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“I can keep you here, and I am,” I informed her. “Every employee on the property has been made aware that it’ll be their lives if you escape again.”
Samara’s blue eyes widened. “Have you lost your mind?”
Ignoring that, I said, “Do not be the reason that someone loses their life, vozlyublennaya.
“Do not put that kind of responsibility on them, and then I won’t,” she fired back.
Letting out a deep breath, I tried another approach. “Do you recall when you eavesdropped on my conversation with Maksim?”
She arched a brow in attitude. “Of course.”
“When he asked me if I was going to marry you, I said no,” I repeated. “However, you never asked me why that had been my answer.”
“That’s because Maksim had been too busy talking about your wife and kids,” she spat, crossing her arms over her chest.
“The wife and kids that I do not have,” I reminded her. “I’ve never been married, nor do I have any children, Samara. You’ve only ever been the one in line to be my wife and the mother of my children.” When she stubbornly remained silent, I continued with my point. “I told Maksim that I wasn’t going to marry you because I knew that if I asked, you would say no. I knew that ours was not a welcomed happenstance for you, and no matter how you gave yourself over to me, warming my bed and pledging your life to me are two very different things to you.”
Her blue eyes nearly bugged out of her head. “You threatened my sister’s life, Avgust,” she choked out. “You act like we just ran into each other, and then you asked me to dinner or something. You threatened Masha, and then threw me into a cage for revenge. Why on earth would I ever agree to marry you?”
“Precisely my point, Razh,” I remarked coolly, doing my best not to rub my win in her face.
Refusing to give my win a point, she said, “I still don’t see what that has to do with me returning home.”
“Because this is your home now,” I stated purposefully. “This is your home, and you need to come to terms with that, Samara.”
“This is not my home,” she bit out stubbornly.
“Look, baby,” I sighed, knowing that she needed her rest. “I know that we have a lot of things that we need to work through, but you have to tear down those walls long enough for us to do that.”
“Well, who in the hell do you think put them there in the first place, Avgust?’ she snapped. “From the first moment that I met you, you’ve lied and misled me, and fifteen years later, you’re doing the same damn thing.”
“I’ve only lied to you about one thing, vozlyublennaya,” I corrected. “I lie about my position in the bratva, but that is all that I’ve ever lied to you about.”
“Now you’re just playing semantics,” she bit out.
“I am not,” I insisted. “However, in the justice of pure transparency, not only will you be living here, but we will be getting married as soon as those stitches are out of your leg.”
Samara’s eyes practically bugged out of her head. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me,” I replied coldly, lest she got it in her head that she could win this one. “We are getting married as soon as your stitches come out. Or, if you prefer, we can skip a big ceremony and have it here. Tomorrow.”
“Avgust, I’m not marrying you.”
“You are.”
“No, I’m not.”
“Oh, but you are,” I pressed upon her. “You’ve no way out of this, Samara.”
Her brows shot upward in disbelief. “You’re actually serious.”
“I am.”
She started shaking her head. “Avgust, I’m tired. I…I have absolutely no desire to have this conversation with you.”
“As you wish,” I replied evenly. “I will let you get some rest, and then we can discuss this at greater length later.”
“Yeah, no,” she huffed. “There’s nothing more to discuss.”
