Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 78587 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78587 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
Alina.
It had been years since I’d last seen her, but I would recognize those green eyes anywhere. She was no longer the gangly shadow of a girl who used to trail behind Viktor with her timid smile. That little girl was long gone. In her place stood a woman, and God help me, she was beautiful. Too beautiful. The kind of beautiful that twisted something deep in my chest and brought thoughts to my mind that I had no business thinking.
I was taking her all in when I saw it.
The deep bruise marring her pale cheek and the faint swell of her bottom lip. She shifted her weight, and there was an undeniable hitch in her step, one that she was doing her best to hide. Those first flickers of desire quickly rolled into a burning rage, and I was struggling to contain it.
I barely knew the girl. I certainly held no claim to her.
But whoever had laid their hands on her was dead.
They just didn’t know it yet.
6
ALINA
Sergei Volkov.
The oldest and fiercest of the Volkov brothers.
The second his beautiful green eyes landed on me, I forgot how to breathe.
He wasn’t the boy I remembered. The Sergei from my childhood had been a sharp-tongued, ruthless brat who couldn’t stand the sight of me. He wouldn’t even talk to me. He would just usher me away with a glare or a muttered curse whenever I was around.
But this man standing before me was different. He didn’t seem disgusted to see me, and he was no longer just a silly boy. Now, he was a man, and he looked like he was carved straight from steel and shadow. His presence filled the air around me, commanding and dangerous, and it nearly took my breath away.
He was fierce in a way that made my heart skip a beat, and when his gaze slid over the bruise on my cheek, his eyes darkened, and his expression became even more intense.
“Alina.” He took a step towards me as he growled, “Who did this to you?”
“Alek.” I could tell from his expression he wasn’t sure who I was talking about, so I added, “Alek Morozov.”
Just saying his name turned my stomach to knots, and the blank expression on Sergei’s face made me wonder if he’d had the same reaction. It wouldn’t surprise me. The Morozov name carried weight all the way from Moscow. They were known for their old connections, dirty money, and brute ways.
There was a time when they had close ties with the Volkovs, especially after Sergei’s father took control. Alek’s father, Anton, had stood by Sergei’s father, and together, they’d spilled their share of blood. They were both cold and ruthless, and they raised their boys to be the same way.
I didn’t know Sergei all that well, but I’d seen for myself that he wasn’t a man to be crossed. He’d grown up with Alek and his older brother circling him like a pack of wolves. They were always testing him and reminding him that he might’ve been born into power, but there was always someone hungry to take that power away.
That never intimidated him.
Instead, it made him ruthless and unstoppable.
Alek always hated him for that. He never said it outright, but he was jealous. I could see the disgust in his eyes whenever there was even the slightest mention of his name. He knew I mattered to Viktor and his family. It was one of the reasons why he was so eager for us to wed. Having me was just another way for him to spit in their faces.
It was a way for him to prove that they couldn’t protect what should have been untouchable. Sergei had to assume the same, because the mere mention of his name had his eyes narrowing like I’d spoken a curse. “Why would he think it was okay to hurt you like this?”
“Because I’m his wife.” I kept my eyes trained on his as I said, “And he thinks that gives him the right to do whatever he wants to me.”
“You married him?”
“It was arranged.”
And just like that, there was a shift in his demeanor. His eyes became distant, and his mouth tensed into a hard line. His anger had melted into something else. Something worse. He knew.
He knew what marrying Alek meant. He knew the choices I’d had to make, the battles I’d had to fight, and he could see that it hadn’t broken me. At least, not completely. I was still standing. But there was no guarantee that I’d still be standing tomorrow.
He knew this, too. We both knew the risk I’d taken, and the inevitable fallout that would come if he chose to stand at my side. His eyes drifted to the floor, and for the first time since I’d arrived, I feared he would turn me away.