Page 22 of Cruel Promise

We share a look.

“You still haven’t eaten much,” Nikolai comments. “You’re going to have a piece of the cake.” He holds my hand as we go into the kitchen, keeping his thumb pressed over my wedding ring. It’s another a reminder that I’m his.

The wedding cake is huge. Four layers tall, all white. It’s beautiful, and I bet it tastes delicious. But my stomach rumbles at the thought of eating it. This cake is just another reminder of how I’m not my own person any longer. I’m Nikolai’s.

He cuts off a piece and holds it up. “Open.”

Slowly, I part my lips. His eyes darken as he looks at me, and goosebumps break out over my flesh. He places the cake on my tongue and steps back. Itisdelicious, which makes me hate it more.

“Now, your turn.” He hands me the knife.

For just a second, I consider stabbing him with it. Nikolai clearly has the same thought. “You wouldn’t get far,” he says, nodding at the knife.

I cut the cake instead and pick off a piece. He opens his lips, and I place the cake into his mouth. It’s so intimate. He’s my husband, but he’s a stranger. He wants me to share a bed with him tonight, but I would rather stab myself.

Nikolai doesn’t make me eat any more of the cake. We bypass Edmund, Claude, and Mrs. Brown on the way up the stairs. Edmund and Mrs. Brown offer me sympathetic looks, which serves to make me more afraid.

Nikolai takes me back into my bedroom and not his own. I don’t question it even though I want to ask him about it.

We stare at each other, neither one moving or saying a word.

And then Nikolai takes out a small pocketknife. I gasp as he comes closer to me with it. “Turn around.”

With a gulp, I do as he says. His fingers brush my hair over my shoulder. I shiver. He skims his hands down to my waist but doesn’t fully touch me. My heart pounds so hard, I think I might pass out from the pain of it.

Then I feel the press of the knife against my upper back, right where the start of my zipper is. He cuts the dress off me instead of using the zipper.

I hold the dress to my chest as he opens the back of it. When his bare fingers touch my bare back, I don’t know whether to run away screaming or lean into his touch. It feels strangely good.

I hate myself for even thinking that.

The reason my mother is dead is because of my father. But the reason he went after me was because of Nikolai, and my mother was in the way. Nikolai is partly to blame, and I can never forgive him for that.

He presses his back against mine, letting me feel all his hard ridges through his suit. I gulp.Hard.

“Let go of your dress, Ava,” he says into my ear. His breath washes over me.

My arms remain rigid. “I can’t.”

“You can. Just lower your arms. It’s easy.”

“You frighten me,” I admit.

“I frighten everyone.”

“That doesn’t make me feel better.”

He chuckles darkly. “Do as I say, Ava. I said I won’t hurt you, and I won’t.”

“You already did when you bought me.” There it is. I finally said it out loud to him.

“Your father was a gambler. He owed me, and he gave me you. If you want to be mad at anyone, be mad at him. I wasjust there. It could have been anyone he sold you to. Consider yourself lucky it was me.” He brushes his fingers over my ring. “You’re mine now, which means you have the protection of the Bratva itself. You’re safer now than you’ve ever been.”

Somehow, I doubt that. I think Nikolai is just telling me what I want to hear.

“Tell me the truth.”

“I am. You’re safe at my side. But if you ever leave it, then that would put you in danger. I’m a dangerous man in a dangerous world. Your father was a part of that world, which made you a part of it. You were in danger all your life without even knowing. Now, you’re just aware of it. So, take off your dress. I want to see you.” He steps away from me.

---