Chapter 5
Katerina
I’m too hungry to stay hidden in my room simply because Viktor is having a guest over. He didn’t say I have to stay hidden, just that if I leave, I need to look appropriate. Or, well, his level of appropriate.
I put on my soft makeup and a light pink dress that ends below my knees. I fix my white-blonde hair into loose curls that fall down my back to my hips.
Looking in the mirror, I sneer at my reflection. I look like a doll. A doll that Viktor controls. This pink-clad sweet girl isn’t me. I turn away from the mirror before I break it and abandon my room.
On my way to the kitchen, I hear voices from Viktor’s office. Despite knowing better, I linger, trying to listen, to see if I recognize the other man. I know some of the men that work with him. None of them are men I’d choose to be around. But if it’s my brother or his men, then I’ll gladly say hi.
My brother runs other parts of the operation. I know he’s taking over when Viktor steps down. The men he surrounds himself with are much kinder and more approachable. They don’t make me feel uncomfortable like Viktor’s men do.
I’m so caught up in trying to hear who it is, that I miss their footsteps towards the door. I barely turn down the hallway when the door opens.
And out walks the sexiest man I’ve ever seen.
He’s tall, at least six foot five. That leaves him six whole inches taller than me.
Not many men are tall enough that I could wear heels and they’d still tower over me.
He has dark hair and scruff. It’s sexy on him.
His eyes are so dark they’re almost completely black.
His olive tone leans towards European or Mediterranean decent.
This man is certainly not Bratva. That only makes me like him more.
“Katerina!” Viktor hisses at me. I quickly avert my gaze.
“Sorry, Отец,” I mumble and bow my head reverently.
“This is the girl of the hour. Dominic Montclair, meet my daughter, Katerina.” Victor’s voice is so cheerful, I stumble.
What in the hell has him so happy?
I glance at the man, Dominic, and he’s eyeing me disapprovingly. He’s studying me like it’s a test, and I’ve already failed. His nostril rises in so much disgust, I have to look down and make sure I still look decent.
What the fuck is his problem?
This asshole can just fuck on right out of my house. How dare he come in here and look at me like this! This is the asshole that had Viktor nervous but now has him grinning?
“Katerina,” Dominic says coldly as he offers me his hand.
I grab it lightly and shake it weakly when what I really want to do is crush his hand in mine and jerk his arm off his shoulder.
I give him the sweetest, most demure smile I can muster, when what I really want is to growl and glare at him.
I know what Viktor expects of his Bratva Princess though, so I’m an angel on the outside.
Dominic, the asshole, just continues to look at me disapprovingly. Fuck him. I can’t even shake his hand correctly! Asshole.
He pulls his hand from mine, wipes it on his pant leg, and turns from me dismissively towards Viktor, ignoring me.
Just as my father does. “It was a pleasure meeting with you. I look forward to our alliance.” He starts to stride out of the room, stops, turns to me, looks me up and down one more time, sneers, shakes his head, turns, and leaves.
Viktor follows behind the asshole and walks him out of the house. I run to the kitchen in an attempt to avoid Viktor. Even though he’s in a good mood, I can smell the vodka on him, and I don’t want to be anywhere near him when he drinks.
Unfortunately, Yelena finds me a few minutes later and tells me Viktor is waiting for me in the dining room. I guess we’re having dinner together. Fuck.
…
After ten minutes of silence, Viktor speaks.
“You’re getting married next month,” Viktor says casually.
I choke on my stroganoff, hoping I didn’t hear him correctly.
“What?” I whisper.
“You’re getting married next month,” he repeats just as calmly.
I swing my gaze to him as tears gather in my eyes. They evaporate the moment I see the glint in his. He wants a reaction from me. He knows what this is doing to me. I won’t give him one.
“To Sergey?” I ask casually, looking at my plate. I take another bite, pretending the taste isn’t ash in my mouth.
“Not this time.” He chuckles.
What the fuck does that mean?
“This time?” I keep my tone disinterested.
“You’re marrying Dominic Montclair.”
My stomach drops. I’m marrying the asshole from earlier? There’s no way. There’s just no way Dominic wants to marry me. He was so disgusted and disapproving of me. He looked like he couldn’t stand to be in my presence.
“The man from the hallway?” Confusion laces my words. I just can’t make sense of it.
“Yes. He’s an important man, and your marriage will be the perfect opportunity.” His voice is dripping with glee.
“Who is he? What opportunity?” I beg for clarity.
“He’s the enemy. The head of the Syndicate. And you’re going to be his demise.” Delight devours his demeanor, and I can tell he’s already plotting his betrayal.
I’ve heard of the Syndicate. They’re horrible people. Barbaric. Just earlier this year, they brutally killed many of our men. And he’s going to marry me off to the monster that leads them?
My stomach twists at the thought. If Viktor, a rather reasonable man, can beat his daughter senseless daily, I can’t imagine what that barbaric man would do to his wife. I wonder if I’ll even survive a year of marriage before he kills me.
“I don’t want to marry him,” I whisper, more to myself than anything.
I don’t even see it coming. The sting from the slap across my face takes over. He hits me so hard my face hits the table and sloshes into my meal.
“You don’t have a choice, you ungrateful bitch!” he seethes.
I straighten my spine and muster up all my courage.
“I won’t marry him!” I swear on everything that I have that I won’t do it.
Viktor stands so fiercely that his chair swings back onto the floor. He’s on me in an instant. He pulls me up by a tight grip on my hair. The burn of my scalp brings more tears to my eyes. He raises me until we’re at eye level, and he’s so furious, his face is red.
“You will marry him, or you’ll join your mother. Those are your two options. Take your pick.”
He throws me to the floor and stands over me. The hate in his eyes burns into me. He stopped being my father a long time ago, but I can’t quite put a finger on when dislike turned to loathing.
“Fuck you!” I yell and spit on his shoes.
He lifts his leg and kicks me so hard in the stomach, that I have to curl into a ball to catch my breath. The pain is unbearable, but it’s also familiar. And that makes me hate him even more.
“You will marry him. You will earn his trust. You will reveal to me everything about his shitty operation. And with that information, I will take out the Syndicate.” The glint in his eyes as he tells me his grand plan makes me uneasy.
“Then what?” I spit out.
“Then I kill Dominic Montclair and his filthy family.” Viktor cackles at that.
But for me, I feel hope. If I can stay alive in my marriage to that asshole, then maybe, once Viktor kills him, I’ll be free.
“Then I’m free?” Hope against all odds fuels me.
Viktor throws his head back and laughs again. Then he crouches down until he’s at my eye level.
“Then you marry Sergey.” His grin, the glint in his eyes, his rosy cheeks… this bastard is ecstatic. And I couldn’t hate him more than in this moment.
“Fuck you!” I say one more time. This time it’s weaker. But I won’t stop fighting. Because my bad situation just got so much worse.
Viktor does what I knew he’d do. He starts kicking me again. Cursing me out. Calling me a spoiled brat. He hits me. Spits on me. And at some point, I pass out from the pain.
But it’s better than the alternative.
It’s better than complying. Even if fighting back only gets me pain and leads me to the same place, at least I fought.
Because if I don’t fight this, I’ll have betrayed myself.