Picking up my highly illegal phone again, I read the bullshit in the society column from the
There’s column after column of this ass-kissing. Enlarging a picture of my brother and his new bride, I study them together. She’s beautiful, too gorgeous for an asshole like Dario, but they look happy together. Throwing my phone on the bed, I pace, wondering if Cora and Dario got my gift. How did my dear brother explain his “invisible brother?”
Or did he just pretend I don’t exist, the way the rest of my family does?
Fuck them all.
Chapter One
“Get up!”
The hand shaking my shoulder nearly knocks me off the bed.
“Miss Tatiana, we must leave now! Get up.”
Opening my eyes and slapping at the arms hauling me from my covers, I wheeze, “What the hell? Stop it!” It’s Lev, his mouth tight and he’s pale. Glancing at my phone, I see that it’s 3:36 a.m.
I’ve seen my bodyguard angry, amused, infuriated, and more over the last ten years, but never afraid. Now, he’s afraid.
“Lev, what is happening? What are you-”
“Listen to me,” he says sharply, precisely. “You are in danger. We need to leave
Rolling gracelessly out of bed, I shove my hair out of my face. “Let me get dressed. What kind of danger?”
Lev shakes his head. “No time.” Grabbing my arm and yanking me from my room ends that line of questioning and I stumble down the stairs after him. The usual presence of household staff and my father’s soldiers are noticeably absent. It’s only Lev and me.
“Where is everyone? Where are my parents? They should have been home by now- Lev!” Digging in my heels, I force him to spin and look at me. He’s gritting his teeth, eyes narrowed. “Where are they!”
“Your father trusted me to keep you safe,” he hissed, “now walk out this door or I will carry you out.”
Nodding, I follow him out the door, so scared that my teeth are chattering.
“Please Lev, I am begging you, what is happening? Where are we going?” We’re blazing down Highway 1 toward the airport and he is not following safe driving guidelines, speaking rapidly into his headset, ignoring me. The SUV is armored and not the usual one I ride in. This bullet-proof monstrosity is for my
I’m just… the daughter. My parents were never cruel, though they made it clear my value was as a bargaining chip. Though other Bratva daughters often had arranged marriages set as early as fourteen - like my friend Mariya Morozova - I’m twenty and unattached.
As far as I know.
I wouldn’t be the first Bratva princess who ended up at the altar without knowing what was happening to me until they were lacing me into my wedding dress.
Disconnecting from his call, Lev finally looks at me in the rearview mirror. “Let me get us to our destination and we’ll talk, all right? I promise you an explanation.”
He looks like he’s dreading that explanation, and the knot in my stomach ties that much tighter. Looking out the window as we turn, I see we’re heading for a darkened airfield. It must be one of the private airstrips that circle the Vancouver International Airport.
“We’re flying out of here?” I ask anxiously. “Without my parents?”
Lev ignores me, racing down the road toward the small grouping of darkened airplane hangars. There’s a jet parked outside of one. Its running lights are off, but I can hear the engine. He pulls up in front of the stairs and opens my door before I have time to get my seatbelt off.
“Wait, hold up!” I dig my heels in, trying to make him slow down as he hauls me toward the jet. “You promised me an explanation!”
Two of my father’s men hurry down the stairs, guns out. “Any sign of them yet?” Lev asks them, keeping me moving.
“Not yet,” Nikolay says grimly, his weapon held up as he makes a visual sweep of the airfield.
This is bad. This is very bad. Nikolay is one of my father’s top soldiers. He rarely travels without him.
“Where are my mother and father?” I nearly scream.
