Page 5 of Marrying the Silver Fox

I can’t believe this.

Can’t believe that Natalie would drop out of the wedding on the very day it was supposed to happen. Not because I’m stupid enough to think she was really in love with me—hell, I’m twice her age, and I know as well as she did that this was meant to secure an agreement between her father and me. I needed to get married, and Damon needed protections to get his product into the city without being intercepted by any of the gangs who rule these streets. His daughter was of marrying age, so he suggested her, and after some cajoling, managed to get her to agree to it.

Win-win.

But now, she has backed out—taken off to God knows where. I can only imagine the panic her father is in right now, trying to find her, knowing the hell I’m going to rain down on his head for failing to keep up his end of the deal. I could hear the terror in his voice at the other end of the line when I called to tell him that his precious daughter had bailed on what was supposed to be the happiest day of her life, but his groveling and promises that he would somehow make it right mean nothing to me.

Not when I know that everyone who matters is sitting in this room, and they’re all looking for the barest hint that I’m going to screw this up somehow.

My family are back in Russia, mercifully, so they won’t have a chance to uncover the truth of the woman I’m marrying now. Andie—that’s her name, I remember it being mentioned a few times when we were in the midst of planning.

Not that I ever bothered much with keeping up with that. I told Natalie she could have anything she wanted, and she hired Andie to make it happen. If I had known “anything she wanted” included running out on the day we were supposed to be wed, I might have thought better of it, but it’s too late for that now.

I know, somewhere at the back of my mind, that what I’m doing could pass for insanity. That marrying a woman I barely know is probably a mistake, even if it’s the only answer to the issue that lies ahead of me right now.

But this would be the ultimate display of weakness if I allowed it to pass. What would my enemies think of me if they knew I couldn’t even get a woman to agree to be my wife? The humiliation that followed would be more than I could take, and there was no way in fucking hell I was going to risk it.

In this world, reputation is everything, and that starts at home, with the control you keep over your family and those closest to you. My father entrusted me with too much for me to let his reputation take that hit alongside mine, and as mad as this seems, I have to see it through.

Finally, the doors at the far end of the hall open—and there she is. Andie.

She has been racing around trying to get everything in place for this updated ceremony, so much so that I’m surprised she had time to change into that ridiculous gown that Natalie chose, but I have to admit—she looks striking.

All eyes turn to her and she tenses, as though wondering what they will think of her. I guess she’s not used to being the center of attention like this, more accustomed to being the one planning the wedding than the one who’s in the middle of it.

Her dark brown hair is swept back from her face, her skin practically glowing against the white of the dress, and her green eyes have been outlined with dark liner to make them stand out. They lock with mine, and I can see something shift within her, some kind of certainty overwhelming her, like she has realized that she has no choice but to go through with this.

She clutches the bouquet to her chest and makes her way up the aisle toward me, lifting her chin, not making eye contact with anyone in the seats around her. I wonder if she has any idea who they are, these members of the criminal underworld who sit before her now.

She has never asked directly about my job, just taking my checks instead, not that I blame her. She comes, I’m told, with a reputation of organizing impressive events for people in this world, and I can’t imagine that she’s entirely ignorant to the possibility that my money has not been made through entirely legitimate means.

She reaches my side, and she forces herself to look up at me, though I can see that her hands are trembling where they’re clamped around the flowers. I reach out to offer her a hand, helping her up the small stone steps that lead to the altar, and she hesitates for a moment before she takes it.

I can feel the officiant’s eyes boring into us, and I’m sure he has a million questions about what the fuck is going on here. But he’s not paid to ask questions. He’s paid to do his damn job, same as her. And right now, that means marrying the two of us without asking any more questions.

“Good afternoon, everyone,” he announces, stepping forward swiftly as the music fades away, spreading his arms wide. “I’m pleased to welcome you today to the wedding of Nikolai Artesco and N⁠—”

I shoot him a look, reminding him, silently, that things are not exactly as they once were.

He clears his throat swiftly, correcting himself. “And Andrea Miller.”

I scan the crowd for any kind of reaction—I notice a few people start at the sound of the new name, and a few of them look around, clearly trying to work out if they’ve heard him correctly, but nobody says anything. Good. They know better than to question it, especially when I’m right here in front of them.

“Are you ready to begin?” the officiant asks us.

I nod, and Andie, after a moment, does the same. Her face is pale, but her green eyes have a steeliness to them, as though she has already made her mind up about what she’s about to do and won’t let anything take it from her.

Natalie and I hadn’t bothered with any specific vows, so the officiant runs through the usual ones pretty fast, clearly wanting to get this over with. I know this whole thing must seem like a farce to him, but he doesn’t know what’s on the line here.

If he’s lucky, he’ll never have to find out.

“And do you, Nikolai Artesco, take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife?” he asks me, turning to me with a pointed look. “To love and honor her, to protect her and care for her, above all things, as long as you both shall live?”

I flick my tongue over my bottom lip. Last chance to back out of this. Last chance to think better of it. Last chance for me to change my mind and call this whole thing off before I marry someone I don’t know a damn thing about, just for the sake of my business, for the sake of fulfilling what I know my father wants from me before he hands over his empire.

“I do.”

I’m not giving up on that. Not when I have worked so hard to get where I am. God knows I’ve lied, I’ve cheated, I’ve stolen, I’ve done far worse than just marry some woman I don’t know well.