Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 92284 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 461(@200wpm)___ 369(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92284 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 461(@200wpm)___ 369(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
A pillow under my cheek.
The weight of a blanket over my shoulders.
Rodion curled up beside me.
Sleep.
Chapter 22
RODION
It’s dark out. The lights outside our estate have flickered on, armed guards at the gates as always, as I wait in Rafail’s office. I can’t remember what I did this time or how I got here, but I know the routine by now—lecture. Disappointment.
Punishment.
When the door to his office opens, I feel the weight of his disappointment before I see him. “Rodion, are you ever going to fucking learn?”
This time, Rafail isn’t alone. He’s brought… everyone. My grandfather leaning on his cane, his wizened face lined with disapproval. Semyon, frowning and not meeting my eyes. My cousin Matvei. They pour into the office and don’t meet my eyes.
I open my mouth to protest but find I can’t talk. My lips are sealed together. Mounting frustration builds in me, and I’m on my feet before Rafail snatches me back down with a growl and promise of a worse punishment if I don’t sit.
I try to tell them she needed me. I try to tell them I didn’t mean to. I try to tell them I won’t let them down. But I can’t open my mouth, the words won’t come…
I wake from my dream with a start, blinking in the early morning quiet. I pat the bed next to me and find it empty.
The dream fades, but the sting of it remains.
“Ember?” I call out her name but don’t hear a response. I sit up in bed, my heart slamming against my rib cage, and tell myself to calm. Just because she’s—
Water runs in the bathroom. The door’s slightly ajar. I turn my head to see—Ember’s standing at the bathroom sink, her hair in a messy bun on top of her head, brushing her teeth with vigor.
I let out a breath.
She’s wearing my tee.
It reminds me of a video she did, one of her viral ones, where she sighed and said she lost her mind over a scene where the heroine wears her boyfriend’s too-big tee. Mine is way too big on her. I stare at her. When she lifts her arms to put the toothbrush back, the hem of the tee rises to show the curve of her bare ass.
I know this might not be what she ever imagined for herself, but I’m going to make every damn day feel like a scene only her favorite writer could ever dream up.
I swallow hard.
It was just a dream. Just a fucking dream.
I watch in silence as she splashes water on her face. She’s humming to herself. The sound is haunting and makes my heart ache.
My memory drifts to the times I let my family down, some of them not too recent.
If I hadn’t, I never would’ve been in California. I might have never met Ember. Still, the sting of being the goddamn black sheep of the family lingers, and I know I’m doing it all over again.
I told Ember this was temporary, knowing full well a temporary marriage to Bratva’s an impossibility.
“Hey,” I call out louder this time. I want to touch her again and drown out the memories of the past and the fear of the future. Turning to me, she gives me a little wave.
“Morning. Hey, aren’t you Russians super superstitious?” When she cocks her head to the side like that, she looks so innocent.
“Yeah, why?”
“Shouldn’t we, like, not see each other on our wedding day?”
“Too late for that now.” I push out of bed and head to her.
“But what if our future is doomed now?” That sweet little pucker between her brows...
Our future. Let’s stay here a minute.
“Then I guess we’d better make use of the time we have together before doom sets in.” I bend and kiss her bare shoulder, where the tee’s fallen down. Her eyes flutter closed as I kiss her neck next, my hands anchored on the warm softness of her hips.
“What time is it?”
“Eight thirty-two.”
Eight.
Eight?
“Fuck!”
I let her go like she’s branded me and turn to head to my phone. “Rafail said to be ready by nine at the latest. Sending a car to take us to the Romanov estate.”
Oh god.
“Rodion!” Her eyes widen in panic as she tosses the brush down and looks around the room wildly. “What do I wear? You didn’t tell me!”
Stifling a groan, she runs into the room and rummages through her things.
“Doesn’t matter. They’ll have everything there.” I’m checking my phone to make sure I didn’t fuck something else up, reading through the messages from my sisters. They’ve got shit sorted with Rafail’s wifePolina and her mother, the Romanov matriarch.
My phone is ringing, Ember’s flying around the room trying to get her shit together, and I’m cursing myself for not getting my ass out of bed earlier. I don’t want to start our day like this.