Page 46 of The Russian Retribution

Would this be so bad? If I chose to pursue this, and assuming Erik wouldn’t run for the hills the second he found out I was pregnant… could I do this?

It would break our traditions. People in power always marry other people in power.

Those traditions are what put me in power over my father’s generals, so I can’t take them lightly.

But as Erik holds me and it feels like we become one and the same, I can’t help how my mind runs with the possibility of more.

Having a relationship—and a baby—with someone considered lower down the ladder would be a scandal, but why does it sound so good?

Is it because of Erik? Or because I enjoy breaking the rules?

Erik’s fingers curl and stroke down my cheek while he murmurs a contented sound in the back of his throat.

My heart flutters and warmth spreads across the back of my neck. It’s definitely Erik.

Maybe I do have a future here.

After the gala, I’ll tell him.

19

ERIK

“Drink.” Faina strides across the dressing room and presses a glass of something pink and bubbly into my hands.

“I’m not entirely sure this is my ideal drink,” I reply, tilting the glass slightly.

“It’s part of the experience,” Faina remarks. “So drink it. It’ll help her relax.”

“Anastasia will relax if she sees me drinking pink champagne?”

“Men,” Faina mutters, striding away with her own glass in hand. “Playing into this whole day will help her relax. We’re trying to take her mind off everything, remember?”

I remember.

The gala is a little under a month away, so to try and give Anastasia some breathing room, Faina has brought her dress shopping. I have no complaints about having to sit through the countless gorgeous gowns that Anastasia appears in becauseeach one makes her look like royalty, and there’s a special sparkle in her eyes each time she admires herself in the mirror.

She just hasn’t found the perfect one yet.

I set my drink down. Alcohol while I’m working is hardly advised, and being out in town puts us at risk. Things might be quiet on the assassination front, but I’m taking no risks this close to the gala. Between keeping the smaller families happy with the shift in business, accepting the first flood of cash from construction, and keeping the Cartel off our backs, it’s been a tough few weeks.

Anastasia needs this.

I need this. I need to see her happy since everything in my power so far has been unable to help. On one hand, I’m just her bodyguard and security can only do so much. Protecting her from the Cartel is easy, but things are still tense with Viktor and the Cartel has threatened to start slaughtering the smaller families if they don’t get what they want.

A war is not something we will survive right now, so appeasement is all we have.

And if a day of dress shopping is what we need to perk Anastasia up, then I am all here for it.

The deep blue curtains part once more and Anastasia steps out of the changing room in a floor-length golden yellow gown that hugs every single gorgeous curve of her body. The heart-shaped neckline amplifies her bust, and as she steps onto the stage and turns, the dress is backless with some beading sparkling along the hem above her ass.

“What do you think?” Anastasia asks, looking at Faina as she walks around her.

I can’t take my eyes off her. She’s utterly stunning in every dress and I can’t pick a favorite. She could wear a trash bag, for all I care.

I think I’m falling in love with her because she looks like she’s glowing, and that has to be me. She makes me laugh without trying. She listens to me beyond just appeasing me, and the way she makes my heart flutter every time our eyes meet is unlike anything I’ve felt before.

And the sex?

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