by Bella King
I want to slam the phone back down on the table before my father picks up, but I can’t let myself chicken out of this. I can’t marry a man who might be tricking both my father and me. I have to check with him before I commit to anything.
Finally, after what feels like a millennium, I hear my father’s scratchy voice on the other end. “Hello?”
I clear my throat, mustering up the confidence to speak. “Hey dad, it’s Cora.”
“Cora? Why are you calling me from Mrs. Johnson’s phone?”
“It’s the only one I have access to,” I reply.
“Well, you shouldn’t. Did she give you access to it?” he asks, his voice already growing irritated.
I should have known this was going to go poorly. My father only cares about me staying in the house and following the rules.
I sigh. “No, Mrs. Johnson isn’t here. I don’t know where she went.”
“Then hang up the phone this instant. It’s late, and you should be in bed,” my father scolds.
“No, dad, you’re not listening. I have a problem,” I plead.
“What problem?”
I lean against the desk, pressing the phone against my ear so hard that it hurts. I speak softly into the mouthpiece, afraid that someone else will hear me, even though there clearly is no one else around. “I think there’s something wrong with Viktor.”
“Viktor?” My father bellows on the other end. “He’s a fine suitor for you.”
“I mean, it’s not that I don’t like him, but is he really a politician?” I ask.
“What nonsense are you going on about, Cora? I have arranged for you to marry him, and that’s that. I don’t want to argue the fact.”
I groan. “No, you don’t understand. He’s strange. His story just doesn’t add up.”
“Cora, I’m only going to say this once more. I’m not going to debate with you about your marriage to Viktor. You need to listen to me and accept his offer. You won’t find a better one.”
“What if I don’t?” I ask, but my voice dies halfway through my sentence.
“What?!”
“Nothing, dad. Okay, I’ll marry him. I’m sorry I called,” I blurt, trying to smooth over the confrontation.
“Good.”
The phone line goes dead. My father has hung up on me.
I place the phone down slowly, my head hanging low as my cheeks flush. I don’t know whether to cry or to scream, but either way, I can’t change the result. My fate is sealed in red wax and stamped with the official seal of a senator. I’m going to be the bride of Viktor Kazakov.
Chapter Fourteen
Cora
I send a messenger out to tell Viktor the news the next morning. I have accepted his offer to take me as his bride, and I assume he will take me to his home close by. I’m nervous about it, but it’s the right thing to do, given my current circumstances. I can’t delay this any longer, at risk of angering my father and throwing my whole life into chaos.
Viktor manages to arrive thirty minutes after I send the messenger to him, eager to take me from my home and put me in a new one with him. I wonder what it’s going to be like. Will I have the same level of security there, or will I have more freedom?
Viktor strides confidently into the lobby when he arrives, dressed in his usual black suit again. I look at his wrists to check for the tattoos I saw during dinner, but I can’t get a good enough look up his sleeves. It doesn’t matter at this point anyway since we’re already fated to marry. I have given my word, and only exceptional circumstances would cause me to go back on it.
“You look spectacular,” Viktor purrs as his piercing eyes fall on me. He seems in a very chipper mood, probably because he doesn’t have to hope for my hand in marriage anymore. He has it.
“Thank you,” I reply. “You’re handsome, as always.”
He tosses back his head in laughter. “You don’t have to lie to me, Cora. I know you’re just in this for the money.”
“What?” I ask, slightly offended.
“That’s a joke,” he says with a wink. “If you’ll excuse me for a second, though,” he says, moving past me toward the door to the hallway. “I need to take a quick visit to Mrs. Johnson’s office.”
My heart sinks all the way to my stomach. “Mrs. Johnson?”
He nods, a casual smile on his face. “I need to pick something up from there. She requested that I get it for her.”
“Wait, you know where she is?” I ask, frowning.
“Yes, of course. She has retired. Short notice, I know. She forgot a few things in her office, so she’s asked me to grab them for her.”
“What?” I ask, shaking my head. I can’t make sense of this. What the hell is going on?
“Listen, we don’t have a whole lot of time. I’d like you to get settled into the house as soon as possible. Why don’t you wait in the car, and I’ll be out in a moment?”
I’m stunned, but Viktor doesn’t wait for me to recover. He waltzes out of the room like he’s walking on a cloud, just as happy as can be today. It’s throwing me for a loop.
Mrs. Johnson can’t’ have retired like that. I got no word of warning, and she was just about to tell me something about Viktor. Why on earth is he going into her office, anyway? I seriously doubt that she sent him to fetch her something. She could just come to get it herself.
A heavy hand falls onto my shoulder, snapping me out of my thoughts.
“The car is this way,” another man with a Russian accent says. I’ve never seen him before, but I immediately know that he’s one of Viktor’s men.
I turn with him, heading toward the front door to leave the estate. I don’t know when I’ll be back if I ever will. I had hoped to take one final walk around before I went to Viktor’s house, but it seems that he wants me out as quickly as he can get me to leave.
The man who ushered me out still has his hand on my shoulder. I look up at him as we walk out into the morning sun, and I almost stop in my tracks. I hadn’t realized that he was so gnarly. His face looks like someone took a potato peeling to it before throwing him down a flight of concrete stairs.
He looks down at me without smiling, then looks back up as we get to the car. “My name is Dimitri. I will be your driver from now on,” he says. “Viktor wants you to wait in the car.”
I’d rather be with Viktor than this funny-looking chap, but I don’t want to be rude. I climb into the backseat of the limo that’s waiting out front and wait for Viktor to come out of the house. Dimitri slips into the driver’s seat and starts the engine.
The inside of the limousine is so dark, and the windows are tinted so darkly that if I have just woken from a nap in here, I would think that it was nighttime. I search along the velvet road for a light, but I fail to find one.
The door opens suddenly, causing me to jump back in my seat. At first, I think it’s Dimitri climbing in to eat me alive, but it’s just Viktor, returning from his adventure in Mrs. Johnson’s office.
I hold my hand over my heart as he closes the door. “Jesus, you scared me,” I breath, continuing to hold my heart as though it might stop beating if I let go.
Viktor slides his hand to a switch on the door, flicking on a dazzling display over overhead lights that look like stars. “I’m sorry about that,” he replies, leaning back into the black leather of the limo seat. “Are you afraid of the dark?”
“A little bit,” I say, feeling more than a little relieved at the new source of light in the car.
“Well, I’m going to make sure you’re very safe, Cora. You don’t need to worry about anything,” Viktor says smoothly, his words rolling out like a snake slithering across the forest floor.
I suppose I should trust him, I’m in his hands now, but I still feel a tinge of resistance toward him. That might wear off as we approach the wedding date, but right now, I can’t get his visit to Mrs. Johnson’s office out of my head. What was he doing in there?
The limo begins to move, rolling through the heavy iron ga
tes that once separated me from the rest of the world. I should be happy because I’m free now, but I can’t help but feel like I’m simply moving from one prison to another.
“What were you getting from Mrs. Johnson’s room?” I ask Viktor as we leave.
“Stuff,” he replies dryly.
“What kind of stuff?” I ask, tilting my head in such a way as to seem like it’s just a curious question.
Viktor doesn’t buy my act. “Stuff that Mrs. Johnson asked me to get for her. You shouldn’t pry in other people’s business.”
“But I know Mrs. Johnson so well. She would be fine with it,” I say.
“In that case, she would have asked you to get her things, not me. Clearly, you don’t have as close of a relationship with her as you thought,” he says, a hint of irritation moving into his deep voice.
The cheerful tone, the politeness, the gentleman ways – they’re all gone. What’s left now is the man I’m going to marry, and the veil is coming off his rugged face to reveal something much darker.
It’s what I expected. Everyone keeps up a convenient façade when they first start dating. Hell, I haven’t been quick so honest with Viktor as I should have, but that’s normal. We show our best selves until we feel like we got what we came for, and then all bets are off.
Two can play at this game, however. I’m not going to be so nice to Viktor if he’s going to be snippy with me. I need to establish boundaries if this marriage is going to work. I’m not as sweet and soft as he probably thinks I am. I’m a silent fighter.
Chapter Fifteen
Cora
“This is where we’ll be sleeping,” Viktor says, pushing open a door to reveal an expansive master bedroom.
“We?” I ask, looking at the menacing king-sized bed with black silk sheets.
“Yes, we. You’ll be sleeping with me at night.”
“But we’re not even married,” I reply.
Viktor smirks. “We don’t have to be married to sleep together, Cora. I’m not terribly traditional.”
“And what if I am?” I ask, raising my voice in protest.
“Tough,” Viktor says, shutting me down.
I glare at him, folding my arms over my chest and huffing. “You know, I can still back out of this.”
Viktor laughs, shaking his head. “But you won’t. You will obey me now, Cora, and we will have a nice marriage. We don’t need to make this difficult.”
I squint my eyes at him, but he’s the boss around here. I’m not going to make a fuss when he hasn’t done anything to harm me. I’m lucky enough to get to marry a man as attractive as he is, even if he is a little ruff around the edges with regards to his personality. That can be ironed out with a few years of good influence, I hope.
“Let me show you the shower. I think you’re going to like this,” Viktor says, a glint of mischief shining in his eye as he looks me over before turning away.
I follow Viktor into the private bathroom. This house is smaller, but Viktor went all out with the master bedroom. I can tell that no detail was left unpolished in this house. All in all, it’s better than the Lauder Estate.
As I walk into the bathroom, Viktor point sot the shower. “Look at what I had installed. We can shower together now.”
“What?” I ask, perking up at his words. I can’t imagine getting naked in front of Viktor just yet. Showering together is on a whole new level. At least when I sleep, I might be granted a set of pajamas to keep him from touching me too intimately until I’m ready for it.
“Come look,” he says, sliding open the foggy glass shower door to show a shower with two showerheads installed on either side, instead of one.
I’m not sure what to think about all of this. He seems so eager to get us to be intimate, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I appreciate that he’s looking after the sexual aspect of our partnership, but it’s still overwhelming. He seems totally cool with it, though.
“The temperatures can be different as well,” Viktor continues, waving his hand over two silver knobs under the showerheads.
“That’s nice,” I say, at a loss for more sophisticated words.
“It is,” Viktor says, nodding to himself in satisfaction. He slides the door to the shower shut and spins around. “Would you like to see the sauna? It’s a woodburning one, so it can really be as hot as you want it to be.”
“I’ve never been in a sauna,” I reply.
“Really?” Viktor asks, looking amused. “We must go then. After that, we can have some food.”
“Okay,” I say, not knowing what else to say. Viktor is so excited to show me everything in the home that he has put in for me. It’s actually quite charming, almost enough to make me forget that he’s not even who he says he is. Cute.
Viktor leads me out of the master bedroom. I take a final look at the bed, and the image of Viktor completely naked, his cock poking up from under the thin silk blanket, enters my head. I get visible goosebumps on my arms at the thought of him like that. I wonder just how many tattoos he has one that muscular body of his. I suspect that I’m about to find out.
“The sauna is downstairs, and there’s also a jacuzzi,” Viktor explains as we head down a short flight of carpeted stairs.
“Sounds relaxing,” I reply passively, unable to get the fantasy of his naked body out of my head.
“It will be. It’s been a while since I’ve really gotten to relax. There’s always business to take care of.”
“What kind of business?” I ask, returning to investigation mode.
Viktor looks at me as we reach the bottom of the stairs. “Political business.”
That’s fair enough. He has an answer to every one of my questions, even if I don’t especially like them. He’s been very patient with me, considering how much trouble I’ve given him. Maybe I should give this snooping a break and try to have more fun. Dinner was nice, and I expect that getting to know Viktor won’t be all that bad. I think I’m even going to enjoy it.
“Here we are,” Viktor says as we reach a small room with two wooden benches attached to the wall.
“Is this the sauna?” I ask, looking around the room.
“No,” Viktor says, shrugging off his suit jacket. “This is where you will keep your clothes while we’re in the sauna.”
“I have to take my clothes off?” I ask, but I already know how saunas work. You always go in naked, or at the very most, in a robe. Interestingly enough, there are no robes hanging off hooks in this room.
“Yes, remove your clothes, Cora. Don’t be shy,” Viktor says, already undoing the buttons to his crisp black shirt.
I look away from Viktor as he removes his clothes. I want to stare at his broad chest as it begins to peek out from his shirt, but at the same time, I don’t want to see him naked yet. I’m embarrassed even to look at him, much less unclothe myself too.
“Remove your clothes, Cora,” Viktor says as the jingling of his buckle indicates that he really is getting completely naked beside me.
I take a deep breath, and pull up my dress, trying to appear confident in my movement. I’m going to have to do this at some point. It might as well be now. My nipples get hard as they are freed from my dress. I find myself wishing that I wore a bra, but it wouldn’t make a difference. I would have to remove that, too.
Thank god I shaved my pussy this morning.
“Are you ready?” Viktor asks, looking toward me.
I yank down my panties, bending over as my cheeks turn bright pink as I pick them up. The blood is pumping in my ears so hard that Viktor’s deep voice sounds muffled. If I could die from embarrassment, I think I already would have.
Normally, this wouldn’t be that big of a deal. I’ve stripped down in front of people before. Granted, it was my doctor, and she was a woman, but still. I shouldn’t be so shy. It must be Viktor’s energy and demeanor that are making this such a difficult process. It’s like I’m afraid that he won’t like the way I look.
I’m trying to impress him. That
’s it. I can’t relax around him because he’s exceedingly handsome, and I’m just Cora Lauder, the boring daughter of a rich politician. Viktor hasn’t told me much about his life, but I already know it’s more interesting than mine is.
“Let’s go,” Viktor says, placing a hand on my lower back with his pinky far enough down to make contact with my butt crack.
My heart rumbles beneath my ribcage, and my legs feel weak. God, I hope I don’t make a fool of myself by passing out in the sauna. I might not survive the first night with Viktor, and it will be no one’s fault but my own.
I laugh inside of my head as I imagine Viktor trying to explain to my father that I died on the first day in his care. It would be impossible for Viktor to live down.
That’s that, then. I have to survive so that Viktor doesn’t see the wrath of my father. I feel a little better as Viktor opens the door to the sauna, letting me step in first. It’s a nice gesture because I’ve still refused to look at his naked body. I know it’s coming, but I need to brace myself for the moment.
I hear the door shut behind me as we enter the sauna. It’s dim. but not dark, and the heat is nearly unbearable at first. I find myself sweating within the first few seconds. Each breath feels like I’m inhaling fire, but I adjust quickly to the feeling. It’s not all that unpleasant once you get used to it.
“You can sit on the bench,” Viktor says, moving his body close to mine from behind.
“Okay,” I reply, walking away from him, toward the wooden bench that wraps around the small room. As I sit down, I turn to face Viktor, and I have to clench my jaw to keep it from dropping agape when I see what he looks like naked.
Viktor stands in front of me as though he isn’t completely nude. His muscles are even more well-defined than I thought they would be. Even in the low light, I can see the fine details of his pectoral muscles, and his biceps have the signature split of a bodybuilder down the middle of them.
But he isn’t too bulky. Viktor is just a very large man, well over six feet tall, with a wide frame and narrow hips. His impressive physique is accented by an expansive collection of tattoos cascading over his torso and down both arms. He even has them decorating his legs, leaving just the space around his penis bare.