Page 100 of House of Lies

“A marriage license.”

“A marriage license?” I ask, surprised.

“Sign it, Caelia.” His tone leaves no room for arguing.

I take the pen, but I’m not in a hurry.

“I thought this was just a pretense, Kaz. What are you doing?”

He says it’s a marriage license, but I could sign anything.

“My grandfather will leave no stone unturned, Caelia. We need to make it look real.”

“We can make it look real without—” I stop, taking a deep breath. “I can’t sign this.” I try to reason with him. “I’m still married to Mattia.”

“Did I forget to tell you? You’re a widow as of yesterday.”

I blink rapidly, trying to make sense of his words.

“Mattia is dead?”

Kaz nods.

He’s dead. I won, but it doesn’t feel like a victory. I’m in a foreign country, in the house of a man I don’t know as well as I thought. A man who wants me to sign a document that will bind me to him, and I know that escaping him won’t be easy. I’m not even surprised he managed to pull a marriage license out of thin air. If Kaz goes back on his promise, no amount of fighting will set me free. I was imprisoned in Mattia’s manor, but Kaz’s security surpasses anything Mattia had.

“I need you to promise me something, Caelia,” Kaz states, his tone unwavering. I raise an eyebrow, waiting for him to continue. “Promise me you’ll give this marriage a real chance.”

I’ve fallen into this trap before. I didn’t want to, and I fell for him anyway. I can’t fathom the extent of the damage it will cause. Knowing who he truly is, without lies or secrets.

“Why?”

“Because I will. I will give everything to make this marriage work, but if you still want to leave when the time’s up, I will give you everything you want and set you free.”

The pen trembles in my hand.

“Why are you doing all this?”

“One day, you’ll understand.”

I sign my name on the dotted line, ignoring the warning signals in my brain.

CHAPTER 65

Kaz

“Where are you hiding her, Kaz?” Katarina demands, scanning the house in search of my wife.

“You’ve come all this way from New York, and I don’t even get a hug?” I open my arms with an amused smirk as I tease her.

“You’re such a bastard,” she sighs, finally giving in and wrapping her arms around me. “You got married, and I had to find out from Mom? What’s wrong with you? Is she ugly? Did Dedushka force you to marry her?”

“He’s not exactly thrilled about it.” I laugh. “It’s a touchy subject, so please don’t bring it up at dinner. It took me forever to convince him to come in the first place.”

I’ve shielded my sister from this life as much as I could. She’s barely twenty and studying Business and Finance in New York. She’s under the protection of Aleksandrov, the Pakhan there. He was one of the few people my father trusted. I never told him I was there, pretending to be Mattia, but I had to let him know what was happening. He’s not happy about it, but that’s a problem for another day. I could have asked for his help, but I didn’t. I was convinced the plan was safe if no one else knew my intentions.

“We need to talk,” Katarina says, releasing me and narrowing her eyes.

“About what?”

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