ARIANA
MY NERVES WERE STILL FRAZZLED from everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours, and to make matters worse, I woke up with a pounding headache. All that alcohol in my system proved to be a bad idea as I downed some Tylenol I found in the first aid kit in the bathroom.
I still couldn't even believe I was now married.
Surely, the day couldn't get any worse, or so I thought until I noticed the cup of coffee on the table even though I'd locked my door the night before.
It freaked me out knowing someone else had access to my bedroom, and I immediately made a mental note to take it up with Aleksei the next time I saw him. I didn't appreciate my privacy being breached—wife or not.
Surprisingly, my 'husband' hadn't sought me out last night to consummate the marriage. I was relieved, and, at the same time, worried.
What if he chose to have sex with me when I least expected it?
I'd prepared myself for days leading to the wedding—mentally and physically—by dressing up in skimpy lingerie his stylist had gotten me for this sole purpose. Hell, I even got a full body wax before the wedding.
Yesterday, I'd made peace with the fact that I was now a married woman, and part of the things expected of couples was having sex.
In my head, it was better to do it when I expected it—even though the thought didn't appeal to me and partially scared me—than to be forced into having sex when I wasn't ready.
I figured I could get the sex part over with on the first night, and never have to worry about it. Who knows? Maybe he'd even help me break my decades-long celibacy.
Wrong.
I stayed up until three in the morning, pacing and worrying, throwing up occasionally because of the alcohol in my system, before I finally locked the door when there were no signs of him visiting.
I was relieved. Maybe he didn't want to have sex with me.
'Or maybe he's out there fucking other women. Who knows? Maybe he's with one of his mistresses, and that's why he had to leave the car. He doesn't want you. You're too jaded for him.'
I squashed the ugly thought. It didn't matter if he was sleeping with other women. At least, that would keep his attention off me. As long as he didn't bring his mistresses to the house and flaunt them in front of my face, I couldn't care less.
I was startled when I pulled my door open, and I found Anthony standing right outside the room with a polite smile in place.
How long has he been out here?
"Good morning. I didn't mean to scare you. I was instructed to bring you to the dining hall for breakfast. This way, ma'am."
He was still dressed in a suit today, and he had those ridiculous white gloves on, reminding me of the butlers I watched in movies. He looked the part.
I followed him down the flight of stairs we climbed up yesterday. My feet were begging for a rest, but I urgently had to go to work. A honeymoon wasn't stated, and I had a deadline to beat.
We went down a hallway past the foyer, passing several doors before we arrived at the dining hall. Anthony opened the door, revealing the hustle and bustle inside the room. A long dining table that sat ten stood in the center, while about three maids dressed in black and white uniforms flitted around, serving breakfast on the table.
Aleksei and Mikhail sat at the table. The former's eyes were glued to his phone—no surprise there—while the latter was playing around with a panting Samoyed that stood next to him.
Both men looked up from their tasks at the same time when they noticed my presence. Aleksei's face was indifferent while Mikhail's lips tipped up in a smirk. I could smell trouble on that one from a mile away. After the stunt he pulled yesterday, I knew I had to be careful around him.
I walked deeper into the dining hall, sitting at the other end of the table, far away from both men. That only caused Mikhail's smirk to broaden. Little shit.
One of the maids made quick work of plating breakfast for me. I smiled at her in appreciation, and she returned my smile before making her way out with the rest of the hired help. Anthony closed the door behind them, leaving me in the room with just Aleksei, Mikhail, and their dog who didn't seem to care that I was there. He was too fixated on Mikhail and the last treat in his hand.
The tension in the air thickened as I picked up my fork to begin eating. The only thing that could be heard in the room was the sounds our cutlery made every time they made contact with expensive China.
It was awkward, to say the least.
I strictly prevented my gaze from straying over to them as I shoved breakfast into my mouth. I hadn't eaten anything the night before, and I had a lot of work to get done today with little breaks in between, or I'd have skipped breakfast entirely.
Aleksei cleared his throat, and I looked up just in time to see him dab the corner of his lips with a napkin.
"I don't tolerate infidelity, and I certainly do not appreciate you wearing another man's symbol of love to our wedding," he said, fixing me with his intense, unwavering stare that brought back memories.
Ah, so he was still pissed about yesterday's bracelet fiasco.
Years of self-preservation told me to lower my eyes, so I didn't make him lose his temper and hurt me, but I firmly decided against it.
I was no longer that woman. I wouldn't let anyone control my life or how I acted around them. It would be like a slap on my face after all those years I spent in therapy trying to fix myself, to make myself better. I still had a long way to go, but as my therapist said, one step at a time.
"You'll take it off immediately, and you'll forget about whatever man you were seeing. You're mine now, and I won't tolerate another man fucking my wife behind my back."
I almost laughed. Almost. Because none of what he said was funny. He had plenty to say right now, but he'd ignored me last night in the car like I was dirt beneath his shoes.
He even left me in the car without saying a word. For all I knew, he could have been with another woman the entire night, and he was here telling me to cut off contact with an imaginary man.
I rose to my feet, picking up my bag from the table before I lost what little control I had over my temper.
Screw him. It was on the tip of my tongue to scream that at him, but the invisible knot holding my tongue only tightened, preventing any word from coming out.
His eyes bled black with cold fury, his gaze searing my skin everywhere they made contact. "You'll sit while I'm speaking to you, Ariana."
I didn't miss the condescending undercurrent in his tone when he called my name, further fueling my anger. I ripped my phone out of my bag, firing off a text to him.
"Stop talking to me like you're my father."
There was nothing I found more annoying than that. I loathed the man himself, and the last thing I wanted was people around me reminding me of him now that he was finally dead. I didn't want to relive my past after avoiding it for so long by moving out of my family's house.
He scowled. "Stop acting like a brat. Sit the fuck down. We're still in the middle of a conversation."
"Barking orders at me isn't a conversation, in case you have things confused. Where were you last night?"
"That's none of your business," he snapped after he finish reading the text.
"Who I fuck should also be none of your business."
"Don't be ridiculous. You are my wife. I won't let you disrespect me like that. Especially not in front of the whole world."
Right. I forgot he had legitimate businesses that let him rub shoulders with the high and mighty in New York. I would never admit this to him, but I looked him up online before the wedding just to get a glimpse at the man I was marrying, and he was just as terrifying in the business world as he was in the underground.
"Don't worry. I'll be discreet with my infidelity. And spoiler alert: you can't have what was never yours. I'm not yours, Mr. Tarasov."
A muscle ticked in his jaw. "The ring on your finger says otherwise," he sneered.
"The vows we said at the altar were nothing but a mockery," I corrected him. "Don't read meaning into it. I won't."
I sped out of the dining hall immediately after I sent the text so I didn't get caught up in his rage. It was a cowardly thing to do, but I'd expended enough confidence in my interaction with him today. I needed time to recharge before I could face him again. He was that scary.
I was halfway to the foyer before I remembered I hadn't asked him for my car keys or if they'd even brought my cars along.
"Looking for this?"
I stiffened at the voice, reluctantly turning on my heels to face my brother-in-law who indeed had my car keys dangling off his index finger. I remained rooted to my spot, my gaze on him sharp to watch out for his next move.
To say I didn't trust him was the biggest understatement of the century. That was something about him that kept me on my toes, watching out for what he'd do next.
Perhaps it was the darkness I'd seen in his eyes behind all the amusement and goofing around.
"The Rolls-Royce is a nice car. Suits the snobbish vibe you give off."
I cocked a brow at him, folding my arms across my chest. If I had a dollar for every time I'd heard someone say that to me, I'd be a billionaire by now.
In essence, he hadn't said anything revolutionary because this wasn't the first time someone had referred to me as stuck-up or snobbish.
I couldn't exactly defend myself against those allegations when I couldn't talk and had a resting bitch face ninety-eight percent of the time, or so my friend had said. According to her, the other two percent when I didn't look like I wanted to murder someone was when I was at home or designing dresses.
But did I care about people's opinions? Hard pass. Hell would freeze over before I did. I found keeping relationships outside of family tasking. I barely remembered to send birthday cards and presents to my brothers, not that they minded.
Adding more friends to the pool didn't sound like a good idea. I couldn't explain to them why I missed their birthday bash or engagement party because I was neck-deep in work.
"What? You know it's true. Had you dyed your white, you'd be competing for a spot with Elsa."
I blanched. Did he just reference Frozen to me? Didn't he have other things to do like torturing and murdering people like his brother?
His lips twitched up in a smile at my reaction. "Don't judge. I was forced to watch it."
I snorted out a laugh. Sure.
Mikhail mock gasped, walking over to me. "Did you just laugh? Quick! Someone check. The temperature in hell just dropped."
I typed a note on my phone before turning it to face him.
Should we ask Aleksei to check for us?
He threw his head back in laughter, the deep, rich sound filling the hallway. He had the same facial structure and green eyes as his brother, only his were a lighter shade.
"I knew I'd like you after that flower stunt you pulled." He held a tatted hand out to me. "Allow me to reintroduce myself. I'm Mikhail Tarasov, your devastatingly handsome brother-in-law."
I snorted. Of course, he was just as cocky as his brother. I slid my hand into his much larger, callused ones. Another thing he had in common with his bro. . .
Stop, I chastised myself. Don't think about him.
He slung an arm over my shoulder, pulling me into his side. "Let me show you to the garage. It seems like we have the same superpower."
I looked up at him, question shining in my eyes.
"We can both irritate Aleksei and make him mad," he explained. "Those two emotions are always usually directed at me." He winked at me. "Don't worry. I'm ready to share my brother with you."
I shook my head, my fingers flying fast over my keyboard. "Keep him."
Mikhail chuckled. "I think you're the first woman to not want his attention."
I rolled my eyes. Poor baby.
He pulled me into the garage, grinning from ear to ear. "Welcome to the garage, aka, my favorite part of the house."
Various vehicles lined the space from SUVs to sports cars and motorbikes. I counted five Ferraris. Five. Don't even get me started on the other sports cars here. He would always remain a mystery to me.
"You're free to drive anything you want. Scratch that. You're free to drive anything except Aleksei's vintage Ferrari." He pointed at a red car in the far corner. "And my bikes. They are on the do-not-drive list. Of course, I can be convinced for the right price, but Aleksei will murder you if you so much as scratch his car. I swear he loves that car more than me, and that says a lot because he'd give his life for me. It belonged to an important family member."
I had zero plans to drive his bikes or Aleksei's vintage car, but I found myself touched by the bond between both brothers. It reminded me a lot of my brothers and the way they always stuck with each other.
He pointed at my cars parked next to each other. "And there's your cars. You're heading to work, right?"
I nodded, taking a key out of his hands. It was frightening how easy to get caught up in a conversation with him.
"This has been fun, but yes, I need to get to work. I'm drowning in loads of it."
He waved me off after reading the text. "Sure, sure. Get on with work. I'll get your number from Aleksei. Have fun."
I slipped into my car, backing out of the parking space just as the garage doors slid open. I checked the time on my phone. I still had forty minutes to get to work. I plugged my address into the GPS.
This was going to be a long ride, I thought, as I passed fields upon fields of flowers before I finally reached the heavily guarded main gate.
Why he needed that much distance from the main gate to his house would always remain a mystery to me. The man himself was a mystery, and I was starting to realize everything about him was the same way—mysterious
As I sped out the gates, I pushed everything to the back burner of my mind for now.
Work came first. Always. My union with Aleksei wasn't going to change that.