Page 44 of Sacred Vow

“What the hell is going on?” Marlena leans against the door after she’s locked us inside Andrei’s bedroom.

“My life is falling apart.” I sink onto the bed that his staff has already been in to make. They’re like ghosts running around making sure everything is perfect while not being seen. It’s a little unnerving.

“You see where you’re sitting, right?” She points at the four-post bed with the elaborate bedding and insanely comfortable pillow top.

“I know, but…” I fold my legs so my chin can rest on my knees. “He’s keeping me hostage.”

“Hostage?” She blinks. “What do you mean?”

“I mean he won’t let me leave and he is insisting we get married.”

“Married?” She shouts the question then slaps her hands over her mouth. “Are you serious?”

“I’m not, but he sure as hell is.”

“Why does he insist that?”

“Because.” I take a big breath and replay the events from the past few days. By the time I’m finished, she stares at me with wide eyes.

“You actually snuck out of your own apartment?” she asks.

“After everything I just told you, that’s what you hold onto?”

“Well,” she blusters. “I’m impressed.”

“What am I going to do?” I throw myself backward on the bed, bouncing on the cloud of bedding.

The bed dips as she climbs up and sits next to me. “Well, you said even if you leave the city, there’s a chance these guys will still come after you, right?”

“That’s what Andrei says.”

“And do you trust him?” she asks.

I push up to my elbows. He’s never done anything against me, against my family. My mother trusted him enough to put us on that plane seven years ago, and Craig trusted him by making him make that stupid vow.

“I do.” I sit up all the way, crossing my feet beneath me. “Isn’t that stupid? I haven’t seen him in seven years, and he’s done nothing but torment me for days, but I do trust him.” I’ve clearly lost all of my marbles.

“It’s not stupid. You said yourself, your brother made him promise to protect you. And he’s doing that. You just don’t like the way he’s doing it.” She grins.

“You would like this? Being forced to marry a man who doesn’t love you, who refuses to let you take care of yourself?”

“Hell, no. But we’re not talking about me.” She unfolds her legs and hops off the bed. “Besides, I think he does love you.”

“Did Viktor drug you?” I ask as she walks around the room, checking out the elegant framing around the painting hanging over the dresser.

“No. But he threatened to… well, never mind.”

“He doesn’t love me,” I protest.

“Maybe not love love, but he loves you.” She pinches her fingers together. “At least a little. I mean I know these guys take their vows seriously and all that, but he can protect you without marrying you.”

“Yeah, by keeping me locked up in his room forever.”

“Right.” She moves along the room until she comes to the armchair in the corner and sinks into it. “He can just keep you locked up, or he could send you away. What I’m saying is he has other choices, all you would hate, but would get him off the hook. But instead, he’s making you marry him.”

“You agree with him.”

“I do.” She nods.

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