Page 100 of Deceitful Vows

Mikhail’s expression remains neutral.

“The club was emptied in seconds. You were clueless, though.” Another memory sparks when he closes my gaped mouth. “And you drool a fuck ton when you’re passed out.”

I take a moment to sort through the slosh in my head. “Vlad…?”

“Last I saw, he was hightailing it out with the rest of the survivor wannabes.” Mikhail looks annoyed. I understand why when he adds, “He didn’t even peer back in your direction, Sunshine, so you shouldn’t have thrown yourself on the fire for him.”

“I wasn’t doing it solely for him. It was also for me.” Since my reply is honest, it sounds that way. I blow another wayward hair out of my eye before plopping my backside on the closed toilet lid. “I found Andrik’s marriage contract last night.”

Air whizzes out his nose like he now understands the catalyst of my rebellion, and the genuine shock on his face announces he wasn’t the one who placed it in Andrik’s jacket.

“It implied that his marriage isn’t about love.”

Again, he makes an agreeing hum.

It shifts to a shocked huff when I murmur, “And Andrik hinted the same when we…spoke. He told me he hasn’t been with anyone since me.”

It takes him a beat, but eventually, Mikhail clicks on to the cause of my hesitation. “You don’t believe him?”

“I want to,” I murmur. “But?—”

“You’ve been burned in the past?”

I nod before trying to make my ghosts appear less pathetic. “And it’s not like he has a monkey’s butt for a face. Even if his wife knows the terms, I’m sure she’s trying.”

“Trying…?” Mikhail appears utterly lost.

“To…” I make a hand gesture he immediately clicks to.

“You think she wants to fuck him?” He takes a minute to contemplate. “She could be trying, but that doesn’t mean he’s falling for her tricks.”

“He fell for mine last night.”

“Because you’re you.” He gives my ego a moment to bask in the glory of his stroke. “I told you that you changed him. You flipped his life plan on its head.”

“He said that last night too.” I breathe out slowly before nursing my thumping head in my hands. “And that I’ve had him backflipping on promises he made thirty years ago.”

For the first time since I’ve known him, Mikhail is quiet.

Several seconds tick by, and disgustingly, the silence adds to my throbbing temples.

After a lengthy deliberation, Mikhail asks, “Can I see his contract?”

Shocked by the unease of his question, I slowly nod. “It’s in my room?—”

He’s out the door before all my reply leaves my mouth.

Either he can speed read or he skims over the prominent parts of the contract like I did last night, because in under thirty seconds, he races for the stairwell, taking Andrik’s marriage contract with him and leaving me to wade through my confusion alone.

Several hours later, a knock sounds at my door. Since I assume it is Mikhail, I don’t bother checking the peephole. I swing open my door, leaving myself defenseless to a brutal onslaught.

It isn’t Mikhail or his older brother.

It is their father.

What the?

“Mr.…” How do I not know Mikhail’s surname yet? My snooping best friend would be horrified.

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