CHAPTER TWO:
ALEXANDRA
Viktor Sokolov’s mansion was straight out of a magazine. Shined marble floors, high ceilings, chandeliers, dark polished wood, and ornate rugs. She felt like a princess, actually. It would have been even better if Viktor had carried her in through the front doors, like in the movies, but instead he’d been emotionally distant and nearly silent through the entire wedding, and acted no differently as he’d escorted her to what she now had to begin thinking of as her new home.
And then he had disappeared into a private office as soon as the limo had come to a stop at the drop-off point by the front doors of the house. The honeymoon was off following Boris’ unexpected death, of course, but from the cold look in Viktor’s eyes, Alexandra had a feeling it would never be on again. This mansion, beautiful as it appeared, was to be her prison.
It seemed that Viktor’s lavish estate was the end to a dream she’d had since she was small.
Alexandra shook her head and corrected herself. Their lavish estate. She was a Russian mafia wife now. This was her house, too. But even though her father was a successful businessman and she had grown up in comfort, Viktor’s mansion was absolutely stunning, and beyond anything she had seen before.
Their mansion, she reminded herself again. A tiny giggle escaped her mouth, so that the beefy bodyguard standing in the foyer with her shot her a look.
Alexandra cleared her throat and smiled sweetly at him.
The bodyguard gave her a stiff nod, then turned his attention elsewhere. Alexandra’s smile widened. She gave the guard a nod back out of politeness, then began to explore her new home. Most of her possessions had been moved in during the long wedding, and she wanted to see where everything was.
There was a large, elegant staircase across from the foyer that led to the second floor. To the left and right of the foyer were wide hallways. Lamps were set into the walls going down the halls, casting out a warm glow and revealing several paintings of falcons.
She turned down the hall to the right. She found a sitting room with expensive-looking leather furniture, a room that was set up to be a home theater, complete with a giant projection screen, and then a bathroom the size of a small apartment.
Alexandra felt giddy at how lavish it all was.
She backtracked and turned down the opposite hall. The smell of delicious food hit Alexandra’s nose almost immediately. The kitchen was at the far end of the bottom floor, and she stuck her head in for a moment to see a thin-bodied man in a plain white uniform who was leaning over several dishes on the stove. The cook didn’t seem to notice her, and she didn’t want to interrupt.
Across the hall from the kitchen was a dining room, and several other rooms with closed doors. Alexandra peered into a few, to find a large storage closet next to a room with a pool table. It didn’t seem she would find her possessions on the first floor, though she hadn’t particularly expected to.
She returned to the foyer and was about to ascend the staircase when she spotted a familiar face. It wasn’t the beefy bodyguard who had heard her laugh a few minutes ago—this was someone else, but he was familiar, though his features took a few seconds to register.
The limo driver. He had been at the wedding, as well, she realized.
“Congratulations, Mrs. Sokolov.” He gave her a small, polite smile.
“Thanks, Mr—”
“Just ‘Roman’ is fine.”
“Thank you, Roman. And thank you for driving us today.” Alexandra silently prayed she’d remembered correctly and that this man had indeed been their driver.
“Just doing my job.” His smile widened a bit. Alexandra resisted the urge to sigh with relief—he was the driver and she hadn’t just put her foot in her mouth.
“Best wishes to you and Mr. Sokolov,” Roman added. Even though his smile was genuine, though, Alexandra noticed there was still a hint of pain.
Boris’s loss is affecting everyone, Alexandra thought. Suddenly, she felt a little guilty. Why should she be so happy when the man she was supposed to have married had died? Her brain had started to turn the thought over when Roman spoke again.
“If you need anything, let me know.”
“I will, thanks.” She wanted to talk more, but it seemed he was in a hurry, and so she didn’t try to stop him when he turned away.
Alexandra continued toward the staircase, passing a housekeeper in uniform he didn’t turn her focus away from what she was cleaning. She chewed on her lower lip. Was it wrong of her to be happy after what had happened with the wedding? To Boris?
No, Alexandra decided, it wasn’t wrong to be excited and happy. Even though what had happened to Boris Sokolov was tragic, she had technically never met the man, but she did have to understand his loss wouldn’t affect her the same way it was affecting the Sokolov household right now. She had to remember that others were grieving, even if she herself wasn’t.
Her thoughts turned to Viktor and how much pain he was probably in. His father had just died, after all. Perhaps his coldness at their wedding was just a result of Boris’s death. Still, she realized, she couldn’t be sure of that. Perhaps he really was so heartless and stern.
Alexandra didn’t know much about the man she’d married, but she wanted to find out more.
Alexandra turned back to ask the housekeeper a question, but the woman had vanished. There was just the guard from before, looking just as surly as he had when she’d entered.
“Where is Viktor right now?” she asked the guard. He pointed toward the stairs.
“Office area. Up the stairs to the left.” He paused and looked her over. She offered him a smile like she had before.
“Thanks.” She turned and climbed the stairs. The guard said something more from behind her, after another moment had passed, but Alexandra didn’t catch it—and she didn’t turn back to find out, either. She needed to know more about the man she had married.
The marble staircase clacked under her heels as she climbed. When she reached the landing, she heard a deep male voice coming from a heavy door standing to her left. She listened for another moment, and heard what she thought sounded like Viktor.
Memories of how severe he had seemed at their wedding made her hand hesitate for a second on the doorknob, but Alexandra reminded herself that even though Viktor seemed a little scary sometimes, he was her husband now.
She knocked and waited. After a period of silence, she opened the door.
A long, polished mahogany table dominated the center of the spacious room. There were a dozen or so men seated around the table in high-backed chairs, with Viktor standing at the head. Several decanters of vodka and glasses sat in the middle of the table between the men.
Alexandra scanned the room quickly and saw that all eyes were trained on her.
“So that is who knocked,” A lean man in a grey suit said.
“No one else in the house would dare interrupt,” another man snorted. He looked like a chubby former bodybuilder. His arms were bigger around than Alexandra’s legs.
Viktor’s piercing eyes bore into Alexandra from his position at the head of the table. His expression was so cold it was almost cruel. Alexandra felt acid in her stomach and a twinge of fear, coming just from that look.
“Viktor, I’m sorry for interrupting. I didn’t know you were having a meeting. I just wanted to find you,” Alexandra started, her words falling out on top of each other. As she spoke, Viktor moved toward the door, eyes still blazing, his jaw tensed. He looked almost violent with rage, but didn’t say anything.
Alexandra continued, quickly, “Do you think maybe later we could—”
Viktor slammed the door in her face so hard that she could hear the metal rattle on the hinges. Her mouth remained open, caught mid-word. Had he really just done that?
Alexandra’s heart ached now, and her head hurt. It wasn’t fair to treat her this way! How could he just slam the door in her face like that? On their wedding day! And the look in his eyes—like an animal ready to tear into prey. He had been terrifying.
She stepped away from the door quietly and continued down the hall, not sure where she was going. She just wanted to get away from that door and the awful combination of fear, shame, and sadness that she felt.
A few doors down from his office, she leaned against the wall and took some deep breaths. She hadn’t felt like that since her father had been about to kick her brother Andrei out of the house. Her father’s eyes had burned like hot embers, his voice shaking the walls, and Alexandra had thought that her brother would be thrown out the front door with real force.
Instead, her mother had intervened. Darya’s voice had been like soothing silk. She had talked Alexandra’s father down and cooled his anger with only her voice and her eyes.
And her body, Alexandra remembered suddenly. Her mother had climbed right onto her father’s lap and cajoled him into forgiving Andrei. That had been the moment when Alexandra realized the power of a woman: when she’d seen her mother turn her father’s mood around in the blink of an eye.
Alexandra caught her reflection in a small, gold-framed mirror on the wall. Her meticulously sculpted brows, a shade darker than her long blonde hair, did well to emphasize her radiant eyes.
She tilted her head to an alluring angle and studied her face in the mirror, an idea slowly beginning to surface. Her lips curled into a catlike grin. She was confident now that she knew how to win Viktor over.
Seduction.