Page 46 of Forbidden Vows

“You’d let me out? Oh, gee, thank you, master!”

“Dammit, woman, will you listen to reason for once?”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

He gives me a confused look. “Tell you what?”

“That I’d be a prisoner in my own home for the first few weeks after arriving. We had a great honeymoon; we were getting somewhere. You had plenty of opportunities all the way up to the minute I set foot in this house to tell me the truth.”

“I never lied to you.”

“A lie by omission is still a lie.”

“It was for your own good,” Anton replies.

“No, it was so you could manipulate me into thinking this could be a happy life.”

He takes another deep breath. “I was hoping you’d trust me to keep you safe.”

“I do trust you to keep me safe but keeping me safe and taking away my freedom doesn’t have to be the same thing,” I protest.

“Dammit,” he hisses and takes out his phone. He unlocks the screen and shows me a photo that turns my stomach inside out, instantly freezing every drop of blood in my veins. “This came in the mail for you yesterday at this address. Ian intercepted it before the day’s correspondence was brought up to our suite.”

“Oh, God,” I whisper.

It looks real enough.

A pair of bloodied knit baby boots. I think I’m going to be sick.

“What is this?”

“It’s a direct threat, Eileen. The first of many we’ll receive. All it takes is for one person to make it past your security detail at whatever shop or event you wish to attend. One moment of distraction for a knife to slip through.” He gently places his palm over my belly. “This is our baby, and you’re my wife. I owe you everything in my power to keep you both safe. And I’ll do precisely that, even if it ends with you hating me.”

“You still should have told me.”

He shakes his head slowly. “You’re right. You deserve full disclosure, the whole truth. This is it. Someone’s making direct threats, and until I figure out who it is and neutralize them, I need you to stay put, Eileen. It won’t take long to find out who isstupid enough to threaten my family. That, I can promise.”

“I wanted to go out and tour a commercial space that’s for sale,” I mumble, lowering my gaze. “For my café.”

“Right, we talked about that back in London.”

“There’s one available on Upton Boulevard. I can’t go see it?”

Anton shakes his head again. “I’m sorry, babe. There will be others. Chicago’s flipping real estate like it’s a stack of pancakes. We’ll find you the perfect space when it’s safer. Until then, we need to be careful.”

“This sucks.”

I still hate my predicament, and I know I won’t be able to sit still for too long, but at least I can understand why they want me to stay behind closed doors.

“At least you and Laura can keep busy together,” he offers a sympathetic shrug as he pours himself a cup of coffee, “with all the social events coming up.”

“What events?”

“The Karpovs’ weekly tradition of Friday night poker, for starters. Then there’s the big families’ brunch on Sunday.”

“The big families’ brunch? Does that include the Kuznetsovs?” I raise a skeptical eyebrow at him.

“No. I’m personally inviting and vetting each member of the families. The Kuznetsovs are off the list for this month’s brunch. Sergei needs to either prove his loyalty to my family or declare war. Hopefully, this move will force him into picking a side. At least then I’ll know where he truly stands.”

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