Page 7 of Cruel Russian Monster
I tried to convince myself it was the right move, that it was for the good of our family, for the strength of our faction. But the more I said it, the more the words tasted bitter in my mouth. My stomach turned every time I thought about it.
So, two weeks before the wedding, I did the only thing that was in my power to do. I ran.
I fled to Delaware, to the hotel Jaroslav and I used to hide away in, and booked our special room. It was remote with no security cameras.
For over a week, I stayed there with my phone switched off. I thought about Jaroslav, about how much I missed him, how deeply I still loved him.
But I knew I couldn’t stay hidden forever.
I knew exactly what would happen if I cost Artyom this alliance. My brother wasn’t known for mercy. He wouldn’t care why I ran. He’d slap me upside the head, call me selfish, reckless and stupid.
So I sucked it up, pushed my feelings aside, and my memories down.
And I went back.
On the day of the wedding, my siblings and I waited at the church…but Lev never showed.
Weeks later, we found out he’d married someone else, a woman who looked eerily like me. Her name was Katya, and she turned out to be our long-lost half-sister.
Artyom, ever the strategist, was willing to overlook Lev’s betrayal if he annulled the marriage and swapped Katya for me, like I was a piece of meat.
I tried, I really did. I pushed down everything I still felt for Jaroslav and tried to see Lev through a different lens, for the sake of the alliance, for the family. But no matter how hard I tried, my heart wouldn’t follow.
Luckily for me, things worked out between Lev and Katya.
Which meant I didn’t have to marry him after all.
Unfortunately, Lev and Katya’s union only deepened the rift between our families. Artyom took it as a personal insult that Lev refused the annulment and chose to stay married to Katya—a half-breed, as he called her—instead of a polished, elegant Rykov woman like me.
And finding out Katya was pregnant was the icing on the cake in the worst possible way.
That was the final straw, and Artyom declared open war on the Safin family.
Despite everything happening between the two factions, Kira and I wanted a relationship with Katya. With Lev's blessing and help from him and his brothers, we met at their house every two weeks behind Artyom’s back. And every single time, Jaroslav was there.
He played the part of the dutiful brother and brother-in-law, smiling, making polite conversation, but when his eyes met mine, all I saw was steel.
“Ma’am, we’ve arrived.”
The Uber driver’s voice yanked me from my thoughts.
I blinked, forced a smile, and thanked him as I climbed out of the car. My heels crunched softly against the gravel as I made my way up the walkway toward the front door.
I needed to pack and get the hell out of here. It was time to head back to Philly.
I’d slipped away from Jaroslav once, but men like him didn’t give up. It was only a matter of time before he found me again. And the last thing I wanted was to be cornered, to be forced to revisit the past. Forced to look in his eyes, forced to remember what I had done to him…to us.
Not only that, after pulling the stunt I did, there was no telling what he would do if he got me alone. The wounds between us had never truly closed, and I wouldn’t survive them being torn open again.
My fingers trembled slightly as I unlocked the door and stepped inside.
Immediately, it slammed shut behind me, making me jump. I spun on my heel to see why and froze.
Jaroslav stood blocking the front of the door, an evil smirk plastered on his face.
“Hello, Vera.” His voice was filled with disdain. “Fancy meeting youallthe way out here.Alone.”
Chapter 3 - Jaroslav
