Page 63 of Dancing With Desire

He glances up. “Aren’t you concerned?”

I scoff. “About Vivian? No.”

“She was once the love of your life, the woman you were set to marry. It should be her walking down this aisle.”

“I never said she was the love of my life, because she wasn’t. Victoria is the only woman I have ever and will ever love.”

“I should’ve known you’d end up like this,” he mutters, stuffing his mobile into his pocket.

“Happy and in love?” I ask, smiling.

“When will you realise that love doesn’t work for men like us, Dmitry? If we marry for love, we’re putting ourselves out as a target. She will be the one your enemies come for to get to you.”

“Like Nik?”

“Exactly.”

“Only Nik wasn’t my enemy. At least, I didn’t think he was.”

“You’ll never know your true enemies,” he says.

I give a nod. “You’re right,” I agree. “That might just be the most honest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

The vicar appears and greets me with a handshake. He does the same to my father. “Victoria is ready,” he tells me, taking his place at the front.

I straighten my jacket and take a deep breath as music begins to play from the harpist. My father takes his seat while everyone else stands. I turn back to him, leaning close to his ear. “You’re wrong, by the way,” I whisper, and he frowns. “I know all about my enemies.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Vivian is dead,” I say with a smile. His eyes widen, but he contains his anger. “I cut her open on my office desk after she tried one last time to seduce me.” I glance past him to see Victoria standing at the end of the red carpet. She looks breathtaking, just like I knew she would. “I know, Father,” I whisper. “I know what you both did to Victoria.” Realisation passes over his face. He pushes to his feet, and I slam my hand on his shoulder, taking him by surprise as I shove him back into his seat. He won’t go anywhere because I have men at every exit point ready to keep him here until the end. “Stay and enjoy the celebrations.” And then I stand tall, smiling as the woman I love begins her walk towards me.

TORI

I don’t remembera time I ever felt so beautiful. The second I stepped into my dress, I felt like a princess, and as Phoebe pointed out through her tears, every woman deserves to feel like that on her wedding day.

Dmitry is watching my every step, his eyes full of love, and I have to fight the urge to run the last few steps and throw myself into his arms.

Marshall slows to a stop and turns to me. He kisses me on the cheek before shaking Dmitry’s hand, and then he carefully places my hand into Dmitry’s. I pass my bouquet to Phoebe, and she takes a seat beside Poppy.

“Ready?” whispers Dmitry.

“Ready,” I confirm as we face the vicar.

The vow exchangefeels like it lasts forever, but in reality, it’s a little over half an hour before we’re signing the register and heading back up the aisle as Mr. and Mrs. Volkov. My heart hammers wildly as we follow the photographer for our photos to be taken under the largest tree outside the manor.

By the time we’ve been put into a million different poses, we’re finally ready to go and greet our guests in the large white marquee we hired. I thought I’d hate all the attention, but as we enter and everyone stands to clap, I feel my chest swell with pride. Most of our guests are here for Dmitry, with just a few of my friends and Poppy, but it doesn’t bother me. All the people I love are here in this room and that’s all that matters.

Dmitry leads us to the top table, where he pulls out my seat and I lower into it. He sits beside me, then everyone else sits down again. “Happy?” asks Dmitry, opening my napkin and laying it in my lap. It’s those small things that make me love him so much more.

“Ridiculously.” I glance over to where his father is sitting, his eyes fixed on us. “I didn’t expect him to come,” I admit.

Dmitry follows my stare. “There was no way he’d not come and have the families question him.”

“Does he know about . . .” I pause, flashes of Vivian’s lifeless body entering my head. “Her?”

Dmitry gives a stiff nod. “He does now.”

“And?”

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