Page 25 of The Brutal Arrangement

Grandmother gave me a long, measured look. “It can’t beonlyin name.”

I narrowed my eyes, not caring for the direction this was going. I knew exactly what she was referencing, and I wasn’t interested inthatdiscussion.

“You must consummate?—”

“Iknow,” I bit out, focusing on my brother, not her. “I fucking know what I need to do.”

“Or not,” Maxim interjected with a shrug. “Once we uncover what Anton’s trying to do by sending her to us, we can annul the marriage and move on.” Lifting his chin at me, he frowned and addressed me directly. “In fact, I would advise against it. Make it easier to end it.”

I rolled my eyes. Fucking Katerina wasn’t something I really wanted to bother with. She had never attracted me. And even though we were all aware of how Nik always insisted there was nothing going on between them, I had come to naturally associate him with her.

“It’s not even on my radar. What time do we send someone to pick her up?” I asked him since he’d set the paperwork for the arrangement in motion late last night.

Grandmother gasped. “Wait. Do you meantoday?”

“I want to get this over with as soon as possible,” I said again, this time to her. “Because I’ve got more important things to do. Like finding Nik.”

“Hold on.” She shook her head and held her hand up, scowling with disapproval. “Just hold on. You can’t intend to just rush through all of this and not have a wedding, not have any stipulations negotiated.”

“We don’t need to negotiate with the enemy,” Maxim reminded her.

“But what about heirs?” she asked.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake.” I looked to the side of the room, irked about that topic.

“Grandmother, wehavean heir on the way. My child with Sloane.”

“I know. I know.” She grimaced as if he were dull and she lacked the patience to educate him. “I know. But we need more. We need as many as we can get. From all your brothers, including you, Damon.”

Knocking up Katerina left a bad taste in my mouth. Again, I understood my duty and wouldn’t shy away from it, but how was I supposed to interpret all of this? Maxim was hinting at going through with this for the purpose of keeping our enemies closer to spy and get intel. Yet she was assuming this marriage would be permanent and that we’d start a family to add on to the Ivanov name.

“Grandmother, let’s just wait and see how this goes.” Maxim stood, seeming too restless and aggravated to just sit any longer. “Consider this less of a marriage than it is a business arrangement. No matter how you view it, there is no doubt in my mind that Anton Kozlov is either trying to use us or take advantage of us.”

“Or end us,” I said.

He nodded. “Yes. As such, an heir between our families would be a disaster at this point.” Facing me, he shook his head slightly.

“I understand,” I told him, knowing he had to be just as peeved about Grandmother trying to romanticize what was nothing more than a business arrangement. We had yet to learn what the Kozlovs’ business was with us, and the nature of it, but I would remain on guard and prepared.

And I did. I understood what was expected of me. There was no way in hell this would be anything more than a contract marriage, the barest vows said before a witness and signatures on paper.

Nothing more.

“So, what time?” I asked him again, impatient to get on with it. “Hugo is going to bring in that fucker who tried to burn down the warehouse. I’ll be needed in the basement to take care of that.” Dealing with rats and traitors was more my forte. It suited me well since death and gore never bothered me, and it gave me an outlet to burn off this negative energy and power that seemed to always stay recharged within me.

“They said that they’ll bring her here,” Maxim said. “Late last night, after I spoke with their representative, they said that they’d have a driver drop her off here instead of our having to send someone to fetch her.”

I shrugged. That would work out well. Having my bride brought to me would give me more time to do what I was good at—torturing and killing in the basement. Since this man was a new Ivanov recruit who had turned traitor, the main thing I had to pull out of him was the truth of whether he was workingforsomeone.

“What time, though?” I asked again.

“This evening.” Maxim shoved his hands into his pockets. “Take as long as you want with your matter of the rat. From the last update I was provided, I was under the impression it was three men he’d found responsible for starting that fire, not just one.”

Sounds fine by me.“The more, the merrier,” I quipped wryly.

“I trust that you will show all of them what happens when they cross this family.”

I almost laughed. He didn’t need to say it. That was a law and expectation I would never forget. Anyone who messed with theIvanov Syndicate would pay dearly and never recover from the lessons they were due.

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