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“Good. I’ll call the cops. Nikolai better hope these breadcrumbs don’t lead back to him.” I glance at Mila. I’m about to apologize when she shakes her head.
“I hope theydolead to him,” she says darkly.
I swallow, not wanting to say the next bit, but I have to. There’s no way around it, especially if there are moles lurking among my men. I need to be paranoid and cautious—two traits my father always had in abundance, two traits I always resented him for.
“Mila, we’re going to need to eat a meal together,” I say.
She flinches, then looks at me with a tragic mixture of anger, reluctance, and resentment. It’s like I can tell she’s thinking about wishing she could be anywhere except for here,doanything except this. I can’t blame her—I feel exactly the same. But what other choice is there?
Even Mikhail is looking at me like he’s pissed.
“Soon,” I go on. “In fact, now would be good. I’ll make arrangements. Veryloudarrangements.” We have to buy time and if a fake romantic meal is what it takes then that is what we have to do.
For a second, I think she’s going to argue, but then she nods. “I want to do whatever it takes, whatever I can to help us all.” Translation… whatever it takes to make sure we don’t have to go through with this. It doesn’t take a genius to read the obvious signals that she hates this match as much as I do.
“Meet me in the dining room in thirty minutes,” I say, then leave the so-called hacking room and call Yuri, making sure to head outside where the men are patrolling. I speak louder than usual. “Cook something extravagant and exciting for me and my bride-to-be! Mila deserves the best…” As one of my men walks by, I raise my voice even louder. “Andonlythe best.”
After a quick shower, I meet Mila in the dining room. She looks a little less scared than the last time I saw her, a little more hopeful, or maybe she’s doing a better job at hiding how she really feels.
“I made sure to take a long route here,” she murmurs. “A lot of people saw me wearing this.”
I’m not sure what she’s talking about when she puts so much emphasis on her outfit, but then it hits me. She’s wearing what other men might find appealing, a dress with a low cut, showing off… whatever it isothermen might notice in her. But I’m incapable of noticing anything except with my woman, my Lia.
“Good,” I grunt, sitting down. “The food will be here soon.”
She nods, then sighs and says, “Are you angry that I’m helping Mikhail?”
“No,” I tell her. “I’m pissed that any of this is happening.”
“You don’t want this marriage, do you?” she murmurs.
I laugh gruffly. “It’s that obvious? No offense.”
“None taken,” she says. “Is there a way out?”
“I don’t know. Possibly. There are so many pieces at play. So many ways it could go wrong. For now, we need to keep pretending.”
“Maybe I could come to your bedroom again later?” she says.
I think of Lia, hate twisting through me. But I have to play the game. For now. “That’s an idea,” I say.
“You seem as scared as me,” she murmurs, and when I don’t go on, she says, “Last night, I was acting like a spoiled kid. I do that sometimes. I hate it about myself, but it’s a fact. But I think I see it more clearly now. You don’t want to marry me. I don’t want to marry you. But we might have to. For the good of this city. So my dad doesn’t turn this whole place into a bloodbath. I’m right, aren’t I?”
In the hallway, I can hear Yuri speaking to the waiting staff, getting ready for a big show. “Yeah,” I tell her.
“So it’s like I said—I want to help. And not just for me. Not even for me atall. My dad still has my brother. Drake.”
Yuri’s voice rises. “This is aspecialmeal for Mr Sokolov. So let’s allsmile, please.”
“Don’t get your hopes up,” I tell Mila. “We still might have to do this.”
“I know,” she says, folding her arms across her middle. “And if my dad ever finds out we’re trying to go against his wishes… I’ll do it.” She looks at me with glistening eyes, like marrying me is the last thing she wants. “For my brother. If I have to?—”
She almost leaps out of her seat when Yuri knocks on the door. But she doesn’t need to finish the thought. If Nikolai Petrov discovers we’re scheming against him, there’s a chance everybody ends up dead.
CHAPTER 10
DAHLIA
