Page 59 of Married to the Don (Kornilov Bratva Duet 1)

Viktor

Inever imagined proposing to a woman before. I never saw myself on bended knee with a ring extended, laying my heart on the line for a woman I loved.

More than that, I certainly never imagined being rejected.

“No?” I ask, making certain I heard her correctly.

“No,” Molly says again. She crosses her arms over her chest, doing devastating things to her cleavage, and I pull my eyes away, blinking.

“I’m offering to marry you and protect you, and you’re saying no?”

“I’m saying no.” She runs her tongue over her lower lip. “I don’t want to.”

“And you think I do?” I say, letting out a humorless chuckle.

Molly stands up and walks around the chair, putting more space between us. “Wow. What a charmer you are. How could any woman resist such a sweet talker?”

I throw my hands up, letting them slap back against my legs. “This has absolutely nothing to do with how we feel about it or how nice I am to you. This is about survival.”

“I’ve survived long enough without your help, thanks.”

“Yeah, before Fedor knew Theo existed.”

She flinches when I say my brother’s name, and I wonder for the first time how hard it must have been to be close to him. To flirt with him in my kitchen to protect her identity.

“Now that Fedor knows about Theo, he has to be part of our lives. Theo is part of our family.”

“Theo is my family!” She points to her chest and then places her palm over her heart and takes a deep breath. “My son. Not yours.”

“One DNA test would prove you wrong,” I say. “That’s all it would take for Fedor to know the truth. For Fedor to realize who you are and who Theo is and what I didn’t do. He would realize I didn’t kill you like I said. He would turn his back on me and hunt you down and rip Theo from your arms.”

Molly’s eyes go glassy. I know I’m being harsh, but that is the reality. As much as I wanted to defend my baby brother earlier, I know what he’s capable of. I know what he will do when he learns I betrayed him and finds out that Theo is his son.

“That DNA test would also be of great use to you in a court case,” I continue. “You could take it to court and claim assault. That DNA test, along with your statement from all those years ago, could put Fedor back behind bars, and if you think he wouldn’t do anything to keep that from happening, then you don’t know Fedor very well. He will kill you if he finds out I didn’t.”

She turns away from me, facing the bookshelves, and I watch as her shoulders lift and fall with every deep breath. I wait in silence for her to speak, for her to agree with me. Because there is truly no other option.

I surprised myself when I voiced the proposal out loud, but I don’t retract it because it’s the only way I can make sure Fedor will leave her alone. If he thinks Theo is my son and Molly is my wife, he’ll respect them as family, and he won’t ask any questions. Everyone wins.

“No,” Molly says finally, softly. “I won’t do it.”

“Goddammit!” I roar, slamming my hand on the table. “Why are you being so fucking stubborn?”

“Because this is my life,” she says, spinning around and moving towards me. She jabs her finger into my chest like she did when she first arrived, the fire in her brown eyes sputtering and sparking. “Enough of it has been determined by other people. I’m not going to let a decision like this be made for me.”

“And what will you do when Fedor finds out?” I ask flatly. “What will you do when he comes for you and for Theo?”

“Deal with it.” Her teeth are gritted in stubbornness.

“Good luck dealing with the results of a DNA test. Good luck running away from him with no money and nowhere to go. Just … good luck.” I throw my hand up and turn away from her, frustrated. “If Fedor really did assault you, it’s a wonder you aren’t more afraid of him. Maybe you only came forward in the hopes you’d get a little money.”

The words are spoken from anger and desperation, and I know the moment I turn around and see Molly’s usually tan skin turn deathly pale that I’ve crossed a line.

I open my mouth to take it back, to try and talk sense into her, but she drops down into the chair opposite my desk and launches into her story before I can say anything.

“I’m only going to tell you this once because you don’t deserve my explanation,” she snaps. “I’ve never asked for a penny from you or from Fedor. If I was out to extort you, I would have told the world what happened to me. But I didn’t. I retracted my statement to the police, I stayed quiet and hidden, and I raised a beautiful little boy all on my own without ever reaching out to you for help. You found me.”

Her voice breaks when she talks about Theo, and I can feel the love she has for her son in every word. I want to stop her and take it back, tell her she doesn’t have to keep going, but a morbid part of me is curious. I want to know what happened. What Fedor did. What Molly remembers.

---