Page 32 of Married to the Don (Kornilov Bratva Duet 1)

His voice turns menacing on the final word, but I’m growing tired of being scared of him. Besides, I can’t help but focus on another point.

“Your nephew?”

“That’s what he is,” Viktor says defensively.

I know it’s true, but I hadn’t really thought about it until this moment. Theo has an uncle. A family. For his entire life, it has just been the two of us. Now, suddenly, he has this whole other part of himself.

The trouble is that I’m not sure it’s a part I want him to learn about.

Viktor leads me from the kitchen and continues the tour. Now that I’m ever so slightly more comfortable, I can take in the design of the room.

It was clearly once some kind of industrial building. Exposed pipes run across the ceiling and the windows are large reclaimed warehouse windows. Juxtaposed with that, however, are modern touches. Shiny hardwood floors in the living and dining room, white marble in the kitchen, and granite countertops so smooth they make me want to spread out on them and lie down.

The furniture, too, is surprising. I’d expect a man like Viktor to buy nothing but leather and wood, but the furniture is deep and plush, perfect for cuddling into and sitting by the fire. I wonder if Viktor has ever had someone to cuddle. He doesn’t strike me as the type.

The first floor is mostly open space—a kitchen looking into a dining room and a large living room. The second floor, however, is for private use.

The rooms all branch off a main hallway. He passes by one door on the right, which he identifies as his room, though he doesn’t open the door to show it to me. As he passes the next door, he presses his finger to the wood. “My office.”

“Do I not get to see it? I thought this was a tour.”

He looks over his shoulder, amusement lifting his brow. “You’d do well to stay out of there or else risk overhearing something you’d rather not know.”

I want to ask if he’d kill me for knowing too much, but decide I don’t want to know the answer. In this instance, ignorance probably is bliss.

The third door opens onto a bathroom. It’s a blinding white with tiles that cover the entire floor. The only thing separating the rest of the room from the shower is a single drain positioned towards the back wall and a large circular showerhead hanging directly above it. In the back corner is a claw-foot tub with a fluffy white towel draped over the side.

“Your bathroom,” he says. “And Theo’s. I have my own off my room.”

This bathroom is nicer than any house I’ve ever lived in. It’s one of the nicest rooms I’ve ever even been in, but I try to hide the spark of excitement that rushes through me at the idea that it could be mine.

Because it isn’t mine.

This is all Viktor’s.

Everything I’m seeing belongs to him, and I only have access to it as long as he decides to keep me around. Like so much else in my life, this can all be taken away in an instant. It would be to my benefit not to forget that.

Before opening the next door, Viktor holds a finger to his lips, and I only understand his meaning when I see a small shape in the middle of a large bed.

Theo is lying on his side facing us. His mouth is open, his tiny body rising and falling with the deep, innocent sleep of a little kid. He looks perfectly at home in the room.

The walls are a bright blue with navy blue curtains and cream-colored carpet. It’s a room nicer than I ever would have imagined for him. A room nicer than anything I could ever give him. The sight of it leaves a bittersweet taste in my mouth. I’m so grateful he’s comfortable and sleeping, and so sad that this isn’t the life I’ve given him.

Viktor pulls the door closed. “That will be his room since it’s right next to yours.”

Without pausing, he moves to the next door and pushes it open.

I stand in the doorway, too stunned to move, only stepping inside when Viktor presses a hand into the middle of my back.

“Make yourself at home. Feel free to rearrange the furniture or redecorate however you want. I never use this room, so I really don’t care.”

The room is perfect.

I don’t say so out loud, but it is. Absolutely perfect.

The walls are concrete with a built-in wooden headboard stretching from floor to ceiling behind the bed. One wall is floor-to-ceiling windows covered in white curtains thick enough to keep out most of the light while still letting a bit filter through. It makes the room look like it’s bathed in starlight.

The bed is covered in a light gray comforter with more pillows than I even know what to do with. A white throw blanket is thrown over the end of the bed, casually but also purposefully, like it was staged for an interior design magazine photoshoot.

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