Page 72 of Gilded Cage (Kovalyov Bratva 1)

I promised myself that I would not cross that line with her.

I wouldn’t ruin her with my bloodstained hands.

This is an alliance,I’d told Cillian.Nothing more.

Did I still mean that?

“You’re really not going to kill me?”

I shake my head. “No.”

“So, you abducted me to… marry me?” she asks. “Really?”

“Yes.”

“Because you think claiming me as your wife will deliver you my father’s contacts.”

“You catch on fast.”

“That’s no guarantee,” she says quickly.

“No, but it’s a step in the right direction,” I tell her. “And I can be very persuasive.”

She looks up toward the moon. I can see her eyes are bright. Almost teary.

But when she looks back at me, they’re dry once again.

She looks so fucking beautiful.

“And then what?” she asks.

I frown. “What do you mean?”

“You force me to marry you, you take control of Mexico, my father’s stooges offer you their fealty,” she narrates. “And you’ll have what you want: power.”

“Yes.”

“And once you have it… what happens to me?”

That’s the million-dollar question.

“Nothing happens to you,” I tell her. “I don’t plan on murdering you once I have control of Mexico, if that’s what you mean.”

Is that true? I don’t know. I don’t fucking know.

“So we’re just supposed to stay husband and wife… forever?”

“However long that lasts, yes.”

She shakes her head and sighs. “And I suppose you will continue to fuck whomever you want, whenever you want.”

It’s not a question, so I don’t bother answering.

“And I’ll be expected to be the loyal wife, waiting home patiently for my dear husband to return from screwing his latest whore,” she continues. “Am I right? Did I get all those details correct? Or am I allowed to go have fun, too?”

The thought of another man putting his hands on her sends waves of fury rippling through me.

I feel my fists clench in response.

---