Page 32 of Debt to the Mafia King
I blinked back tears. Crying wouldn’t help me. It didn’t matter what I had dreamed of. This wasn’t a fantasy. It was real life.
My life, and it sucked, which was kind of my life all over. This was only day one of our agreement, and I already felt like I was losing myself. Would I even be Leah again when the year was over?
“Viktor is going to be amazed.”
I rolled my eyes. Of course, Viktor would be happy. Everything about me was what he wanted, the dress, the hairstyle. Even the shade of lipstick I wore was because it was his favorite.
This day wasn’t about me. It was about him.
No, I reminded myself. It was about business. That’s where I kept going wrong. I kept thinking like this was a fairytale, when in reality it was a nightmare.
I’d read the contract. One year was all I had to endure. One year of being what Viktor wanted me to be, and then I would be free.
I could be someone else for a year if it meant my whole future was set.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
“Please, don’t be so nervous. Viktor would never allow anything to happen to you.”
I knew that Stephen meant for his words to be reassuring, but they made the hairs on my arms stand up. What could he mean by that? What could possibly happen to me by marrying Viktor?
I was in more danger with Viktor than by anyone else, and everyone here knew it. That’s why I kept getting warned to behave.
“It’s time.”
I blinked in shock to realize the car had stopped outside a small church, somewhere on the grounds of the house. My door was opened, and Stephen’s hand appeared. I took it shakily, my whole body trembling with fear as I straightened.
From inside the stone church, I could hear organ music swell and the chatter of voices. My heart slammed into my chest, and my throat went dry. Not one person in there was my friend. I knew no one.
Anxiously, I glanced around, the fight or flight instinct kicking in as I tried to find a way away from this.
I couldn’t do it.
I couldn’t.
Stephan grabbed my elbow to steady me. “Don’t do that, Leah.”
It was a clear warning. If I ran, then he or someone worse than him would chase me down. There was no escape for me. Well, there was one. My eyes settled on the open doors. There was freedom that way, after a year, anyway. A year of being someone's possession, and I would have my freedom.
“I’m not going to run.” I straightened my shoulders.
For a heartbeat, he looked like he didn’t believe me, but then henodded. “Then it would be my honor to walk you down the aisle, Mrs. Petrov. If you will allow me?”
I set my shoulders in a hard line. “Go right ahead. It’s not like I have any other choice, is it?”
This whole situation was about choice, and I didn’t have any. I knew that now.
“Let’s just get on with it.” And just like that, the fight went out of me.
Chapter Eleven
Viktor
I didn’t turn toward the sound of her footsteps as they approached the altar because I didn’t want the others to see the look on my face when I first saw her.
Showing too much adoration would be seen as weakness. But I couldn’t help the gasp that left my lips as she took her place beside me, and I saw her for the first time. Even with the veil covering her face, she looked like an angel. The dress molded to her torso like a second skin. The high lace neck made it completely modest, but at the same time, the cut of the dress left absolutely nothing to the imagination.
Even the full billowing skirts seemed sexual, because I could easily picture myself disappearing under there and licking her into submission, like I had done back at her apartment when she had cum all over my lips and chin. I licked my lips, and it was like I could taste her all over again.
