“No. But Boris has contacts. He must have found out where your sisters are, and he’s come to collect them. Your father did give him permission to control you three while you were unmarried.”
I shudder as I watch Boris walk up to Mila and run his fingers down her arm. She tries to smile politely, but it’s tense.
He will marry her once he takes her back to New York. And who knows what will become of Vik. She tends to make Bratva men angry. Boris could kill her if he wanted to.
I tried putting it off. I tried fighting for myself.
But seeing Boris in the flesh again, I’m reminded of how unstable he is. He shot at me as I ran from him when he tried to marry me. He pointed a gun in Vik’s face. He will hurt my sisters. Sweet, innocent Mila. And brave, stern Viktoriya.
And no one can help them because Boris technically has control over them.
But Mikhail is more powerful, and he could protect my sisters if he wanted to. He just doesn’t want to.
Not unless … not unless I give him my virginity.
I can’t run from it anymore. Mikhail will have all of me. I might as well turn it into a positive and use it to protect my sisters.
“Does your offer still stand?” I ask Mikhail.
He stares down at me for a moment before nodding slowly.
“Then, I’ll do it. I’ll do it.”
I just signed my soul away to the devil, and there’s no going back now.
Chapter
Twelve
MILA
“You look lovely,” Boris tells me, trailing his fingers down my arm. I smile, but it’s forced. By how his eyes tighten, I can tell he knows I’m faking it.
“What are you doing here?” I ask.
“Am I not allowed to visit your sister’s husband? He worked with your father in the past. So, why not me now?”
I don’t know what to say. Boris gives me the chills, and all I want to do is run far away from him, but he’s unstable. Who knows what he’ll try to do?
“And we never got to have our wedding,” he says. “I’ve come to get you back, Mila. You belong to me.”
“She does not belong to you,” Vik says, coming to stand beside me.
Boris’s lips turn into a straight line when he turns to Vik. “Ah. Viktoriya. Looking beautiful as always. How is your ankle? Hurts much?”
She covers her cast with her dress. “You will leave my sister alone.” Vik takes my arm and starts to drag me away, but Boris calls out, “Mila and I will be married!”
“You are not marrying him,” Vik says.
“But how? Boris is here. And Mikhail is making us leave. I’ll have no choice.”
“We’ll figure something out.” I want to believe Vik, but she’s let me down too many times. My eyes find Sofiya’s across the room, and she nods, her gaze telling me I’ll be ok.
She walks over to us and takes my hand in hers. “You’re going to be ok, Mila. You and Vik can stay.”
“Really?” I gasp and hug Sofiya tightly.
Vik crosses her arm, giving Sofiya a dubious look. “How did you get Mikhail to change his mind?”
Sofiya doesn’t answer. She only looks at me and smiles. “You will be ok, Mila. I’ve made sure of it.”
Even though I’m ecstatic I won’t have to marry Boris, I wonder what Sofiya gave up to convince Mikhail to let us stay. Because I might be innocent about a lot of things, but one thing is obvious—Mikhail is not a man who easily changes his mind. I can tell from Sofiya’s eyes she’s not telling me everything, and that worries me.
What has my sister done to protect me?
SOFIYA
For the rest of the evening, I stay by Mikhail’s side. He doesn’t take his hand off my back once, as if he’s already claiming me. I haven’t given Mikhail my virginity yet, but already, I’m fully his, and we both know it.
My eyes land on Irina, who’s chatting up a man. “Why is she here?”
Mikhail glances in Irina’s direction. “I invited her.”
“Why? I thought you were done with Irina?”
“I am. But I know the last party I threw didn’t go so well, so I wanted more women here. Only so many of my men are married. I thought Irina would be a welcome sight.”
“She’s not,” I blurt out.
