wrapping an arm around her.
“I know this because I think the same sometimes…that there is something wrong. That I cannot find girlfriend, someone I truly care for. That my mother thinks the only way I will find wife if she chooses for me. So, we are the same in that way. But not because something is wrong. It’s because we needed to find… this. Together.”
I can’t see her face, because it’s buried in my shoulder, but I feel her soft shudder, as if she’s letting go of something she held on to for far too long.
I feel it wash over me like a sharp breeze that moves quickly and then dissipates. Until there’s nothing but the two of us, holding on to each other like lifelines.
It’s the strangest feeling to have this connection with someone.
To call her my wife. To claim her, body and soul.
It’s even stranger because I don’t think she’s aware of our bond yet.
Or, if she is, she’s unwilling to accept it.
She told me she was mine but I know she only capitulated because, in the heat of the moment, she would have agreed to almost anything.
My goal now is to make her feel that way all the time.