Page 17 of Pregnant By the Russian Pakhan

“I think it’s a brilliant plan, Sarah. But what man would be brave enough to risk my father’s anger even for a fake marriage?”

Sarah paled, just thinking about Dostoevsky’s anger. He’d been known to kill men with nothing but his bare hands when he was in a fit of rage. Then she brightened. “What about the guy you slept with? Sex-in-a-limo guy,” she prompted, using a nickname she and Mira had come up with for the stranger she’d slept with that night. “He must have been brave to be the one to, um, get it on with you.”

Mira fought not to blush.

“I mean, it was your first time,” Sarah continued, “and your father would have harvested his kneecaps if he’d known about it.”

Mira shook her head regretfully. “I don’t know who he is or where he is. I can’t find him again.”

It was true. Though her eyes had searched for him in as many places as she could, all over Chicago for the past two weeks, she’d seen neither hide nor hair of him. True, she hadn’t returned to the club; but what would have been the point?

“I want to hurt my father very badly. He killed my mother and he turned me into a pawn in his stupid power games,” Mira whispered to no one in particular.

Sarah patted her shoulder gently and Mira felt tears of anger well up in her eyes.

“I never knew my mother as a child. Her husband killed her,” she whispered absently, as though in a daze. But then, just like that, the dam burst and she began to sob.

Sarah gathered her into a hug against her small frame, letting her cry against her shoulder. When she was spent, Mira’s mind was made up.

She looked at Sarah. “There’s only one man alive who isn’t afraid of him.” She’d been unable to call him her father ever since she’d become convinced that he killed her mother.

“Who’s that?” Sarah asked.

“Nikolai. I don’t know his full name, but I’ve heard…Oleg mention the name like a curse word enough times to know he hates him and the feeling’s probably mutual.”

“You can call him your father, you know,” Sarah said. “He’s been Father to you all your life. It would be hard to drop that overnight and switch to his first name.”

“I’ll find Nikolai and make him an offer he can’t possibly refuse,” Mira vowed.

Sarah frowned at her. “Why do you think he’s gonna want anything to do with you? Are you going to ask him to marry his enemy’s daughter? What if he’s already married?”

Mira shook her head. “He isn’t married. I once heard Father—Oleg—complaining that if Nikolai were married, he could grab his wife or kids to teach him a lesson. But I won’t broach the subject of marriage, thank you very much. I’ll simply ask him to partner with me; we can take Fath—Oleg down if we work together. I’ll hide out at Nikolai’s place until then.”

Sarah’s eyes were wide as saucers as she looked at Mira. “I’ve heard enough about this Nikolai to know he’s even more ruthless than your father, ma’am. Are you sure you want to do this?”

Mira sighed. “What other choice do I have? I would be getting married tonight to a sixty-something-year-old man otherwise, and helping out my mother’s murderer. Besides, Nikolai doesn’t seem to be afraid of…Oleg, and that’s exactly what I need right now. Something tells me this Nikolai will enjoy working with me to make Fath—Oleg suffer for his sins.”

“Okay, I’ll help you get ready,” Sarah said, springing to her feet.

Mira dressed hurriedly, careful to put on a white dress with splotches of red floral scattered all over it. The stark white of the dress emphasized her porcelain skin and made her look ethereal. She tugged on a pair of low-slung red sandals and carried a small red clutch.

“You look as if you’re going to the salon or something,” Sarah said.

“Yeah, that’s the plan. He thinks women are only ever good for one thing—looking good. So if I say I’m going to the salon before the wedding, he’ll think I’ve become obedient and he won’t ask any of his men to keep an eye on me,” Mira reasoned.

She stuffed all her mother’s gold and diamonds in her possession into a small duffel bag and packed all the cash in her safe into the bag too. She wasn’t sure what she was going to find, but she knew she had to be financially buoyant. If she knew the first thing about her father, he would try to freeze all her accounts. Good thing she’d opened an account he didn’t know about. She took out her phone and transferred as much money as she could into that account.

“If my plan works, I may never be able to come back here,” Mira said, putting her phone away and looking up at Sarah.

Sarah’s eyes filled with tears as she said, “No one is ever nice to me here, except you.”

Mira grabbed her by the shoulders. “If I am successful, you’ll come join me. But until then, do not under any circumstances let…Oleg so much as suspect that you knew I was going to leave, or that you helped me. He would surely kill you if he knew.”

Sarah nodded mutely.

Mira gave the girl a smile, forcing a bravado she was far from feeling. It wasn’t every day one met one’s father’s archenemy and convinced him to shelter one in his villa. What if he saw this as an opportunity to hurt her father by hurting her? What if he chose to take her hostage?

There was no help for it. She was going to meet her father’s worst enemy whether she wanted to or not. All that was left to do now was find his address and sneak out before anyone noticed.

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