Page 26 of Debt to the Mafia King
He nodded and, without another word, walked away.
That was it. No goodbye, no seeing me to my room. He just left me. My heart sank.
This really was it. The weight of my situation pulled my shoulders down.
“Leah, are you coming?”
Shaking myself, I began walking, but I couldn’t help but stare at his retreating back. Catching my look, Mrs. Colper shook her head. “You will drive yourself crazy trying to figure that one out, so don’t try, and don’t fall in love with him.” Her voice dropped. “He’s not the kind of man who loves. He’s loyal and fierce to those he cares about, but there is no love. And he doesn’t take disobedience lightly.”
We reached the top of the stairs, and she turned down a lavishly decorated hallway, walking so fast that I couldn’t look around me. She stopped before a door and swung it open with a flourish.
“Don’t give him a reason to be angry with you, Leah. Now go and freshen up.” Pointedly, she looked at my clothes, and I blushed. It wasn’t that they were dirty or anything. But they did look like they had just been hastily put back on.
My cheeks flamed.
“The others should be here in an hour or so.”
“Others?” My eyebrows shot up into my hairline. “What others?”
“The people to get you ready for the wedding. Make yourself at home. I’ll be back up with some refreshments when they arrive. In the meantime, I suggest you stay in your room and familiarize yourself with—” she paused.
“The rules?” I finished for her.
“Exactly.” Then, just like Viktor, she left as well, and I had no choice but to walk into that room and shut the door.
The room was pretty, but sparse. Like everything had been put in it at the last minute, which, of course, was exactly how things had come about. Viktor hadn’t planned on marrying me or even bringing me here, and it showed.
Sighing, I moved around the room, opening one of the two doors that lined the walls. The first was a closet. A space bigger than my whole bedroom back home, with nothing but lines upon lines of empty rails. No clothes to be seen, and it wasn’t like I had anything to hang up either. Viktor had left my bag outside my apartment.
Another sigh, and I went to the other door. A bathroom. Shower and tub, both in matching marble to the vanity sink unit. At least, this was stocked. I spied shampoo and conditioner in the glass shower cubicle and some skin care on the side.
This is where I would start. And a shower always helped me get my thoughts in order. And boy did I need to get them in order.
I didn’t know how long had passed because the hot, steamy water felt so good against my skin, but when I finally stepped out, I couldn’t find my clothes where I had left them. Wrapping a towel around my body, I opened the door to the bedroom and was greeted with a hive of activity.
The room that had seemed huge to me suddenly felt claustrophobic. People walked in and out, boxes and bags in their hands. Laughter filled the air. Laughter that soon died when they spotted me standing there.
“Miss,” a tall, leggy blonde with red painted lips stepped out in front of me. “Please put this on. We have a lot to go over.” A cream silk robe was placed in my hand, and I slipped it over the towel before tying it around my waist.
“We have five dresses that your fiancé has deemed appropriate for you.” Her eyes raked over me, and something must have displeased her because her brightly colored lips thinned. “Although I think three of them might not be suitable. They are for more,” she paused, and again her eyes swept over me, “statuesque women.”
My eyebrows shot down? Was that some polite way of calling me fat? Because what the hell?
“Come on now, we don’t have time to stand around. There is so much to do before tomorrow,” she snapped when I just stood there.
Like a zombie, I followed her to the windows where the dresses were being unpacked. All white fluff and lace, silk and sequins. All of them were beautiful.
None of them was me. But why would they be? Viktor didn’t know me well enough to know the kind of dress I would have liked. Hell, he didn’t know me at all. None of these would be what I would choose if I had my way.
“Which do you like?” she asked.
“They are all beautiful.” And they were, but they weren’t me. Sadness pinched my chest.
Would I ever get to pick out my own dress? Have the day I had dreamed of?“You have to pick one. So we can arrange your jewelry and hair around it.”
“Which is Viktor’s favorite?”
She paused. Her eyes narrowed. “This one,” she said and whisked the dress away before I even had a chance to really look at it. “This is the one.” She called to the army of women millingabout. “Great choice, Miss Leah. Now, why don’t you relax and do some reading while we get everything ready? You aren’t needed yet.”
