Page 162 of Deceitful Vows

“Switch outfits with your sister. Your guests are waiting.”

“Aleena… please.” I grip her arm before she can leave the dressing room as quickly as she entered it. “I’m not doing this to hurt you. I swear to God.” When she yanks out of my hold, I get so desperate that I share secrets with her I’m still struggling to work out. “If you conceived a daughter, you wouldn’t have seen the year out. If it is a boy, you’d have a maximum of five years. Less if Andrik’s”—I cuss before correcting—“Kazimir’s interests strayed.”

The information Ano gifted me last night couldn’t be misconstrued. Disappearing wives are as regular as extramarital affairs for the Dokovic clan. If I had ignored Ano’s information, I would have placed a timer on my sister’s head.

I couldn’t do that, so I placed my life in the firing zone instead.

When Aleena remains facing the exit but not walking through it, I murmur, “You saw how quickly his grandfather switched us. We’re disposable to them. Replaceable. I’m trying to save you and your unborn child from that.”

Nikita cautioned me last night that Aleena’s pregnancy confirmation could have been a ruse to force me to stay away from Andrik, but my heart refuses to believe it. I know she is pregnant. I’m just skeptical that her baby is Andrik’s. The IVF dates in Andrik’s contract don’t match. The timeline Ano gave me is far more viable.

Aleena’s eyes lock with mine, and the wetness in them breaks my heart. “By trapping us withher.”

“No. I will get you out. I promise.”

She wipes at the tear that rolls down her cheek when she shakes her head. “It doesn’t matter. I made my bed, and now I must lay in it.”

“Aleena…”

She races through the door so fast that my shout bounces off the wall in the hallway three guards are monitoring. They don’t belong to Maksim’s crew. They protect the Dokovic assets, and that is precisely what I am to them now. A piece of property.

But, as Aleena said seconds ago, I made my bed, so now I must lay in it.

After shoving my feet into the dress Aleena hand-delivered, I yank it up my midsection and then squeeze it past my breasts. Aleena and I are a similar height and build, but more of my breasts spill out of the dress than it holds in.

I don’t bother looking in the mirror before exiting the dressing room at the side of the ballroom. I have no one to impress—not even the man waiting for me at the altar.

“Are you sure I can’t talk you out of this?” Nikita asks while handing me the bouquet Aleena dumped at the altar before storming down the aisle with our mother hot on her tail.

As she raced after her youngest daughter, my mother said there would be hell to pay for my objection, and that this isn’t the last I’ll be hearing from her. I haven’t seen her since, and although it shouldn’t hurt to notice her spot in the front row is vacant, it does.

Nikita draws my focus back to her. “I’m not above asking Maksim to help get you out of this.”

“No. I need to do this.” I’d never forgive myself if I pulled out now.

The Dokovics’ marital traditions weren’t the only evidence Ano’s hacker friend unearthed last night. He also discovered the cause of the swiftness of Aleena and Andrik’s engagement.

If this wedding doesn’t go through, Andrik’s son won’t get the heart he so desperately needs. That’s how Ano convinced me to object. He forced me to pick between my sister’s life and Andrik’s son. I only came to the decision to object when I realized I could save them both.

“Okay.” Nikita’s exhale fans my sweaty cheeks with warm air. “Then let’s do this.”

As I join a red-faced and furious Andrik at the end of the aisle, Nikita stays in eyesight the entire time. All I have to do is signal that I want out, and she will relay my every wish to Maksim.

I won’t chicken out, though. Not for my unborn niece or nephew, and not for Andrik’s son. They’re children, and they should be protected no matter what.

“Dearly beloved…” the celebrant starts again. “We are gathered here today to celebrate the…”

There are no objections this time around.

No interruptions.

There is also no kiss.

The instant the celebrant announces Andrik and me as husband and wife, Andrik leaves the altar without a backward glance, shocking our guests and breaking my heart more than my sister’s disappointment that I stole her “wife” title.

66

ZOYA

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