Page 44 of The Brutal Arrangement

I shook my head, giving him a look. “It hardly fucking matters who specifically told her. Anton had to be behind this.” Furrowing my brow as I realized that the woman who’d mademe come so hard was a stranger, I felt lost on what to think of happening next.

The only reason we’d gone through with this arrangement was to get Katerina here and keep our enemies closer. I was supposed to start interrogating her for intel today. But now, I had this… nobody. This maid wouldn’t be able to tell us anything worthwhile. And likewise, she wouldn’t be able to tell them anything.

If she was sent here as a spy to report back to the Kozlovs, she’d be shit out of luck.

“This is ridiculous,” Grandmother snarled, crossing her arms. “The agreement was for Katerina to—” She huffed, snapping her fingers and looking at a soldier. “Go. Go find the paper from last night, the contract she signed.”

“What difference does it make?” I couldn’t take my eyes off my wife. She was useless now. She wouldn’t have any secrets or intel to give us.

But as I recalled, again, how she’d felt when I shot my cum deep inside her, I knew that wasn’t true.

Lucy—whoever the fuck this maid was—wasn’tcompletelyuseless.

She still had a pussy.

She could still bear me children.

“What do you mean, what difference does it make?” Grandmother blurted. “This maid is?—”

“Is my wife.” I turned to glare at my grandmother. “I signed the paper. I consummated it last night. Sheismy wife, and itshouldn’t matter who the fuck she is if you want us to have heirs.” I shrugged, adopting a forced indifference to the situation before I could let the anger return that I’d been lied to.

“If she’s not here as someone who can spy, then whatever.” I huffed a wry laugh. “Anton can play his stupid games. It won’t harm me.” Lifting my hand to point at her, I dismissed how she flinched at the aim of my gun still loosely held in my hand. “What does it matter who she is? She’s got a cunt, and she can give me an heir.”

Maxim shook his head. “No. This woman is a maid. She’s no one. She’s— No, Damon. We will annul this marriage today.”

17

LUCY

Annul?

Already?

I hadn’t even held up my bargain for one whole day.

Katerina had used that detail as a point of negotiation. She had been very quick to tell me that all I had to do was go through the act of marrying an Ivanov brother, not that I had tostaymarried to him for good.

But not even a whole day had passed.

If I was kicked out this fast and the marriage dissolved this quickly, there was no way that Katerina would hold up her end of our agreement. By doing this “favor” for her in marrying the man she didn’t want, she was supposed to handle all of my mother’s outstanding bills and compensate for her future care too.

She wouldn’t stick with it now.

But what the hell did she expect to happen?

She had to realize that as soon as the Ivanovs saw that I wasn’t her, they’d react. That veil worked last night, but it wasn’t like I could’ve hidden my face for good.

Panicking all over again, I tried to silence my emotions from getting the best of me so I could think. I had to be sharp and quick. Survival mode was a must. But as the men who’d come in here argued with each other and the woman they referred to as their grandmother, I couldn’t think straight.

“I’m not annulling anything,” Damon said, shoving his gun back into the holster that was strapped over his shoulder.

“You can’t stay married to a decoy,” he protested.

“This is wrong.” Anastasia shook her head. “We will send her back to them and insist on an explanation for this trickery.”

Send me back?

God, that was even worse. Not only would it mean that Katerina wouldn’t see through my mother’s care, but it also meant that I’d need to be welcomed back at all. Katerina had done this to thwart Anton. So, he wouldn’t be too happy about my participation. He wouldn’t let me back at his mansion. I didn’t even want to return there at all. My sketchy plan was to deal with this temporary marriage then disappear to start all over somewhere else.

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