Page 90 of Merciless Queen

Checkmate.

“Welcome to your new life,mia moglie.” My wife. There’s something I never believed I’d refer to a Volkov as.

She swallows. There’s a painful beat of both our hearts. The marriage certificate lands at our feet when she drops it. I’m so preoccupied witnessing her slow breakdown, I miss her fist before it’s too late.

Her hard punch lands on my nose, and my head snaps back. She shouts something in Russian before lunging toward me again, and I try to duck this one, checking to see if she’s broken anything with her previous hit.

She quickly follows with another, but this one, I see coming and block. I go to grab her hands to immobilize her, but her next lunge knocks me to the side, and I stumble onto my ass. She’s on me instantly, but since I manage to block her incoming hits, she gives up, instead managing to slip her hands beneath my arms and locks into a firm circle around my neck. Her thumbs press into the base where the skin is the thinnest, and this time, I think she might actually have it in her to kill, so I lift my palms open and to the side, conceding.

“You faked my signature. This time, Iwillkill you.” Her upper lip curls in a near-snarl, her hands pressing harder. “This was your plan the entire time? Keep me alive so you can marry me?”

“Not at first.Youchanged my mind, Vanessa.” I stare up at her without fear, hoping she can see the effect she truly has. “I intended to kill you, yes, but you surprised me. Intrigued me. The moment you begged for your people’s lives and not your own, it solidified what I’ve known for a while: that you’re nothing like Ursin. For that,” and other unnamed reasons, “I chose to keep you alive.”

She blinks twice, her anger fizzling out to confusion. It’s enough that her thumbs uncurl from my neck. “What do you gain out of this?”

“Isn’t it obvious? Dead, you satisfy a vow. Alive, your father’s legacy survives but under my command. The Bratva’s mine, Vanessa. You,la mia regina distrutta, are all mine. In sickness and in health. Until death do us part.”

“A vow I can get behind.” Her eyes tighten in the corner. “I willneversubmit to you, nor will my people.”

“You will submit, Volkov, that I promise you. As for your Bratva, they’ll fall in line once you do. Besides, I’ll need you at the head of most of your businesses, since you have the connections.”

Her hands slam down hard enough, I gasp for air, my hands banding around her wrists and preparing to break her hold. She leans close enough I feel the swell of her breasts from paced breaths. “Give me one fucking reason I shouldn’t end you now.”

“I’m your husband.” Maybe it’s unwise to tempt death when she hovers over me.

“Only ’til death do us part, isn’t that what you said? That certificate,” she jerks her chin toward where it’s lying off to the side, “isn’t valid. You are nothing to me, Mancini, and never will be.”

“It’s valid in both our countries, so good luck getting it annulled.”

Pain flashes across her expression, and for half a second, I’m met with the same unwelcome sensation as when I was talking to Nero earlier.

Guilt.

Stupid emotion.

Propping my feet on the floor and with a little bit of core strength, I flip us over so quickly, I doubt she sees it coming. It breaks her hold on my throat, her arms stretching for balance,except I already have her on her back, pinning her wrists above her head. I dip down low enough to see betrayal swirl in her eyes.

She bucks but all it does is rub her core against my waist, and she visibly grows more pissed. “This entire time you were being nice, taking me for a walk like your goddamn dog, trying torelateto me, make us seem at all similar and?—”

“We are alike.” Not sure why I get so defensive, why I feel the need to prove to her we are similar, but it feels wrong for her to believe otherwise.

Like I hadn’t interrupted her, she goes on. “—and that you were actually curious about me, but it was all a lie.” She lowers her lids a fraction, her tone losing a bit of its edge. “You wonder why I don’t trust people.”

If she shot me again that comment would hurt more. My insides are a confused mess over this woman. She has every reason not to trust me, and I have every reason not to want her to, but something inside me is upset.

I move so both her wrists are in one hand, freeing my other up to touch her. Stroking a finger over her cheek, she turns her face to the side, mouth opening to bite me. I move quick enough, to avoid teeth, but instead of going for safety, the softness of her lips has me pausing. My thumb unintentionally drags over her mouth.

She stops fighting. Stops breathing entirely from what I can tell. But her mind doesn’t stop, that much I know. Thoughts race, battling her resentment toward the finish line.

I dip my head closer, taken back to outside before Nero showed up. He’s not here to interrupt this time, so it’s all down to Miss Volkov to end this.

Mrs. Mancini, actually.

My lips brush over hers softly, once, then twice, testing her reaction—and my own. I don’t know why I’m doing this, especially now. She doesn’t fight back. Her lips part and a sightouches my tongue. Her permission. Her submission. I think it surprises us both.

I release her wrists entirely, placing a hand below her chin to keep her in place as I kiss her for real. Something unfurls in me with her gentle moan, and she reaches up to drag her nails through my hair.

In a move I should have seen coming, she abruptly grips my hair and yanks my head back, and I see then, her kiss wasn’t at all real.

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