Page 58 of A Monster Is Coming

She pressed her lips together.

“Exactly. You don’t need to answer, I know the truth.”

“Would you have still lied to me?” she asked.

Shit!

“I would have done whatever Ivan told me to,” I said.

“So, that’s a yes. That means I cannot trust you.”

We had stopped dancing as we talked, and I quickly changed that, drawing Niamh into me.

“You can trust me.”

Niamh suddenly stopped and I looked at her.

“No, because you will do whatever Ivan Volkov tells you to do, and if one day he tells you I’m not needed and you have to kill me, you will.”

She pulled away from me, ending our dance.

Chapter Fifteen

Niamh

My wedding night.

Growing up, I had moments when I would think about my wedding and the man I was going to marry. It was strange, as I could barely picture him. I’d always been able to picture the future. I could imagine a couple of kids. I didn’t care what sex they were, as long as they were healthy. I’d think about special events like Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, even New Years, and then of course there were special birthdays. I wanted to be the kind of mom my kids could come to for anything. Needed brownies for a bake sale, I was your gal. A costume for a Halloween party, I totally could whip one up. Gifts at Christmas, I was the queen of the shopping mall. I’d have a man who loved me for me. The perfect family. In my head, that was.

Instead, I was sitting on the edge of a bed in a very expensive hotel, with complete strangers around me. Well, not in the hotel room, but all the guests were complete strangers. Even my half-brother was a stranger. I also knew he didn’t like me. He certainly didn’t like that I was now married into the Volkov Bratva.

It was hard for me to wrap my head around, because I’d never even heard of the Volkov Bratva, but then I’d been kept out of the loop about everything. I wasn’t allowed to know anything or anyone. My place was just to serve, and that was exactly what I did—served.

I didn’t have a clue what my place was here. What did they expect of me?

The door to the bedroom closed and I glanced over to see Peter flicking the lock into place.

“Do we have to worry about them … breaking in?”

“No, but I figured you’d be happier with a lock on the door.”

I didn’t know if he was right or not.

Rubbing my head, I tried to stifle a yawn. I was exhausted. I hadn’t been sleeping well, and I knew I’d lost a little bit of weight as my clothes were hanging off me. Eating didn’t appeal to me, not in the slightest.

“Are you okay?” Peter asked.

I took a deep breath and shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m just trying to figure everything out, you know.” I rubbed at my temple. I didn’t know if I was ready to do this. I’d done everything in my power to avoid this man for the past month.

So much had happened in such little time, and I didn’t know what to do or think. I’d not had time to comprehend either option.

I tensed up as Peter came to sit on the edge of the bed, right next to me. I wrapped my arms around myself, I didn’t know what or who I was protecting myself from.

“Do you want to talk about it?” he asked.

“You don’t have to do that.”

“What?”

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