Chapter 3 - The Kiss He Refused to Take
Vadim said nothing for nearly a minute.
Elara wished he would.
Silence allowed every old insecurity to return.
Perhaps he was disappointed.
Perhaps the supposedly sophisticated bride Taras described had seemed preferable to the reality: a twenty-six-year-old woman who had never dated.
Never kissed anyone.
Never learned how to navigate the things most people experienced years earlier.
Vadim finally walked to the sideboard and poured water.
Not vodka.
Water.
He handed her the glass.
“Sit.”
Elara’s spine stiffened.
His eyebrow lifted.
“That sounded like an order.”
“It did.”
“I don’t respond especially well to those tonight.”
For the first time, Vadim looked almost embarrassed.
“Please sit.”
Elara did.
He chose the chair opposite her rather than the one beside her.
“Your father told me you had several relationships with men connected to his organization.”
“That was fiction.”
“He implied one ended badly.”
“Also fiction.”
“He said you agreed to the marriage because you wanted distance from Chicago.”
Elara laughed once.
“That part became true after he told me what he had done.”
Vadim leaned back.
“When did you learn about our marriage?”
“Four days before I flew here.”
His face went completely still.
Vadim had built his reputation on control.
Elara could see that control being tested.
“I was told you had been consulted.”
“I wasn’t.”
“He said you preferred a private arrangement.”
“I said no.”
Vadim looked toward the fire.
Elara suddenly understood.
Taras hadn’t merely lied about her reputation.
He had lied about her consent.
The realization seemed to affect Vadim more than anything else.
“Did he force you onto the plane?”
“No.”
“Did he threaten you?”
“Not directly.”
“Why did you come?”
Elara looked down at the glass.
“Because when you grow up with someone like my father, you learn that refusing loudly doesn’t necessarily mean you’re free.”
Vadim’s gaze sharpened.
“I need a clearer answer.”
She met his eyes.
“I came because I believed staying would be worse.”
The truth sat between them.
Vadim stood.
For one terrible instant Elara thought he was angry at her.
Instead he crossed to the window.
“My agreement with Taras was financial.”
“I know.”
“I believed the marriage was transactional but voluntary.”
“For him, it was certainly voluntary.”
Vadim turned.
“If you want an annulment, I will arrange it.”
Elara stared.
The offer was so unexpected she didn’t process it immediately.
“You would?”
“Yes.”
“What happens to the four million?”
“That’s between your father and me.”
“You’d let me walk away?”
“You are not payment.”
Elara almost flinched.
Those four words landed harder than cruelty would have.
Her father had made her believe she was exactly that.
Payment.
Vadim continued.
“You may stay here while arrangements are made. You may return to Chicago. You may choose another city. If your father causes difficulty, he will deal with me.”
“Why?”
The question escaped before she could stop it.
Vadim frowned.
“Why what?”
“Why would you do that?”
“Because your father lied about the nature of the agreement.”
“No. Why do you care?”
Vadim’s expression became unreadable.
“Because I am many things, Elara. A man who forces an unwilling woman into marriage is not one of them.”
She looked at him for a long time.
Then another question surfaced.
“If I don’t leave?”
His eyes narrowed slightly.
“You don’t need to decide tonight.”
“What if I decide I want to stay for now?”
“Then you stay.”
“No expectations?”
“No.”
“Separate bedrooms?”
“Yes.”
“And nobody touches me without permission?”
Something flickered across his face.
“Not twice.”
Elara understood the warning was aimed at everyone except him.
Yet she asked, “Including you?”
“Especially me.”
Her throat tightened.
She looked toward the fire.
“I’d like time.”
“You have it.”
Vadim walked toward the door.
“Vadim?”
He stopped.
She had never used his first name before.
“I should tell you something else.”
He waited.
Her cheeks burned.
“If my father described me as experienced…”
Vadim remained silent.
“I’m not.”
“I understand.”
“No.”
She forced herself to continue.
“I mean I have never…”
Words disappeared.
Vadim understood anyway.
His expression softened.
“You’ve never had a relationship.”
“No.”
“Nothing is wrong with that.”
“I’ve never even been kissed.”
The sentence seemed absurd once spoken aloud.
Yet Vadim didn’t smile.
He didn’t tease her.
He didn’t look surprised.
He simply nodded.
“All right.”
Elara blinked.
“That’s all?”
“What response were you expecting?”
“I don’t know.”
“Mockery?”
She said nothing.
His jaw tightened.
“Elara.”
“Yes?”
“There is nothing damaged about reaching twenty-six without giving people access to you.”
She stared.
The word damaged had not been spoken.
Yet somehow he knew.
Perhaps Taras had used it.
Perhaps Elara carried it visibly.
Vadim opened the door.
“Sleep.”
She nearly smiled.
“That was another order.”
“Recommendation.”
“Better.”
He left.
Elara remained beside the fire.
Something unfamiliar stirred beneath her fear.
Not affection.
Not yet.
Certainly not trust.
But possibility.
Across the hall, Vadim entered his office and closed the door.
Mikhail Orlov, his oldest advisor, was waiting.
“You wanted me?”
Vadim poured himself the vodka he had avoided in Elara’s presence.
“Find everything Taras Fagan told us about his daughter.”
Mikhail frowned.
“We already investigated.”
“Investigate again.”
“Why?”
Vadim looked toward the closed office door.
“Because Taras lied.”
“About what?”
Vadim’s gaze turned cold.
“Apparently everything that mattered.”
Mikhail understood immediately.
“What do you want done?”
“Nothing.”
Mikhail waited.
Vadim added, “Yet.”
He picked up the marriage agreement.
Taras Fagan’s signature appeared beneath three pages of financial terms.
Vadim had thought he had acquired an alliance.
Instead, he had been used as the final stage of a father’s cruelty toward his own daughter.
That disturbed him more than four million dollars ever could.
“Find out why,” Vadim said.
Mikhail nodded.
“And if there is no reason?”
Vadim looked at him.
“There is always a reason.”
Three thousand miles away, in Chicago, Taras Fagan finished a drink and assured himself the difficult part was over.
His debt was settled.
His embarrassing daughter was gone.
His businesses were safe.
For the first time in months, he slept peacefully.
He had no idea that Vadim Sokolov had just ordered the most thorough investigation of Taras Fagan’s life ever conducted.
May you like
And by morning, the first secret would already be uncovered.
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