Chapter 5
HARPER
I wake to the sound of a door opening. At first, I’m completely disoriented and panic sweeps through me when I realize I don’t have full control over my body. My wrists are bound, I’m gagged, and I’m wearing a blindfold.
What in the —
“Oh my God.” Before I can gather myself together, I hear a female voice. I try to settle my nerves and remember what happened.
I’m being married to Aleksandr Romanov — a beautiful, arrogant prick who thinks he’s the boss of me.
My parents gave me away like I was property to be bartered and traded.
My future husband bound and locked me in a room?
What an absolute dick.
“My God is right. I thought Mikhail was a jerk when I was in this position.” A second voice sighs. “We still have time to influence the others.”
The door clicks shut. No more voices, so maybe two women. One of them has a higher voice, the second’s a bit lower and pragmatic.
“We’re here to help you,” the one with the higher voice says. “Please don’t try to fight us.”
Fighting makes no sense when I’m outnumbered. I nod, then realize the blindfold’s damp. Am I crying? One tiny little show of sympathy from someone and I’m crying? I have to get my shit together.
Even though I expect them to touch me, I jerk when I feel hands on me. In seconds, the gag and blindfold are gone.
I blink and stare, my eyes getting used to the light.
One of them is a tall, willowy blonde with pale blue eyes and fair, ivory skin.
The other’s shorter, with a huge mane of wavy dark hair in a messy bun, glasses perched on the tip of her nose, and she’s obviously very, very pregnant.
She looks at my wrists and shakes her head at the blonde.
“Handcuffs. He handcuffed her. Honestly, have we not made a single dent in their thick skulls? God. I have keys in my bag if these are the basic universal handcuffs.”
The blonde wrinkles her nose. “Okay, I do not need to know why you have keys for handcuffs in your bag.”
The pregnant one rolls her eyes. “Oh, please, handcuffs are so basic they’re practically vanilla.” She turns to me. “I’m Aria, by the way. Mikhail’s wife. Mikhail’s Aleksandr’s older brother.”
I heard his name before. Mikhail knew Saul, and Mikhail is married to the pregnant one.
The blonde nods. “And I’m Polina, Aleksandr and Mikhail’s sister.” She shakes her head and rolls her eyes. “Unfortunately. Jesus, why couldn’t my brothers be teachers or librarians or something? I really need to stop making a habit out of meeting my sisters like this.”
Okay, so there’s a story there. My heart beats a little faster.
Meeting my sisters?
My voice is husky and faint when I speak. “I’m Harper.”
“Harper Lee Bianchi. Who’s the literary one in your family?”
I swallow. “My mother.”
“Harper, we’re going to get you fixed up,” Aria says.
“Polina’s pretty much the only one, other than her mom, that these men will actually listen to, so you’re in good hands.
Though I’ll admit, it’s taken a while but I’m getting good at persuading them.
” She heads toward the door. “I’ll be back, just going to grab those keys. ”
Polina sits on the side of the bed.
“How can I help you? Water? Food?”
My eyes are scratchy from a fitful night of sleep. I was up most of the night trying to plot various ways I could escape, when I wasn’t trying to plot my future husband’s murder.
“Water and food sound great, but I need to use the bathroom. That’ll probably be easier when the cuffs are off. Does he know you’re here?”
She nods. “Mhm. I think telling me and Aria to come in was his attempt at being half human.”
I’m not sure if that’s supposed to comfort me or what. He’s sent her here to help but didn’t even bother to hide the fact that I’m here against my will, and she doesn’t seem terribly surprised to find me this way.
“Once Aria comes back, we’ll uncuff you and you can use the bathroom.” Her eyes light up. “I’ve looked through your socials and made notes of all your favorite products. I’ve got everything you need in there.”
I blink. My socials. She’s looked through my facade of a life and formed an opinion about me based on that?
She’s seen the reams of posts of me with my luxury skincare products, the selfies with the shallow captions, my fake friends and promotion of unattainable beauty standards.
Gag me. I wish I could tell her it’s all a lie, that she doesn’t have to believe it. That’s not who I am.
Maybe I can.
Has Aleksandr seen them, too?
God. Of course he has.
Thanks, Mom.
“That’s very kind of you,” I say. “Thank you.”
“Of course. And for breakfast you usually eat Greek yogurt with berries? The nonfat, sugar-free kind, right? I had staff pick up some of that—”
I shake my head. “No, I hate yogurt.”
Her eyes widen slightly, registering mild surprise.
“I’m sorry, I just mean that — no thank you. I don’t like yogurt. I’ll eat pretty much anything else, though.” My cheeks heat.
The door opens and my heart leaps into my throat at the thought it could be Aleks. Even though she said he knows she’s here…
“Okay. Found a set. Let’s see if they work.”
Phew. It’s Aria.
I hold my hands out in front of me. Aria’s tongue sticks out while she fiddles with the lock. Finally, she turns the key, and the cuffs loosen. My wrists swing free. I stretch my arms out and wriggle my fingers, then lightly massage the skin where the cuffs laid.
“God, that feels good.”
Aria screws up her face. “That looks painful.”
“What?”
She gestures to where the skin at my wrists is chaffed and reddened.
“I’m fine,” I say, shrugging. I am. I’ve experienced a lot worse than that.
“He’d better make it up to you,” she growls. “I could fuck him up.”
I look at her in surprise. Aleks is so much bigger than she is it’s funny to think about her fucking him up.
Polina nods, her eyes wide. “Aria’s the queen of hackers. She totally could.”
“Good to know.”
“Okay, off to the bathroom with you,” Polina says. “And tell me if there’s anything else you need, because I’m calling down for some breakfast.”
I nod. “Thank you. I really was starting to worry this whole thing would be under Aleksandr’s lock and key.” I laugh, but the two of them exchange concerned glances.
Great. That’s not troubling at all.
In my family, we don’t order breakfast. We used to have staff ages ago, but we don’t have them anymore. My mother cooked for a while, but my father was spoiled by our housekeeper and didn’t like it.
Here, Polina says she’s ordering food. Suffice it to say, I think the Romanovs are quite different from us.
It feels good to take a shower, but I don’t spend long because I’m afraid if I do, Aria and Polina will be gone, and I have questions.
I quickly wash, then towel dry. I find a fluffy robe on the back of the door.
If this wasn’t an obvious case of being held against my will, it would almost be like a stay in a luxury hotel.
When my hand’s on the doorknob, I hear a deep male voice. I don’t move. I wait until I hear the door click shut again.
When I come back into the room, it’s just Polina and Aria.
“Did I hear someone else?”
Polina nods. “Aleks stopped by to fill us in on the wedding arrangements.”
“Ah, okay.”
“Feel better?”
I nod. “I do feel better, thank you.” I notice a glass of water on a side table. “Is that mine?”
“Of course, have at it.”
I lift the glass and drain it. When I’m done, I sigh. “That was so good.”
“Look what this asshole has done. She’s practically dancing a jig after a shower and a glass of water,” Polina says. “Why did he cuff you, though? That was a bit much, even for him.”
Even for him.
“Because he knew I was going to try to get away.”
Polina tips her head to the side. “Would you? I mean besides the obvious fact that you’ve been demoralized as a woman and treated like property,” she says with clear disdain, “is there another reason?”
Can I tell her? Can I trust her? Maybe some day.
I don’t reply, and I hope my silence is answer enough for now.
Yes…I think I might be able to trust her.
“Do you want to tell me?” she asks in a small voice.
Oh, God, I do, so badly it makes me want to cry, but if I tell her and she has any obligation to tell Aleks, he could call everything off.
Then I’d have nowhere to go. I hate that my family has put me in this position, but at this point my only choice is to marry him.
“I…I can’t. Not now, anyway.”
She and Aria exchange a look. They’re clever women and at the very least, will have likely surmised that if I’m waiting to share my personal information, I may be trying to keep this wedding going.
Polina fiddles with a delicate gold necklace around her neck. “My family is in jeopardy, Harper. It has been, for some time. My brothers need to solidify the family with alliances and connections. It’s the way we survive.”
I nod. I know I’m only a puppet on strings, at least in the eyes of the Bratva. “I know how these things work,” I say wearily. “I get it.”
We sit in silence for a moment. All of us are tangled in this web in one way or another.
“Alright then,” Polina says. “Let’s get going. You have to get ready for breakfast downstairs.” She smiles sheepishly. “That was sort of the argument between us just now. Aleks thinks you should be eating downstairs with everyone.”
Everyone? I swallow. “Who’s everyone?”
Aria and Polina share another look. Polina sighs. “Welllll. There’s a lot of us. Mikhail’s the oldest, then there are my other brothers, six in total although one of them is out of the country right now, and then my mother…”
“You have six brothers?” Yikes. Even though Aleks is the one I’m supposedly marrying, the thought of being outnumbered by more of him is a little scary.
“Tell me about it. So let’s get you dressed and downstairs.”
I’m starving and I want breakfast. I have to face them all eventually. “Alright.”
“I picked out a few outfits. You’ll find them in the closet.”
“Thank you.”