Page 27 of The Brutal Arrangement

“That way, he won’t know it’s not me going to marry him. Once you ride over there, I’ll go to one of the other buildings and lie low. Anton should be away for several days.”

“Is that how long you think this will take?” I wasn’t forgetting that very critical detail—that this marriage would be short-term and I could bank on divorcing soon.

“I… I don’t know.” She furrowed her brow, looking less confident than before. “It’s hard to say how long you have to be over there and deal with this, but I hope it won’t take more than a week.”

I narrowed my eyes, trying to see if she was fudging on the truth. “I need to know more about this. Who he is? What’s so wrong with him that someone has to be forced to marry him?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know which one it is, which brother.”

I gawked. “You don’t know the man I’m getting stuck with?”

Shushing me, she glanced at the closed door behind me. “Not so loud. No. I don’t know. There are three brothers. Well, four. But only three are options. And there’s nothing, uh,wrong, with them.” Softening her expression a little, she almost smiled. “I realize this is different from what you’re used to. You’re just a normal citizen, an outsider to us in the Mafia, but please, don’t let any stereotypes freak you out.”

Too late.

“The brothers in this family are strong men, and I’ve known this family for a long time. They are, and they always have been, decent.”

I crossed my arms. “Decent criminals?”

She sighed. “It’s hard to explain.”

I wasn’t interested in any theories about honor among thieves or so-called decent criminals. The next thing I knew, she’d try to convince me some sweet and good-hearted murderers were out there too.

Regardless of what she wanted to say, I couldn’t believe her or take her word for it. She hadn’t earned much of my trust other than showing me how quickly she’d defend me from handsy guards. The only thing I wanted to trust her on was that this marriage wouldn’t last long and that she’d cover for my mother’s care.

“And it’s just a contract marriage,” she added, as if that would sweeten the deal. “I’m sure they’ll just set you up in a room and leave you be for the most part, since they’ve got bigger things going on at the moment.”

“Wait. Do these people know what you look like?”What if they realize we’ve swapped and they’re pissed that they were duped?

“Yes and no. It’s been a while, and we do look similar.”

Unease built right back up again.

“But I’m confident they’ll just set you aside.”

“Set me aside,” I said, deadpan, as I bit the inside of my cheek. “Like I’m athing.”

“There are different expectations in our families.”

“Hold on.” I was still stuck on envisioning arriving at some new place and being sent to a room. For what? Why? What would I do? “You think they’ll dismiss me?”

She nodded.

“And that’s it?”

“Probably.”

My eyes popped open wider as a more alarming thought hit me. When she said I’d need to take her place and marry some guy in another family, I took it literally. As in I’d show up and go through with the ceremony. People didn’t actually consider sex between a husband and wife as an act of marriage anymore.Right?Consummating this marriage hadn’t entered my mind until now. But now that I was trying to picture myself being dismissed as a newlywed and kept in some room…

“Oh, my God.” I stepped back, horrified. I hated myself for not seeing quite this big of a picture.

“What?” She scowled.

“I’m… You expect me to sleep with him?” My heart thundered faster at the idea of being forced into… that with someone I didn’t even know.

“No. Wait. No?” She shook her head as if worrying that she was scaring me off again. “No. Ihighlydoubt it. We’re not that archaic. Some families insist on doing things old-fashioned like that, but the Ivanovs were never— No. You won’t have to worry about that.”

“I don’t know about this anymore…” Going through a marriage just to divorce later wasn’t that bad. But agreeing to be fucked as a wife? That was too much. Too far. I wanted my mom to be cared for, but this was sellingmyself. This was giving away my virginity in the worst way possible. And I couldn’t stomach it.

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