Page 6 of Darkest Love
Probably because I never thought this would actually happen. I figured I would just be kept locked up for the rest of my life. Now that it’s happening, I’m not fully sure if I’m ready for it.
But I don’t want to be locked up forever.
“Will we get the chance to talk before we’re married?” I ask. “Get to know each other?”
“We can talk.” There’s a glint in Adrien’s eyes that speaks to a mischievous side. He is a mafia man after all. It’s exhilarating but also terrifying.
“But the wedding should happen soon,” Nico says. “If we want this deal to happen.”
“How soon?” Mom asks flatly. “And Ana still hasn’t said if she wants this or not.”
“Ana doesn’t really get a choice, does she?” Nico snaps.
“Nico,” Mikhail murmurs. “Careful.”
Mom stands to her full height and glares at the men in the room. “My daughter is finally safe. I will not have her just sold off into a marriage. She has the right to decide if she doesn’t want this.”
“But our alliance –,” Nico starts.
“Fuck your alliance,” Mom cuts him off. “I want my daughter to get to make the decision. That’s it. Plain and simple. If she says no, then this marriage is not happening.”
Nico huffs, rolling his eyes. Mikhail raises his hands, trying to calm the situation down. And Adrien only continues to stare at me… like he’s studying me. It’s unnerving. But I kind of like it. Like the attention. It makes me feel more alive than I’ve ever felt. More aware of myself. My face. My body.
What would it be like to have the attention of a man like Adrien? Someone who screams power and danger but also a pure sexiness that continues to make me blush.
I don’t know anything about Adrien. He could be lying about not wanting to hurt me. The second he got me alone, he could beat me the way Denis did. I still wake up at night sometimes, scared out of my mind that Denis will be standing over me, ready to rain his fists down onto my face again. All my bruises have faded now but I still remember the pain of it.
If I’m married to a man who intends to hurt me, I’m not sure I could live anymore.
“Will you promise me excitement?” I ask Adrien.
“We can have more fun than you’ve ever imagined.”
There’s a suggestiveness about his words that make goosebumps break out on my skin.
“Will you promise to never lay a hurtful hand on me? And if you do –” I turn to Mikhail and Nico – “you two will protect me and help me leave the marriage.”
Adrien looks me steadily in the eye. “I promise you, Anastasia, that I will never lay a hurtful hand onto you.”
I can only take him at his word. I look at Nico and Mikhail and after a moment, they both nod.
“You’ll end your alliance with Adrien to save me if need be?”
“Yes,” Mikhail says.
Nico only hesitates for a moment before nodding.
“Then I shall make sure I give no reason to end the marriage,” Adrien says. “I will not beat you.”
“And if I’m unhappy? Will I get to leave the marriage then?”
That makes all the men pause.
“Well,” Nico says slowly, “as long as you’re not in any physical danger, there’s nothing we can do. We won’t end this alliance just because you’re unhappy in your marriage. So if you’re unhappy, you’ll need to figure that out with Adrien. Since he will be your husband after all.”
“I’m afraid to say that Nico is right,” Mikhail says. “You have to give us something, Ana. Some compromise.”
Mom tightens her arm around me. “If my daughter says no, then she says no. Ana, what do you want to do? Do you want to marry this man?”
