5

Avrora

The wedding is off.

God, what a nightmare.

And now I'm being taken to Anatoli Scarfoni's house.

The thought weakens me, and I feel so fragile I fear I may shatter into a million pieces.

Thank God Dad's arm is still around me. If he weren't holding me up and moving us down the corridor toward the car, I don't think I could do it myself.

The echo of my heels against the marble floor is a welcome distraction from the turbulence in my mind, but I can't stop myself from freaking out about what will happen to me. And Mikhail. I've never seen him look so defeated, and so powerless.

I'm desperately trying to hold it together, but I can't.

How the fuck must I? What the hell are the chances of my life being ruined by Mikhail's long-lost brother? And surely, he can't be serious about marrying me.

Every time I try to process it, I feel like I'm losing my mind.

But when we walk past the stunning hall decorated for the reception, my heart gives a hard squeeze. From the rose-gold tablecloths and the covered chairs with giant bows on the back to the white Calla lilies surrounding the pewter candlesticks on each table... Everything is magnificent.

This glimpse is all I'll be seeing.

I lean even more on Dad. "I can't. I just can't."

"It will be okay."

My dad always fixes things when they go wrong, but this...? Mikhail? Anatoli? Me?

I want to believe Dad or Mikhail will be able to sort this out, but the tension in my gut is telling me otherwise.

Our footsteps become louder as we continue to the adjoining hall. Once there, Jayce — I think that's his name—is joined by three more guards. All are armed.

I'm quite aware of the dark underworld of danger I live in. Where all of society's rules bend and break for men with power.

When you live in a world like mine, where the Knights and the Russian mafia are God, anything can happen because they are the law. Things can change drastically from one moment to the next and leave you trying to crawl your way out of hell.

I saw the way Anatoli looked at me. I saw how he undressed me with his eyes, and I noted the seductive promise lurking within them.

I don't want to go to his house.

When I get there, what will happen next?

What will Anatoli do to me?

Even though there was seduction in his eyes, his entire presence and show of power were filled with vengeance.

We walk outside into the drizzling rain.

"Syuda," Jayce speaks in Russian and points to a black Ferrari parked by the entrance to the parking lot.

Once we reach the car, he opens the door and gestures for me to get in. When I think of leaving my dad and disappearing into the unknown with these men, I feel an invisible hand around my throat. It squeezes tighter and tighter, stopping the air from reaching my lungs.

Jayce clenches his jaw, instantly looking pissed off. "Get in."

"Wait, please." I'm not ready for this.

"We need to go now, Miss Galitze."

"Please, I just need to talk to my father."

"Avrora, please go with th—" Dad starts, but I interrupt him by grabbing his arm.

"No. I need to know what you plan to do." I need to know something. Anything. "Surely, this Anatoli doesn't seriously mean to just take me and keep me. Right?"

I can't imagine that happening. Not with so many powerful people around me who should be able to fix this. People like my father. But Dad just stares back at me.

"My love, Anatoli has the marriage contract."

"But that contract was for me marrying Mikhail."

He releases a heavy sigh, and his expression turns as soft and caring as when Mom died. "The contract was for you to marry the eldest Scarfoni son. That's Anatoli."

My heart triple beats. "But surely, you can revoke it. You made the contract. There must be some law or something that can help us."

"No, there's nothing." He rests his large hands on my shoulders. "Look, Avrora... there are some things you don't understand."

Dad glances at Jayce, and a moment of understanding appears to pass between them. Then something hits my mind. It's a sort of realization I didn't sense before because I was too deep in my shock to notice anything else.

It's how Dad looks. Or rather, how he doesn't look.

Dad wasn't surprised or shocked like everyone else when he saw Anatoli.

He didn't even argue when the order was issued to take me to Anatoli's house. He was completely compliant.

The overprotective father I knew would never hand-deliver me to people he doesn't know. Men he doesn't know. Dangerous men with guns.

Dad wouldn't even let me go to the mall or Lorelai's house, or, fuck, the heavily guarded college campus, without a bodyguard.

Yet here he is, sending me off without any of our guards, telling me he can't help me.

It's like he knew. Knew these people, knew I'd be taken.

Jesus Christ. Did he?

My heart jumps, then gallops, and I wish I could run away with it.

I search Dad's eyes. But I find nothing to tell me I'm wrong.

"What do you mean, there are things I don't understand?" I hate that my voice shakes.

His head drops for a moment. When he returns his eyes to mine, he looks weak and drained, opposite of the man I know him to be.

"Anatoli Scarfoni has certain powers not even I can work my way around."

"Oh my God. You knew this would happen today. Didn't you?"

His eyes hold mine in place, and I feel in my soul that everything he says next is going to hurt me.

"I'm sorry, my girl. My hands are tied."

Now my heart pounds like it's trying to break through my ribs. "But you're the Senior Enforcer." My voice is high and pleading and desperate. I grab his jacket, pull on the lapels.

He loosens my hands. "Avrora, please calm down."

"Are you kidding me? Calm down?" I take a few steps backwards, every instinct telling me to run. Run now before I can't. Run now before it's too late.

But Jayce walks toward us, raises his gun, and cocks the hammer. He taps the silver barrel to the side of Dad's head, and everything inside me goes numb.

Jayce jerks his head toward the car. "You need to get in."

"This is wrong," I choke out, sounding like a little mouse.

He answers with a devilish smile. "Just so you know, I'm not required to keep your father alive. He's not needed for anything, but you are. Do you understand?"

I understand completely. The translated version of what he's saying is he'll kill my father right here and now if I don't do as I'm told.

The message my heart receives is that I'll lose another parent.

The memory of Mom's cold, dead eyes filters into my mind, and dark dread fills me. I nod my acquiescence, making my legs move so I can get in the car as quickly as possible.

When I slide in, Dad grabs my hand and squeezes it. That's all he gets to do, though, because Jayce pushes him away and closes the door.

He gets in next to me while the other men pile into the car. One on my other side and two in front.

The car starts up and pulls out of the driveway, taking me deeper into this nightmare, but I don't look away from my father's rigid form standing on the pavement with his shoulders sagging.

He said his hands were tied.

There's only one way to tie a man like my father down to beat him, and that's to hold something so powerful over his head that his only option is to bow.

So... Anatoli must have something like that. Something big.

What is it?

Or maybe the better question is why.

If I'm right, then what did Dad do to him to cause this?

And what exactly are Anatoli's plans for me?