Page 83 of Prince of Control
What was he about to tell me before Brash arrived? The real reason I’m here.
“You had ‘interest from another party’.” Brash makes air quotes around interest from another party part. “Me.”
“Benji Baranov couldn’t stand me moving in on his possession. He knew I have the power to stop this union. And so they whisked you off before you could tell me about the marriage and get my help.”
I didn’t know about the marriage, so there would’ve been nothing to tell.
It sounds absurd, but I see the truth crawl over Baron’s face. He’s not denying it. He’s glancing at the guns around us, like he’s wondering if he can fight his way out of this.
Icy prickles cover my skin. The same sense of betrayal I felt the day my father showed up at my apartment storms through my body.
“Baron?” I ask. “Is this true?”
His teeth clench, and he breathes through flared nostrils. He wears the same look he wore when Lili was trying to get him to stop killing the guy he thought had drugged her at the party. Like he’s in warrior mode and will do anything to protect what’s his.
“Baron!” I snap.
He doesn’t look away from Brash when he answers me. “Not exactly.”
Not exactly. Not. Exactly.
What the actual fuck?
Can this be true? That means this whole thing was orchestrated by my father and Baron together. My dad made me think his and my mother’s lives were in danger when actually this is all because he feared the man I was dating could protect me from his machinations. From being a pawn and his stupid bratva games. From marrying Baron.
And Baron was either so competitive with Brash or so possessive of me–a woman he didn’t even know–that he had to steal me away. Win me for his own.
I feel sick.
Furious tears flood my eyes. I need to get away–from all of them. But especially Baron. I turn and run down the sidewalk in my strappy heels.
“Lara,” Brash calls after me.
Baron says nothing; he just stands there looking like he wants to murder Brash. I guess the guilt is too much for him. For some reason, that enrages me even further.
How dare he seduce me? Manipulate me? Knowing he was taking me out of the arms of another man. Knowing my father pulled the plug on my life in Paris on a whim and made me believe it was life or death to come here. He was a part of this entire game orchestrated by my father. All of them toying with my life, my affections, my reality.
Gospodi!
How dare he make me fall for him? Make me care about being loved by him?
How dare he stand there and say nothing? Say, that’s not exactly true.
His is the biggest betrayal of all.
“Move and die,” one of the Russian soldiers barks at him in Russian.
Good. He doesn’t get to follow me. I’m not under his control anymore. I won’t be controlled by him ever again. Not by him or my father.
“Lara.” Brash’s car pulls up beside me as I clomp down the sidewalk. The passenger door swings open as Brash drives slowly.
I don’t want to be with Brash. I don’t want to be with anyone. But I actually have nowhere to go if I don’t accept Brash’s help.
I stop walking, and he hits the brakes to match me. We look at each other through the open door.
He’s a handsome man–a sharp dresser with a Rolex on his wrist. He can be charming and respectful. He’s well moneyed and powerful. It’s true. His father probably has the power to protect me from my own father.
Not that I should require protection.
