Page 276 of Merciless Desires

I didn’t know how to react to that. He was just keeping an eye on a garden full of women, right? Making sure we were all safe. He wasn’t looking at me the entire time.

The dress Maria wanted me to try on was tossed over the top of the door. Mamma Cortese gently pulled it out of the garment bag and off the hanger, holding onto it while I stepped carefully out of my perfect dress. Mamma Cortese ducked to help me into the lacy dress and picked up my custom dress as I adjusted the lace one.

It was nice…but it was just that. Nice. Off-the-shoulder lace over satin with beading on the bodice that flowed into the skirt. It also had the pearl buttons that Mamma Cortese fastened while I smoothed out the skirt.

“I like the other one better,” she whispered and winked at me in the mirror.

“Me too.”

“Pick the one you love, cara. The one that makes you feel like the goddess you are. It’s your special day, not theirs.”

It was supposed to be my special day, but it didn’t quite feel like it was for a number of reasons. The capo wives had planned the wedding for me, with Mamma Cortese’s input.

My life was officially tipping into this sucks territory.

Mamma Cortese opened the dressing room door and walked out backward, grinning at me. She was yanked to the side, and my smile slipped away as one of Matteo’s men stepped into view.

“Privet, Marcella Moretti.” His Italian accent was swapped for something that sounded…Russian?

I backed up against the mirror, which the man took as an invitation to enter the small dressing room. He was tall and wide, wearing a black suit which must have been the uniform required by Matteo, and he had black hair that was pulled back into a low bun at the nape of his neck.

“Aren’t you going to say hello to me?”

“Hello,” I said cautiously. “I don’t believe we’ve been introduced properly.”

The man snatched my left hand, glaring down at the engagement ring. He twisted the ring around until the diamond bit into my palm and only the band was visible.

“Viktor Dominov,” he stated formally, and kissed the back of my hand. “You look lovely, malishka. Is this the dress you plan to wear to our wedding?”

I wanted to laugh, but I knew that would be a bad idea.

“Do you like it?” I asked instead, swallowing a gasp as he stepped closer.

He unclenched my fist and used my own hand to choke me.

“It’s a shame to know I’m the only one who will see you in white…by the time Cortese gets the chance to see you, this dress…” He flicked at the skirt with his free hand. “Will be red.”

“With his blood?”

He chuckled. “No. With yours.”

Dominov boomed a command in Russian, and a man I didn’t recognize came into view with a bandage over his right eye. He tossed a phone that Dominov caught with ease. He unlocked it and turned it toward me.

It was my phone. My old phone.

“Call him. If you say one fucking thing wrong…” Dominov’s grip over my hand tightened, and the diamond pressed into the side of my throat, wetting my palm with my own blood. “You won’t make it out of this dress shop.”

“What would you like me to say?”

My willingness to be obedient made him grin. “That you are here and want him to see your pretty dress.”

“Let them go first.”

“Who?” He tilted his head. “The suchki out there?”

“Yes. Matteo doesn’t know where I am right now. If I don’t tell him to come here, he won’t. Let them go.”

Dominov glared down at me for what felt like an eternity. I stared back, hoping that I appeared stronger than I felt. He snarled and leaned back, barking a command in Russian.

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