Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 53693 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 268(@200wpm)___ 215(@250wpm)___ 179(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 53693 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 268(@200wpm)___ 215(@250wpm)___ 179(@300wpm)
Is no one going to speak up for me? Are they just going to let this stranger take me away with him? Of course, he’s no stranger to my father. I imagine even my mother fears him to some extent. She won’t look at him or me.
She isn’t saying a single thing, either. How can she let her only daughter be dragged away like this? I was willing to marry Niko for my family, even knowing it would make me absolutely miserable, but this is too much. I want to scream at her, to beg her to just say something. But she just looks at the ground, her face stony.
“Mama,” I cry out, shaking myself free of Ivan. I go to her and grab her hands. “Please, Mama, don’t let this man take me away!”
She looks at me coldly, shaking off my hands and cursing at me again in Russian.
“You’ve made your decision Katrina,” she says hollowly. “The moment you let that man defile you, you chose him. So now you live with the consequences of your decision.”
She might as well have slapped me in the face. She looks at me as if I’m someone she doesn’t recognize, though I suspect that’s partially true. I’m not sure I recognize myself, either. Everything is so out of control now.
This is my life? I have no autonomy over my life, no say in what happens to me. Apparently, my life is up to the whims of men who only care about gang territory and politics. At this moment, I hate my father. Everything I’ve ever thought about my life is suddenly in sharp focus. He never cared about me. I was always a bargaining chip for him. It disgusts me.
And here’s this man who thinks he’s some knight in shining armor. I think I may hate him, too. Perhaps I should be grateful to Ivan Sidorov for getting me out of this marriage, but I don’t like the methods he’s taken to make it happen. I don’t like that he’s decided of his own volition that I’m a prize to be won.
A stubborn streak inside of me wants to dig my heels in and refuse to go with him. What could he do to me? But my parents are treating me with such disdain, I know I’m not welcome with them. Of course, now that I know the truth about who my father is, I wouldn’t want to go back with him. Not to mention, he’s willingly letting me be dragged off by a stranger. Does he even care about me?
Ivan grabs my hand and pulls me through the lobby of the church, past the curious glances and gossiping wedding guests. People will be talking about this for years at community events. Remember when the Mikhailov girl ran away from her wedding with her father’s nemesis?
Of course, it’s just dawning on me now what these community events are. They’re all part of this, members of an elaborate Russian mafia. Every person I’ve ever met, every picture I’ve ever drilled into my head. What is this life?
I just thought our family was affluent. I thought my father was so protective because we came from money. For the first time in my life. I realize everything I’ve ever known is a lie. I’m part of a large, dangerous group of people. I wonder who Niko really is, what power his family must have if my father decided he was the man I should marry.
I feel both numb and strangely wide awake. I somehow have to process my entire life with new eyes. I wonder how long I would have walked around in blissful ignorance if it weren’t for Ivan. Not that I’m grateful to him. This whole situation is a mess. He shouldn’t have dragged me into this pissing match with my father. It’s completely unfair to me.
As we walk down the long steps of the church, my mother calls out my name. I turn back to her, hopeful. Maybe she’ll say something to make all of this okay. Maybe she’ll assure me this is all a huge understanding and I’m not the last person in the world to realize my father is a dangerous criminal.
Instead, she come to me, holding my leather bag, the shoes I’d long forgotten, and my bridal robe. She pushes them into the arm that isn’t held by Ivan’s.
“Get out of here before you cause any more shame to this family,” she says harshly. “As long as I live, I will never forgive you for this.”
She turns back to the church, passing my father, who of course has to have the last word.
“Katrina,” he calls. “Say goodbye to school. Our deal is off.”
That, at least, I’d expected. The deal was that I would marry Niko in exchange for a four-year education. No marriage, no school. There will be time to mourn that later, but now. I have to focus on the task at hand. Ivan pulls me toward a limousine, and I’m just now realizing a large man is behind us, holding back the onlookers.