After I go to console Winter and make sure she’s comfortable—and without Kolya being her guard from hell, I spend the rest of the day with Adrian and Jeremy.
Our son asks why his papa is hurt and I tell him that he was hit by bad guys. My husband raised his brows at that but didn’t say anything.
In the evening, however, Adrian leaves me to put Jeremy to sleep and heads into his office. I know exactly what he’ll do and I will not sit still and allow it to happen.
So as soon as Jer falls asleep, I go to his office and step inside without knocking on the door. Sure enough, Adrian is sitting behind his desk as Kolya, Boris, and Yan stand in a line, their postures rigid.
“What are you doing here, Lia?” My husband doesn’t hide his displeasure at my barging in. He never likes me in the vicinity of his men, outside of necessity.
While I enjoyed Yan’s company in the past, I’ve made it my mission to stay away from Adrian’s business. I can count the number of times I’ve been inside his office, and most of them had something to do with sex.
I’ve gone to great lengths to keep from getting mixed up in the mafia world, but I should’ve known that it would catch up to me sooner rather than later. Maybe staying away has been the wrong choice. I should have known that my origins would play a part in my life.
Squaring my shoulders, I step to Adrian’s desk, sort of like a front line to the men standing behind me. “I know what you plan to do and I won’t allow it.”
Adrian taps his forefinger on the wooden surface a few times before he stops. “What do you think I’ll do?”
“You’ll punish Yan and Boris for bringing me home. It wasn’t their fault. I insisted.”
“Fine,” he says dismissively. “Now you can go.”
“Not until you give me your word that you won’t hurt them.”
“Lia…” A muscle tics in his jaw and he seems to be reining in his temper. “This isn’t your place.”
“Yes, it is. I’m your wife and that gives me the right to make decisions as much as you. If I hadn’t convinced Yan and Boris to go along with my plan, you wouldn’t be sitting in that chair.”
“They defied direct orders and showed insubordination.”
“For your sake!”
“And that put you in danger.”
“It’s all right,” Yan says with a smile in his voice from behind me. “We were prepared for this.”
“We can take it,” Boris agrees.
“Well, I can’t. I won’t allow you guys to be punished for something I started.” I stare at Adrian. “So?”
He forms a steeple with his fingers at his sharp jaw, his face and voice still closed off. “So what?”
“Are you going to promise not to hurt them or should I stay here all night until you do?”
“Lia…”
I flop on the chair in front of his desk and fold my arms. “I guess I’m staying then. Don’t mind me. Continue with your business.”
Adrian narrows his eyes on me and I stare back, unblinking. We remain like that for what seems like minutes, both of us refusing to back down. If it were the me from the past, I would’ve cowered from his intense unforgiving stare by now. I would’ve wanted to end the conflict and escape his brutal harshness.
But losing my identity and living as a completely different person taught me to find my inner strength. To reach inside the untouched parts of me and revive them. Besides, I’m done giving Adrian full reign over our lives after he used that privilege to choose death.
He married me despite the past and my mental issues, despite whose daughter I am, and now, he’ll learn what that actually means and the consequences that come with it.
“Get out.” His voice gains an edge.
“Give me your word first.”
“Lia.”
“Adrian.”
“You do realize that I won’t let this slide, do you not?”
A sudden shiver shoots down my spine at the veiled promise behind his words. I was well prepared to be punished for defying him, but hearing it has a completely different effect.
However, that doesn’t deter me from the reason why I’m here. “I don’t care.”
My husband thins his lips before he releases a breath. “Fine.”
“Fine, what?”
“I won’t hurt them.”
“Do I have your word?”
“You do. You also have my word that you’ll pay for this little show.”
I stand up and flip my hair over my shoulder, then place a hand on his desk and lean forward so my face is mere inches away from his and he can get a view of my cleavage. “Fine with me.”
His eyes heat, turning wild, and I step back before he pulls me onto the table and fucks me right here and now.
I don’t leave right away, though. “Oh, also. I’m letting Winter go.”
“No.”
“Why not? She didn’t do anything.”
“She’s your lookalike. I can’t have her walking around without supervision. If I do, others will use her for their benefit.”
“Others like who?”
“Like Luca.”
I swallow at the edge in his tone. “Okay, then. I mean, fine. But we can’t keep her locked up. She’s innocent.”
“She’ll have to stay that way.”
“Until when?”
“Until I decide where to ship her.”
“You’re not shipping her anywhere. She’s a person, not some cattle.”
“I will ship her if I deem it necessary.”
I widen my stance, glaring at him. I love this man, I really do, but he’s so apathetic sometimes, it drives me insane. Well, he’s apathetic most of the time. The moments he’s not are few and far between.
Why couldn’t I love someone normal?
Oh, right. Because I’m nowhere near normal myself.
“I’ll spend time with her.” I turn and leave before he can say anything.
I go to the kitchen, heat the soup and the ham casserole Ogla made for dinner, put them and an apple on a tray, and go outside.
Fedor and another guard greet me at the entrance of the guest house, but they don’t dare to stop me. They all look at me different since Adrian was let go by Sergei. Even Kolya, who seemed to hate me before they left Russia, thanked me as soon as they got back.
It’s like I gained their respect or something.
Yan was always on my side, but everyone else was blindly loyal to Adrian. I guess they must realize how foolish his decision was and that they could’ve really lost him.
I could’ve really lost him.
That thought makes me want to cry again, but I suck in a deep breath, refusing to go down that path.
I find Winter in her room, sitting on her bed with her knees hugged to her chest. She lifts her head upon seeing me and hope shines bright in her blue eyes.
“Am I free to go now?”
I sit on the chair beside the bed and place the tray on the nightstand. “I’m afraid not.”
“But you promised.”
“And I will keep that promise, but not now, Winter. Your resemblance to me puts you in immediate danger. There are people who want to hurt me and wouldn’t hesitate to accomplish that through you.”
She hugs her knees tighter, her knuckles whitening. “I…I can’t spend all of my days cooped up in here. I feel like I’m going insane.”
“You can stay with me and Jeremy. We’re not really that fun, but we’re better than nothing.”
She tilts her head to the side, looking at me with undivided interest. “Why are you doing all of this?”
“This?”
“Helping me.”
“Because I know how it feels like to be alone, and how your head can torture itself and you.”
“Thank you,” she whispers. “You shouldn’t care about someone like me.”
“What type of nonsense is that? Everyone deserves to be cared for.” I uncover the food. “Come on, eat.”
She reaches out a hesitant hand, then grasps the bowl of soup, not bothering with the spoon as she drinks straight from it, finishing it in a few seconds. But she takes her time with the ham casserole, eating slowly.
“Can I ask you something?” she asks between bites.
“Sure.”
“Do you still want to escape your husband?”
“No,” I say and mean it.
“Why not?”
“I never wanted to leave him in the first place. I was just…at a point where I was lost, and I thought leaving him was the right choice. It took a lot to recognize that wasn’t true and to finally see where my actual priorities lie.”
“That’s nice.” She smiles a little. “I wish I knew where my priorities are, aside from my next meal.”
“You’ll get there. I’ll help you.”
“You…will?”
“Definitely. Everyone deserves a second chance.” I pick up the apple and start to cut it. “Tell me more about yourself.”
We spend a good part of the night talking. Winter tells me about her upbringing and how tough life was and that until she met me, she constantly thought about committing suicide but didn’t have the courage to go through with it.
My heart breaks for her and all the shit she went through despite her young age. I end up talking about ballet and everything that went down with it.
Winter hugs me when I get to the part about my broken tibia. Although I thought I was over that part of my life, tears spring to my eyes at the reminder and I have to take deep breaths to stop myself from crying.
I suggest that she see Dr. Taylor since she helped me tremendously with therapy after I got back to being Lia.
I reluctantly leave her when she yawns, promising her that she’ll be able to at least go with me and Jer to the garden tomorrow.
In the main house, I place the empty tray on the kitchen counter and load the plates in the dishwasher.
“I’ll take care of it.”
I jump, placing a hand to my chest at Ogla’s monotone voice. “You scared me. Make a noise, would you?”
The older woman stares at me with her signature snobbish expression.
Ignoring her comment, I continue putting everything in the dishwasher, then press the On button. Ogla watches my every movement with hawk attention, with both her palms placed on her stomach, but doesn’t say a word or attempt to leave.
It’s the first time she’s willingly spent more time than needed with me. She’s usually ready to leave me behind and get on with her business.
I lean against the counter, crossing my arms over my chest. “If you have something to say, go ahead, say it and spare us the suspense. If this is about Winter and how Adrian intends to keep her locked—”
“Thank you.”
If my jaw could hit the floor, it would right about now. “What did you just say? I think I’m hearing things.”
“Thank you for bringing Boss back. You’re the only one who could’ve done something like that.”
I swallow to not choke on my own spit, then clear my throat. “I…I did what any wife would’ve done for her husband.”
“No, you went beyond that.” She pauses. “At first, I thought you were the wrong choice for him.”
I narrow my eyes on her. “You preferred Kristina, didn’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Wow. Your honesty is cutting.”
“She was the most logical choice for him while you were…well, uninterested mostly, so I thought maybe he’d made a grave mistake. However, over the years, I’ve realized that you might be the most fitting for him.”
“Why?”
“Because you accept him the way he is. Not even his parents did that.”
My interest piques and I straighten a little. “You’ve been here since the time his parents were alive, right?”
“True.”
“Since his stepmother?”
“Yes.”
“How was his relationship with her?”
“Like yours and Jeremy’s, without the singing and dancing.”
“He missed out.” I grin, then soften my voice. “What about him and his mother?”
“Not good. She only ever used him against his father.”
“And his father allowed that?”
“Not when he was around, but he couldn’t stop her when he wasn’t.”
“At least his relationship with his father was good.”
“Not exactly. The late Mr. Volkov had…many expectations of Boss when he was just a boy.”
“I can’t believe how cruel his parents were. But I guess that’s what shaped him into who he is today.”
“Yes. Since his mother’s death, Boss has been an adult trapped in a child’s body, and he’s kept closing off more the older he’s gotten.” The harsh lines around her eyes soften for the first time since I met her. “Until you.”
“M-me?”
“He went out of his way to do things for you. Before you came along, he never even had meals at regular times, no matter how much Kolya and I nagged about it. Then he asked me to prepare lunch boxes so he could take them to you. After that, he at least started eating dinner. And ever since he married you, he makes the time to eat breakfast and lunch with you, too.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“There are a lot of things that you’ve changed about him.”
I inch closer, hungry for more. “Such as?”
“Feelings. He used to make it his mission to smother them, but you bring them out. At one point, most of them were anger, though.”
“Well, he made me mad, too.”
Her lips move in what resembles a smile, but it doesn’t quite go there. “I’m sure he did.”
“Thank you, Ogla.”
“Whatever for?”
“Being there for this family. For him.”
“I’m the one who’s supposed to thank you for saving his life, even if there will be a price to pay.”
“A price to pay?”
“Sergei and Lazlo won’t let this slide. Surely you know this.”
I do. That’s why I have to do something about it before they do.
Offense is the best defense.
Getting Adrian on board is going to be the hardest thing about this plan, though.
But then again, I have my wifely charms to use. Adrian’s guard is down slightly when he’s inside me or after he’s fucked me, and I’m not above using that to my advantage.
