Page 12 of His Forced Bride
They spread out across my space without saying a word to me, but they don't look aggressive.
After the day I've had, I'm not sure my nervous system even knows how to respond anymore.
Then he enters.
Yuri Gravitch fills my doorway, his massive frame obscuring the light from the hallway.
Silver threads through his dark hair, and tattoos crawl up his neck from beneath his collar.
He surveys my living room with dark eyes that miss nothing.
Until his gaze settles on me, and I feel pinned in place.
"Inessa."
I force myself to stand, my legs unsteady beneath me.
"What are you doing here?" I snap, unconsciously hugging my arms over my belly.
I'm sitting here worrying about how Batya's enemies will lean on me in the coming days and his ally is the first to break down my door.
It's shameful.
He nods at his men, who put their guns away, and uses his foot to kick the door closed behind him.
Though the latch is now busted and I'll have to call the super before I can sleep.
"We need to talk," he growls, but I have nothing else to talk to him about.
He gave me until midnight to answer his ridiculously absurd proposal, and I didn't even need a second.
I'm not marrying him.
He's a beast of a man, an entitled bully.
"Get out of my home."
One of his men—a scarred giant with hands the size of dinner plates—takes a step toward me.
Yuri holds up a finger, stopping him without looking away from my face.
"You had your chance to call me back." He speaks to me like he's my father.
He's fucking old enough to be my father.
Dominic was my age. Yuri is out of line.
"You chose not to."
"I was at a police station."
"For five hours?" He moves deeper into my apartment, but his eyes stay locked on me.
"You had time to think. Time to make the right decision."
I back up until my legs hit the drafting table, and my hand finds it, bracing me.
"There is no decision. Dominic is dead. I can't marry a corpse. And I won't marry you."
