Deceitful Vows by Brook Wilder
Chapter 10
Paige
The door swings open, and involuntarily, I jump as Andrei enters the room.
Anger hasn’t gotten me anything, so I tamp down my emotions. I’m very good at that. My body is tense, but I speak as if I’m talking to a reasonable, caring human. “Why are you keeping me here?”
He keeps a distance between us as if to prove I’m safe. He obviously won’t touch me unless he has to.
The sick feeling in my chest dissipates as I wait for an answer.
“You are to stay here and marry me.” His gaze stays on my face, watching for my reaction.
My head lurches forward on my neck. I thought the sex room in the attic was strange, but this man is insane. I start to laugh. I can’t help it. This day has been worse than the one before it, and I don’t even think it’s five o’clock yet. This must be a twisted joke. None of it makes any sense.
“Marry you? There’s no way in hell I’d marry someone like you. You’re a gangster. A criminal. A killer. I can’t marry you. You’re good-looking but not that good-looking. No. Now take me home.”
Andrei arches a brow as if he’s considering my assessment of him. “This isn’t for you to decide. We are to marry and you will live here. With me.”
My body lights on fire as memories of my parent’s failed marriage fill my mind. Fights that could be heard through walls that weren’t thin. Breaking glass while Dad waited, drunk, for her to come home. Sometimes she did.
Often she didn’t.
It wasn’t always like that. They were happy once. I think.
I step back. “I won’t love you. I refuse to.”
“I don’t need love. But I will have your obedience.” Andrei watches me as he moves forward with measured steps. His gaze freezes my muscles, and I can’t move even if I have to.
His hand takes my chin and a finger slips across my skin. It’s the tenderness that bothers me, as if I’m his prey to play with before pouncing. His cool eyes are deciding if he should snap my neck.
“Why me?” I whisper as his thumb brushes over my bottom lip.
He leans over me. The corners of his mouth lift slightly as his deep brown eyes watch my lips part. “Do you really want to know? You would be happier if you knew nothing. It might even save your life.”
He releases me, and terror squeezes my heart. I wish I had stayed quiet.
“You only need to play the role of a bride,” he says. “My bride, and whatever happens next is entirely up to you, Ms. Reyes.”
I wonder what whatever happens next even means. For a moment, I recall dancing close to Andrei at the wedding. Would it be all bad? But as soon as I think about it, I see the bodies on the reception hall floor again. This man literally kidnapped me from my home and is keeping me away from my family.
So, obviously the answer is yes. It can be that bad. Probably worse.
“Ms. Reyes?” I ask him. “Is that how you intend to address your future wife?”
“Very well, Paige.” He smiles darkly. “Don’t worry. This marriage will bring you certain advantages.”
“And guaranteed danger.” Finally, I’ve stopped shaking. “At the very least, did you tell my family I won’t be home today?”
He frowns, avoiding my eyes. “No, and they won’t be at the wedding.”
The words launch me toward him as I lose my shit. I grab his jacket in my fists. “They have to be told. My father is sick. He’s on chemo. I was supposed to pick him up today. My little sister can’t take care of him on her own. She’s in high school, for fuck’s sake. Our mother took off, and now I’ve disappeared. They’ll be worried sick. Oh my God.” A wave of nausea settles in my belly and coats my tongue. “What if they think I’ve walked out? You have to tell them! They have no money except what I earn, and I’m about to miss my gig tonight.”
His tone is colder than his gaze. “You have a choice, Paige. As my wife, your family will be taken care of.” The words hang in the charged air. “But if you refuse … or act out.” His voice lowers into a threatening growl. “Then what they think of you will be the least of everyone’s problems, Paige.”
I have to go through with it. The man is a killer, and I don’t know what he will do to me or my family. This shouldn’t involve them, but I don’t dare plead. It’s only making things worse.
I sit down heavily on the bed and close my eyes to keep the room from spinning. “When will it happen?”
“Within the week,” Andrei replies before he exits the door, and I hear the click of the lock on the other side.
A week … I have less than a week.
Panting, I look around the room for anything I can use to help me escape. But there’s nothing. I slump to the ground and hug my knees to my chest, fighting to keep myself from crying.
