Page 30 of Unbreakable Vow

“Shhh!” I wave my hand at her. I glance over my shoulder to be sure we’re actually alone. In this house, it’s not a given. Between Sergei’s security guards and the household staff, I haven’t been able to figure out a spot to be alone.

“I can’t believe this.” Krista pops up from the loveseat and sinks her hand into her hair, pacing in front of the marble fireplace. “I can’t believe you tried to extort Sergei Petrov.”

“Well. I did.” I frown. “I can’t really believe it myself. But I was desperate, and I didn’t think it would be that big of a deal. But then he made his counteroffer.”

She laughs.

“Counteroffer? Cora, you’re marrying Sergei Petrov. Sergei Petrov. Do you know what that means?” She rushes over to me on the couch and sinks onto the cushion beside me.

“Yeah. It means I have to play his wife for a month or a few months. Meanwhile I’ll have time to find a good job, get Mom’s insurance straightened out, and get myself on solid footing.”

She looks like her eyes are going to cross.

“He said that? He said that you’ll be able to walk away after a few months?”

“Yes.” I grab her hands and squeeze. “He only needs to get married for some business thing. When it’s all over, he’ll give me a divorce and then we go our own ways. That’s what he told me.”

“I don’t know, Cora. The Petrov men, they don’t do divorces.”

“We’re meeting his attorney in the morning so we can sign the prenup paperwork,” I assure her. “He wouldn’t be having that drawn up if he didn’t mean it.”

She’s not convinced.

“Besides, how do you know anything about him?”

She curls her feet beneath her.

“You remember that guy I dated for a little while last summer? Stephan?”

I think back. It had been a busy time, we barely saw each other over the summer, but I do remember who she’s talking about.

“Yeah, the guy that was missing an earlobe?”

“That’s him.” She leans forward, like she’s about to tell me a huge secret. “He worked for Sergei. I’m not sure what he did exactly. I even met Sergei once, well, not really met, but we were at the same party. He was all grumpy, so I steered clear of him.”

“He’s always grumpy,” I inform her. “What else do you know about him?”

She shrugs. “Not much. Stephan didn’t tell me much; kind of a vault, that guy. But I learned a few things about him and his cousins. Sergei was supposed to get married a few years ago.”

My ears perk up. “He was? What happened?”

“I don’t know. But I know one thing, the Petrov men do not believe in divorce. You get married, you stay married.”

I chew on the inside of my lip. He was clear that this was a short-term thing.

She has to be wrong.

“Krista, think about it. Why would he saddle himself with me of all people for the rest of his life?” I force a chuckle.

“Why wouldn’t he want you?”

“He’s all muscle and hotness and I’m all soft and short. He’s lived in Russia and built an entire empire from what I’ve been able to find. I’m just an unemployed secretary who is one year shy of a teaching degree. He has gorgeous women dropping at his feet. Trust me. He chose me because this is only a business deal.”

“You’re nuts. He’d be lucky to have you.”

“Oh, don’t get me wrong. I’m gonna make some man really happy one day. We’ll fall in love, get married, have kids, the whole thing, just like my parents. But Sergei… he’s completely out of my league and we both know it.”

“Cora.” Sergei drops my name like a bomb into the middle of the living room.

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