Page 29 of Sold to the Russian
Maeve bristled where she stood.
“Two, you’ll do as I say. Eat when I say. Be ready when I say. Speak when I say.”
“I’m not your fucking puppet, Fedya. Get someone else to do it.”
“Three, you’ll answer when I call. No ignoring my knocks on your door, or me. You’re not allowed to ignore me.”
Maeve glared at him. “I’d like to see you try and stop me.”
“Four,” he said, stepping closer to her. He slid a familiar pink device out of his pocket, and she recognized it as her phone. She couldn’t even tell when he may have swiped it within the time he took her to the bathroom to tend to her hand, and when he dragged her to the living room. She thought of her father’s offer, her decision to be his mole, and staring at her phone in Fedya’s hands now made her realize just how dangerous herdecision was. It wouldn’t be easy to sidestep someone like him. She had to be smarter, much smarter.
“No phone calls,” he said, still holding the phone to her face. “No contact with your father or anyone else I haven’t approved. Seems like I might be already late though, aren’t I?”
Maeve’s jaw tightened as Fedya’s eyes took in her call log. His grip on her wrist tightened as he slowly lifted his gaze to hers. “What did you talk about when he called you last night?”
“None of your business,” she breathed.
Fedya smiled as he wrapped a hand around her throat, fingers firm against her skin as he tugged her even closer. His grip was strong, firm, but not firm enough to restrict her airflow. “Iwillhurt you if you lie to me.”
Even though his grip around her throat tightened, even though Maeve felt a dangerous, unwanted heat crawling up her thighs from his touch, something at the back of her mind reassured her that he wouldn’t actually hurt her.
“Tell me what you talked about.”
Maeve wracked her brain for a believable lie. She couldn’t just spew out any nonsense that Fedya would surely see through. So she had to tell him something close yet far from the truth.
“He was suspicious.” Maeve swallowed against his firm grip around her neck. “He wanted to check if you were really who you said you were. And I guess he had enough empathy to check if I was still alive.”
The look on Fedya’s face was completely unreadable, and Maeve tried to keep a straight face. Not knowing if he believed her or not was harder than knowing he saw through her lie.
“He wanted answers,” she added, eyes blazing. “That’s all.”
“What did you tell him?”
Maeve smiled wickedly. His eyes darted to her mouth, and a flash of need raced across his eyes. “What else? I figured you could kill me faster than he, so I opted for the safer option and told him exactly who he thought you were. Jonathan Riley.”
“No more calls,” Fedya growled, squeezing his fist tight around her phone.
He tossed the device to the floor and shot it right in front of her. Maeve’s yelp was useless as her hands instinctively shot up to her face, watching as the bullet slammed against the screen, shattering the thing before ricocheting and lodging itself somewhere deep in the ceiling. It was during times like these that she actually started to counter that voice in her head that was sure he wouldn’t hurt her. One thing she had noticed about him was how he never hesitated to use his gun. It was like a toy he played with anytime he felt like it.
“No more secrets,” he continued, turning to face her now as he pressed the muzzle of the gun right between her eyes. Maeve’s spine straightened into a line as the cold metal pressed into her skin. “If I catch you talking to him again,” he leaned in, voice low and lethal. “I will kill you myself.”
Maeve met his stare and smiled despite herself. “Can’t wait, husband.”
Fedya trailed the gun down the midline of her face, and Maeve’s eyes darted to his fingers lazily playing over the trigger. “My family will be gathering two nights from now. You’ll be presentable, polite, and punctual.”
Maeve raised a brow, genuinely surprised by his words. She was sure he wanted to keep their marriage a secret from everyone, but this was something she didn’t see coming. Sheremembered her father’s condition for her freedom and cleared her throat.
“Finally ready to introduce your wife to the world?”
“You’re not going as my wife,” he corrected, putting a stop to the movement of his gun on the left side of her chest, right above her beating heart. “You’re going as my girlfriend. We met on a dating app, and things moved fast. You’re shy, which is why they’ve never met you before. That’s the story.”
Maeve blinked, waiting for him to tell her it was a joke, but he simply stared back. Then a short burst of breathless laughter left her. “What?”
“I believe you heard everything I just said.”
“Oh, I did,” she replied. “And you sound fucking ridiculous.”
Fedya pulled his gun back and shoved it into the back of his jeans. “I’m protecting both of us. You’re the daughter of an enemy. Marrying you was nothing short of treason.” Then he raised a brow. “What do you think is going to happen when I present you to everyone and declare the daughter of an open enemy as my wife? What do you think the people who are thirsty for revenge are going to do when they see you? When they realize I’ve kept you with me and married you into the family without anyone’s approval? What makes you think you’ll walk in there as Cormac’s daughter and walk out alive? Or have you forgotten what your uncle did to my brother’s wife? What he did to my sister?”
