Page 21 of The Brutal Arrangement

“Because of you,” I whispered. Because of my mother, I never wanted to consider letting an outsider threaten our family again.

With that agreement, though, and with Maxim planning to use Katerina’s arrival as a way to spy on her uncle, it seemed that I no longer had any say in the matter. I would do as my boss ordered, always. Before the poisoning, it would’ve been my father telling me to deal with this arrangement. In his stead, Maxim was calling the shots.

And if he felt this was a good way to root out the identity of our enemy who wanted to bring us down…

“I’ll do it,” I muttered aloud to myself. “I swear to all that’s holy in heaven and hell that I’ll do right by my family. Unlikeyou.”

I almost wished my mother could rise from the dead just to experience my hatred all over again. What kind of a parent offered her sons to be killed just so she could maintain her affair?

Shaking my head, I let the burning embers of loathing and fury fuel me to stay alert and do the right thing.

I didn’t want to marry Katerina—or anyone else right now—but I would for the sake of spying on her family.

And if she or her uncle were trying to trick me and anyone else in my family…

I’d make damn sure they would regret it until their last breath.

9

LUCY

There was no time to catch my breath. Panic consumed me, making my heart race faster than it ever had before. No thoughts registered in my mind. Only this innate need to get out of here could be obeyed.

I sucked in a deep inhale, almost coughing from the harsh intake of air too quickly, and took off into the darkness again. Without knowing what else there was to find on this massive property, my body moved on instinct.

I had to get away.

Katerina telling me that I would be forced to marry someone under her instruction was a threat I couldn’t accept. Fight or flight had been activated. And I would flee from this insanity.

I had to.

Pumping my arms and feeling so frantic, I tried to avoid the battery of doubts and regrets.

How could I have been so stupid?

How could I have stayed employed here when I first realized this was the residence of a freaking Mafia boss?

Regret kicked in swiftly, mixing with the anxiety that ruled me as I sprinted from the mansion.

The very first second that I realized I was cleaning the house that dangerous criminals frequented should’ve been when I left.I should’ve gotten the fuck out of here then.

Screw how much money I was earning.

Forget about that tentative almost-friendship with Katerina. Clearly, she was no friend of mine. I didn’t have many friends since I was too busy working or caring for my mother when I could. I wasn’t an expert on what friendship was supposed to be like. But it had to be a fact that friends didn’t force each other into marriage!

There would be other jobs. There would be other ways to earn money. I wouldn’t get the rate I was here, but I would work somewhere safer next time.

All I did was try to fund my mother’s care, but I wasn’t sure at what point I’d become so delusional as to forfeit my own safety and well-being for it.

“Lucy. Wait!”

At the sound of Katerina’s shout behind me, I ran faster. Pumping my arms and determined to escape, I didn’t look back at her rushing after me.

“Please, wait!”

She was too fast, perhaps more prone to honing her fitness and cardio levels than I was. In a rough tumble, she caught up to me.Her fingers latched around my wrist as I swung my arm back. On the forward pull of my stride, my arm was held back and I pitched forward onto the perfectly manicured lawn.

I tensed, feeling my breath punched out of me as she practically tackled me. Rolling and flailing to get away from her, I realized she was far more skilled at the art of tackling. Of capturing.

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