Page 39 of Bound By Hate (Born in Blood)

“Yes.” I run my hands through my hair, subtly fixing it. “Now, I’m off to bed. Goodnight, Gleb.”

“Actually, I was thinking we could go out.”

I frown. “Go out? Where? It’s like … midnight.”

“Think of it as a surprise wedding gift. I want to show you something. Something exciting.”

So, Gleb wants to do something nice for me. I’m not going to stop him from doing that. I love it when people do nice things for me—it reminds me of how great I am.

“What is there to do at midnight other than go to a club?”

“It’s a surprise. Come on.” He holds his hand out. “You’re going to love it. I want to dote on you, Viktoriya. This is one way for me to do that.”

I don’t think Aleksander would ever dote on me. He’d probably just spank me for the rest of my life.

With that in mind, I take Gleb’s hand, holding on tightly.

“Where are we going?” I ask once we’re in the car.

“A surprise, Viktoriya. Remember that.”

Moscow looks so different at night. In some ways, more beautiful. In other ways, more terrifying. Seeing the empty streets devoid of life reminds me I’m alone. I’m sitting right next to my fiancé, but I know in my heart that I am truly and utterly alone.

Gleb eventually pulls up to a nondescript building. It’s more of a gray block than anything else.

“What is this?” I ask.

“Come along.” He runs around the side of the car and opens my door for me. He can be a gentleman. I doubt Aleksander would open my door for me.

Gleb leads me inside, and everything is dark.

“What is this place?” I whisper. I’m not sure why I whisper. My gut tells me to be quiet.

A bright light shines right into my face, blinding me for a moment.

And then I feel hands grab me.

“What is this?” I scream, pushing the hands away. “Let me go!” The light is taken from my eyes, and I can start to see my surroundings. It looks like I’m backstage at some theater. I’ve spent almost my entire life performing on a stage. I know what a backstage looks like.

Two men have their hands on my arms and are dragging me toward …

“What is this? Gleb!”

He holds up a hand, halting the men. Even though they stop dragging me, they don’t let me go. Gleb’s expression turns dark.A type of darkness I’ve only seen once before—in the eyes of Boris when he tried to kill me.

“Did you honestly think I would want to marry you?” he asks.

I flinch. “What are you talking about? What’s going on?” I try tugging my arms from the men, but their grip is too strong. “Gleb?”

“I was going to do this in New York, but then you came here, and I had no choice but to do it here.”

“Do what here?”

“You see”—he fixes his cufflinks like he’s at a business meeting— “I need money. A lot of money. I was raised in wealth, but I lost a lot of it to gambling. When Boris told me to take care of you and your sister in case he died, I saw it as an opportunity. A way to make my millions back. Because what’s better than buying an untouched virgin worth at least a million dollars?”

I blink as his words slowly get through to me. “You’re … selling me for money?”

“I am.” The way he says it so bluntly shocks me to my core. “That’s why I couldn’t have you marrying Aleksander. I needed you for myself. I knew once you were his, he’d never let you go. But you chose me.”

---