Page 15 of Wicked Knight 2

“Fine.” He pointed at the king-size bed on the opposite end of the bedroom. “Belinda made the bed for you. You’ll stay here. You might as well start now.”

“Start now? What do you mean?” I shoved wet strands of hair out of my face.

“How’s my brother?” Ivan asked.

“He’ll live.” I smiled at Maxim’s form. “What happens now? If it’s money you want, my family will pay.”

“Money?” He scoffed. “I don’t think we can put a price on you, princess.”

Oh fuck. They knew exactly who I was. “What do you want with me then?”

Ivan beamed at me, then shifted his attention to his brother, rubbing the side of his face. He shook his head as if considering something. After a long minute of going back and forth, he finally answered, “I wanted to keep you guessing a little longer.” He chuckled. “But what’s the point? Maxim can’t even enjoy it.”

“Enjoy what?”

“The start of his revenge against your family. Get some rest. Tomorrow is your wedding day.” He did a mocking curtsy and headed for the door.

“My what?” I chased after him. “You can’t be serious. You want me to marry your brother?”

Ivan opened and shut the door behind him.

“You can’t make me marry a stranger.” I banged on the door. “What the actual fuck? You can’t do this. My family will not allow it.” I tried the door handle. When it opened, I quickly started planning my exit route.

“Is there something you need for Maxim?” A big, burly guy with a long beard crowded the threshold.

“Let me guess, you’re going to be here all night.”

“Papa’s orders.”

CHAPTER6

Favorite Son's New Bride

Donata

After I crawled into Maxim’s bed, I stared at his form across the room. I had turned off all the lights, but the one next to him. In his condition, he was no threat to me. But I still wanted to keep my eyes on him. To my surprise, the beeping of his heart and oxygen monitor lulled me to sleep faster than I thought possible.

When I woke, the sun was already up. I stretched in the soft bed, feeling refreshed and rested. For the first time in a long while, I didn’t have bad dreams about Luca getting killed. Taking in the sandalwood scent on the pillow, I rolled to one side, then sat up. The second I realized I was in a strange place, I shot to my feet, heart racing. My gaze darted from the tall windows to the patient on the other side.

Right. I placed a hand on my forehead. The kidnapping from last night was real. I hadn’t dreamed it. Shit. The Brotherhood wanted me to marry one of their own. I glanced up at Maxim with tears in my eyes. This wasn’t happening. I couldn’t marry a complete stranger. Especially not one who was after revenge. What did my family do to him? He had to know that forcing me into a marriage neither of us wanted wouldn’t erase whatever my family did.

I glanced back at the bed. Omigod, no. They were all insane if they thought I would agree to a real marriage, one with babies and all that. Fuck. Pacing the length of the room, I considered my options. If Maxim was on a vengeful path, appealing to him wouldn’t change a thing. Or maybe the shooting made him reconsider his life. I scoffed. Based on all the scars on his body, I was sure this wasn’t his first near-death experience.

No, Maxim wasn’t my way out.

The guard outside the door also looked fairly determined to keep me here. As did Anatoli. Last night, he sounded firm in his decision not to help me escape. Ivan was enjoying this too much to be of any help. Judging by the light that hit his eyes when his father saidgood jobto him, I had to assume, he would never go against his father’s wishes. Or his brother’s for that matter.

I was alone in this.

Luca, where are you?

He’d been gone for more than two years. Did he forget about me like I asked him to? I hadn’t meant it. That day, I’d been so afraid for his life. I would’ve said anything to keep him alive. But now that we’d been apart for so long, I realized that I’d made a mistake. I should have never given him up. I should’ve run away with him when I had the chance.

My own cowardice brought me here—across enemy lines, literally waiting for my execution.

I stomped toward Maxim to glare at him properly, even though he was still sleeping. The pain killers would keep him sedated for a while. I fisted my hands in frustrated anger. I wanted to scream at him for putting me in this situation, but he couldn’t even do me the courtesy of being awake.

“You’re sorely mistaken if you think your stupid revenge plan is going to work,” I said to an unconscious Maxim. “My whole family will make sure you pay for what you did. You started a war, and for what? Luca will find me. My love will find me, and when he does, he will cut you up into tiny pieces and feed you to your dog.” I let out a long breath.

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