Page 20 of Bound By Hate (Born in Blood)

“I’ll admit; you’ve piqued my interest. And you make a good point. A woman like you would make a good alliance for me.”

“Great. So?—”

“But,” he cuts me off. “I’m not interested in you.”

I blink. The guard beside me smirks. “But … Why not?”

“I have no intentions of marrying. Ever. I don’t need a woman to do my job for me. So, you can go now.” He waves a dismissive hand at me.

The guard grabs my shoulders and gently pushes me toward the door. “Watch it,” I grumble. He ignores me as he walks me out of the club.

I stand there on a silent street late at night in a city I barely know after getting rejected.

Me, Viktoriya Morozova, just got rejected.

I walk over to the side of the building, jam my fingers down my throat, and force myself to throw up. Just like before, it hurts, but then it feels good.

My choices are to try to make it on my own or be forced into a marriage with someone I don’t want.

All because the men I want don’t want me.

I want to fall onto the floor and cry, but I have too much pride. So, I wipe the vomit from my chin, stand up tall, and haila cab, all so I can go back to Mikhail’s house and figure out what the hell I’m going to do.

Chapter

Four

VIKTORIYA

When I reenter Mikhail’s penthouse, I don’t expect anyone to be up.

But it becomes clear just how wrong I was as I stare into theveryangry eyes of Mikhail.

“Where did you go?” he asks.

A man like Mikhail expects me to get on my hands and knees and beg for his forgiveness. Well, that is the last sort of woman I am.

I flip my hair over my shoulder and stand up straighter. “I don’t have to explain myself to you. You are not my husband. You have no claim over me. If you’re upset, why don’t you go find comfort in my sister?”

I try walking past him, but he grabs my arm. “Viktoriya, I tolerate you.”

“That’s not a nice thing to say.”

“You’re not a nice person.”

I huff and wrench my arm away from him. “That’s rich. Which one of us is the head of a Mafia organization? Oh, that’s right. Not me.”

“It’s exactly because I’m the head of the Bratva that I need to know where you are at all times. If you get in trouble with any of my rivals, I will have no choice but to save you because Sofiya would expect that from me. You will not compromise my position. I will not allow it. Now, I gave you a choice. You can either marry Aleksander or Gleb. Hell, marry someone else for all I care. But you will get married so you can leave my house and I don’t have to take care of you. You’ll be your husband’s responsibility.”

“What about Mila?”

“Mila is kind and doesn’t get herself into trouble. But you’re trouble, Viktoriya. You think you’re better than everyone else. It will get you into trouble if it hasn’t already. So, you will tell me where you went tonight.”

I stare Mikhail down. He’s an intimidating figure with his tall stature and intense eyes; I’ll give him that. But I’m the Ice Queen.

“I went to see Damien Petrov,” I tell him. Mikhail tenses. “I thought he’d make a good husband for me. Turns out he’s not interested in marriage, so it was a wasted trip. You have nothing to worry about.”

“You went to my rival? What … You just walked in and introduced yourself?”

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