Page 67 of The Brutal Arrangement

He smirked. “Oh. The mother in the nursing home, huh?”

I wanted to hate him for mocking me, but I knew he was just being defensive because he was so convinced I had to be lying.

“Yes. Katerina didn’t want to marry anyone because she felt that she had to search for something. She was convinced that she belonged with someone else.”

He frowned.

“She—”

“Hold on.” He raised his hand. “She didn’t know that it would be me she’d marry, though.”

I shrugged. “I don’t know? She only said that I’d marry an Ivanov brother.”

“Go on.”

I sighed, hating to have to explain it all. But I was glad to not have to hold it on my chest anymore. “She didn’t want to marry but knew that her uncle would force her. She figured that I looked like her so much that I could pass for her. Even the head of housekeeping thought we looked alike. She was going to have me come here just to marry you so she’d be spared.”

“And you’ve got nothing better to do than to marry a complete stranger?” he asked, almost taunting me.

“I agreed to take her place and marry into this arrangement so long as she did a ‘favor’ in return for me. She promised that if Itook her spot and came here to marry one of the brothers, she’d pay off all my mother’s medical bills. The outstanding ones I can’t keep up with. She also said she’d pay to have my mother moved into a better facility.”

He stared at me for such a long spell that my neck hurt to return the eye contact. Lowering my head, I exhaled a long breath. “I agreed to marry into this family because she swore she’d cover my mother’s expenses. I did it all for her. That was the only reason.”

His fingers touched under my chin and I didn’t fight him. I lifted my head under his touch.

“She told me I wouldn’t have to stay married. That I’d just have to go through with marrying someone here until she found what she was looking for. She’d give me the all-clear and she’d help me divorce. It’s kind of like I was a placeholder for her or something. But she’s never contacted me to say I could divorce. She’s never reached out with any confirmation of paying for my mom’s care. I blindly trusted her, but according to the director at that facility, she hasn’t paid up. She lied to me.”

Turning my head so I’d break the contact of his hand on my chin, I didn’t look away once.

“She lied to me. She hasn’t paid up or done her part while I have. I’ve been duped.” A wry laugh broke free from my lips. “I guess I know how you must feel now, realizing you’d married the wrong bride.”

26

DAMON

The wrong bride?

Lucy wasn’t the wrong bride for me. Over these past few weeks, she was proving how perfect she was, sweet and submissive, eager to please while also not shying away from my brutal darkness.

“Why is this the first we’ve heard about this?” I asked, keeping my tone cool and neutral about this situation. “My brothers have looked you up. They’ve run a background check.”

She shrugged again, sighing so heavily like this was taking a toll on her soul.

“I wasn’t in any position to tell you about her. My mother is all I have left. She’s my only family, my only anything. Funding her care is literally the only priority and goal I have. It’s been my reason to exist and work so hard. Katerina used her as leverage with me already. Don’t be so shocked that I don’t want someone else to use my mother as leverage against me again.”

Brave enough to speak so hotly like that, she almost impressed me. And I couldn’t blame her for her reasoning. It was one ofthe things my brothers and I spoke about before—that having a spouse or any other people we cared for would make them collateral damage or targets. Katerina had used Lucy’s mother against her, so, yes, she was wary about letting anyone else know about the connection. I really couldn’t fault her for that defensiveness, and no, I hadn’t outright asked her about her family to have uncovered this myself.

Because I hadn’t asked her anything.

I’d just wanted to indulge myself with how good her pussy was.

Fuck. What if this is all true?

I didn’t want to doubt her for the hell of it. And it wasn’t as though I hadn’t already considered this angle. I told my brother and grandmother that I bet Lucy had gone along with this bride swap for this arrangement for one of two reasons. If Anton or Katerina or any other Kozlov hadn’t threatened her and scared her into going through with this, then someone had to have bribed her.

I now knew which it was. Since seeing how docile and mild-mannered Lucy seemed to be, so quick to submit to me sexually, it made more sense. Of course, she’d be good-hearted to do anything she could for her mother. I knew exactly what that was like, albeit in a different way. I would do anything for my father, my brothers, my grandmother. For my family, nothing was too much of a sacrifice.

I just hadn’t figured that was what Lucy was doing too.

---