Oh my God.
My heart hasn’t stopped racing since this afternoon. Since Vlad held me in his grip and kissed me like our lives depended on it. I was horrified. Horrified and completely turned on.
Guilt claws at me, and I fret as I dig around in my jewelry box looking for something to wear to dinner. I’ve betrayed my sister in the worst way. What kind of person kisses their sister’s fiancé?
Tears threaten, but I blink them away. I’ve already done too much of that this afternoon. I locked myself in my new room on the other side of the estate once Rada showed me to it and cried for hours. It’s not like me to crack and break, but Vlad messes with my head. Some moments I hate him and he disgusts me, then, other moments…I want him so badly, I swear my mouth waters.
I open the bottom drawer of my jewelry box and pull out a dainty tennis bracelet with stones the color of my eyes. It wasn’t here before. All my worries are pushed aside as I contemplate where the bracelet came from. Oddly enough, it matches the dress I’d planned to wear for dinner. I slide it on my wrist and admire the stones as they glisten in the overhead light.
“You look beautiful,” Diana murmurs from the doorway. She’s still dressed in her coat and scarf, her cheeks rosy from the cold.
I can’t meet her gaze. Not without my eyes telling her what I did to her. I chew on my lip and stare at the bracelet. “Thanks.”
She enters the room as she pulls away her scarf. “Why were you moved here?”
I shrug. “I don’t know.” My voice trembles, and I hate the sound of it.
“It’s a nicer room,” she marvels as she sits on the bed. “Shadow, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” I squeak. “How did things go at Father’s?”
She lets out a heavy sigh, but doesn’t reply. I lift my gaze to find her wringing her scarf in her hands. Dejected. My powerful and charismatic sister is defeated. Her nose turns pink and she regards me with watery eyes.
“I’m sorry,” she breathes.
I frown and take a step toward her. “Sorry for what?”
She lets out a humorless laugh. “This.” Her hands wave in the air as she sniffles. “Everything.”
“It’s fine. The Volkov women are strong wherever they are. As long as they’re together,” I tell her firmly. Whatever happened between Vlad and I will never happen again. I’ll make sure of it. I need for this to work for Diana’s sake. She’s brilliant and successful. Whatever is happening with Father is trying to ruin that. Her alliance with Vlad will only strengthen her.
A tear rolls over her cheek. “He cut us off.” She hiccups as more tears stream down.
“I don’t have access to any of the accounts.”
I rush to sit beside her. The kiss is already a thing of the past and gets swept under the rug as I take my sister’s hands. “We’ll be fine. You’ll marry Vlad and continue doing what you do best. Just for another family. Father will sink without us. We made that company what it is.”
She hugs me and cries softly against my hair. “I don’t know what our future holds, Shadow. I don’t…I just don’t know. I never wanted it to come to this. Father is forcing my hand.”
“Shhh,” I coo. “Today is just a blip, and tomorrow or the next day, he will remember we’re the ones who have been there making his companies what they are, especially Volkov Spirits. It will be okay. I promise.”
She pulls away and cradles my cheeks in her palms. “I love you, my sweet sister.”
Beaming at her, I open my mouth to tell her the words when I notice a bruise on her throat. Not just any bruise. A hickey. My smile drops. “Diana, what is this?”
Her eyes widen, and she looks over her shoulder before trying to cover it with her hand. I slap it away and inspect it closer.
“Who gave you a hickey?” I demand, my eyes wide with horror.
She purses her lips and darts her gaze to the doorway again before jumping from the bed and rushing over to the mirror.
She lets out a breathy curse. “Blyad.” Fuck.
“Diana?”
“You can’t say anything to Vlad,” she whispers, coming back to sit by me. “To anyone.”
“Tell me,” I order.
She swallows and lets out a tortured sigh. “A man. He’s older. I’ve known him for some time.”
I blink at her in confusion. “Did he force himself on you?” Vlad will kill him. I’ll kill him.
Her nose scrunches. “What? No. We’re…we…” she trails off, and more tears roll out. “Shadow, I love him.”
No.
This random old man?
Yuck.
“Diana…” I start, my voice low in warning.
She shakes her head. “Stop. I’ll hear nothing of it. Your heart can’t help who you love, even if it’s the wrong person.” She lifts her chin. “I won’t feel ashamed for what we have.”
“What you have?” I hiss. “You can’t have anything with him if we’re under Vlad’s roof and you’re to be marrying him. Diana, this is dangerous.”
She rises to her feet and snatches up her scarf. “You don’t think I know this? You don’t think I don’t worry every second of every day what it could mean if we get caught?”
“Caught?” I utter. “You’ve…you’ve had sex with him?”
She laughs, but it’s cold. “Sweet sister, you are so innocent. For that, I am glad. However, you have so much to learn of the outside world.” She wraps the scarf around her throat and frowns at me. “I’ve been sleeping with him for years. Years, Irina. That is love. What we have is love.”
My stomach bottoms out at her confession. “Please don’t have sex with him here. If Vlad finds out…” I almost gag at the thought of Vlad cutting my sister open like he did his whore. I can’t lose her. Vlad isn’t the type to take lightly to indiscretions in his own home.
“He almost did find out,” she admits, shame in her eyes. “My lover was coming to see me, but Vlad got there first.”
“He’ll kill you,” I whimper. “You have to stop.”
She takes a step back as though I’ve struck her. The strong, powerful woman I know and love has a crazed look in her eyes. Crazed by love. Or…brainwashed. The thought alarms me.
“I’ll deal with it,” she says finally, lifting her chin. “It will end once I’m married.” But the flicker in her eyes tells me otherwise.
“Diana, this isn’t you.”
She shakes her head. “No,” she says, waving all around us, “this isn’t me. But we all have our parts to play.”
Before I can reply, she hurries from the room.
Vlad may have shoved his tongue down my throat earlier today, but I don’t believe for one second he’d take the same thing happening against him lightly. Vlad is a player of an ultimate game where he always comes out the winner. If he noses around and discovers Diana has been sleeping around on him under his own roof, no less, he will want retribution.
That means I need to play my part.
I must distract him.
I head to dinner alone.
Diana was taking forever to get ready and I needed to formulate a plan. She wears another man’s mark now. If Vlad sees, he’ll lose his mind.
I need to make sure that doesn’t happen.
“Ma’am, you look striking this evening,” a deep voice murmurs.
I jerk my head to see Stepan leaning against a doorframe, his suit forming to his body nicely. His eyes rove over the swell of my breasts and then to my bare thighs. Tonight, I opted for a shorter dress. If I plan on distracting Vlad, showing a little leg is in order.
“Thank you,” I utter. “Have you seen Mr. Vasiliev?”
“Senior?”
“Uh, no. Vlad.”
He shakes his head as he stalks my way, a wolfish gleam in his eyes. I’d once thought he was cute, but now I just want to get away to find Vlad. I have a bigger game to play than hooking a handsome guy. I need to make sure my sister doesn’t get herself killed.
Stepan stops inches from me and stares. “Allow me to escort you to dinner.”
I step away from him, bumping my ass against the wall. “I…uh…”
“I’ll be escorting her to dinner,” a cold, masculine voice bites out. “Run along to the basement and check on my Darya.”
Stepan stiffens and flashes me a worried look before he steps away, not sparing me a second glance as he storms off. I’m left staring straight into the cold eyes of Yuri Vasiliev. Tall, broad-shouldered, dark hair with streaks of gray—he’s an older version of Vlad, handsome and regal. But something in his eyes screams violence. Whatever monster Vlad is, his father is a million times more vile.
“Sir,” I greet with a forced smile.
He approaches me, his eyes raking over my dress as he sizes me up. With no expression as to what he thinks, he offers his arm to me. “The dress suits you. Although, I do prefer the one last night over this one.”
A flash of memory assaults me.
Shiny and threatening.
A knife.
Not just any knife—Vlad’s scary hooked knife.
The small cut on my hip smarts at the thought. I’d wondered what had happened, and now it’s all flooding back. Images of Vlad on top of me. Pressed against me. His cock rubbing against my clit through our clothes.
I came.
Dear God, I came.
Heat floods up my throat and paints my flesh what I imagine a brilliant red. Yuri says nothing as he escorts me to the dining room. I’m freaking out over last night when a new feeling surges over me.
Awareness.
Furious rage ripples through the air so palpable, it makes the hairs on my arm stand on end. When I lift my eyes from the floor, I lock gazes with Vlad’s enraged amber glare. Everything about his posture and expression states otherwise, but I’ve learned to read his telling eyes.
His eyes are saying everything to me.
Not saying, screaming.
Get. Away. From. Him.
I start to pull away from Yuri, but his grip tightens.
“Ah, child, not so fast. We’re playing a game. Do you like games?” He turns his head and lifts a brow at me.
“What sort of game?” I murmur.
The heat of Vlad’s stare burns my flesh. I want to glance over at him again, but I’m snared in Yuri’s demanding stare.
“My game. They’re all my games, after all.” His lips lift on one side. This is the same man who beat the ever-loving snot out of Darya. Did he rape her too?
I straighten my spine and lift my chin. “I don’t want to play games with you.”
“Father,” Vlad says coolly. I’m surprised he reached us so quickly.
Yuri smiles at him in a polite manner. “Son.”
“Allow me to escort Irina to her seat,” Vlad growls, his voice slightly on edge. “I insist.”
His father chuckles. Low and deadly. “Not tonight, son. She’s mine for tonight.” He regards me with a devilish grin. “An old man with a young, beautiful woman on his arm for the evening, I can’t think of a better way I’d like to spend dinner.”
Vlad flashes me a warning glare. Something glimmers in his amber eyes. Fear. I’m struck by the glimpse and nearly stumble when Yuri guides me to the table. He pulls out a chair and motions for me to sit.
I take my seat and guzzle down the water in the goblet. I’ll avoid wine. The last thing I need is to lose my head while in Yuri Vasiliev’s grip. I saw what he did to Darya. I’ll be damned if he does that to me. He doesn’t take his seat right away as he talks to Veniamin Vetrov’s father, Yegor. Yegor is as old as Yuri but he’s not fit like Yuri. Yegor has a giant belly that strains against the buttons of his dress shirt. Yuri is powerful and scary next to Yegor, who is pudgy and breathing too heavily. I notice Veniamin sitting across the table wearing a knowing expression, his narrowed stare on me.
I’m suddenly struck by a horrible realization.
Ven.
My sister is sleeping with Ven.
Older, and she’s known him forever. He’s always at the Vasiliev home. As if clued into my thoughts, Ven smirks.
Oh God.
I remember being a kid and seeing them kiss in the hallway of our home. Back when he’d recently grown his beard and attended university, but far too old to be kissing a teenager. I’d been stunned, but Diana never spoke of it again.
Because he was her secret.
Crap!
This will cause a war. If my sister is screwing Ven while engaged to Vlad, that’ll put three families at war with each other.
His attention darts to the doorway, and I follow his gaze. Diana enters the dining room wearing a confident smile and a fashionable scarf that goes well with her black dress hugging all her voluptuous curves. I let out a sigh of relief noticing her hickey is hidden. Anton follows behind her, ever the good watch dog. Ven rises and struts over to them, causing my stomach to hollow out. When he reaches her, she flashes him a brilliant grin. He takes her hand and kisses the top of it.
Double crap!
Why would she blatantly flaunt this in front of everyone?
Ven has completely brainwashed my sister.
I start to rise to my feet to stop whatever it is that’s happening, but then everyone takes their seats. Ven sits back down across from me as Yuri sits to my left. Vlad sits beside me, and Diana sits across from him with Anton at her left.
My eyes are glued to them as Ven scratches his dark beard, a flirtatious grin on his face as he leans in and whispers something to Diana. She giggles, and it sets my teeth on edge. I can sense Vlad beside me staring them down.
Triple crap!
“Miss Volkov,” Yuri says, startling me. “Have you considered entering the next V Games? You’re certainly old enough. Vlad entered when he was much younger than you are now.”
Surprised by his words, I jerk my head to the left and gape at him. “W-What? Me?”
He shrugs as a server sets down a steaming plate in front of him. She then serves me and Vlad, who’s engaged in conversation with a man beside him, before moving along. I swallow, the scent of baked salmon invading my senses.
“I know about your father. About that bastard son of his he now favors over his daughters. I know everything, dear girl. How you now rely on that of the Vasiliev to secure your future and well-being. Am I incorrect?”
I stiffen, but don’t respond. I stare down at the delicious looking salmon and try not to recoil at Yuri’s words.
“I could train you…” he mutters lowly.
Jerking my head his way, I glare at him. “Like you trained Darya?”
He smirks, ignoring the bite in my tone. “No, Darya is good for a violent fuck. She screams, and boy, does she scream loud. Those screams will entice even the most focused of fighters.” He leans forward and runs the tip of his finger along my outer arm. “But you’re way too strong and smart for that. Brilliant girls who can run their daddy’s businesses with their eyes closed deserve to be much bigger players than ones who lie on their back with their legs spread open.”
“No thank you.” I level him with a hard stare.
“We’ll see.”
I turn away from him and pick up my fork. I’m about to take a bite when I see Diana glaring at Yuri.
“Irina is far too valuable to risk in The Games,” she bites out, overhearing our conversation despite flirting with her lover. “Our father may be smitten at the moment with his newfound son, but he’s always been a fickle man. His love for us hasn’t changed, and he’s always known assets such as us can’t be risked on the appetites of the depraved within The Games.”
Yuri’s eyes flare with fire. His jaw clenches as though he’s barely able to keep vicious, uncontrolled words from spewing from his mouth.
Vika bites into a strawberry she’s plucked from her champagne flute and asks while chewing, “If you’re loved so much by him, then why has he cut you out of his businesses?” The glint in Vika’s eyes, like she won a prize, makes me want to jab my fork into one.
How can she possibly know anything of this?
Diana tuts, a smirk on her lips. “Vika, who fills your head with such things? It’s true that dynamics have changed, but our father trained us. He prepared us for the cutthroat world and I’ve been running the business for quite some time. In that time, shares have been moved over into my own name. Volkov Spirits is a company Irina and I built from the ground up. He can have the rest to pass on to Vas, if that’s what he chooses, but Volkov Spirits is and will always be ours.”
My heart pounds in my chest.
Vika turns a pink color and downs the rest of her drink in one gulp. Just when I think she’s going to shut up, she speaks again. “Lots of families send their children into The Games. It’s an honor and a sign of strength. For almost a decade, since The Games have been around, it has been this way. Most of the young men sitting at this table, like my brother, entered The Games as a rite of passage into adulthood—into leading their families. Are you saying your family is better than the rest of us? Why? Because you’re a woman?”
She’s such a bitch. Why does she always have to create conflict?
“I’m not saying that at all,” Diana replies with a lift of her chin. “I’m saying we don’t need to prove our worth that way. Female or not.”
“She’s a businesswoman. I like it,” Ven says with a grin, playfully tugging at Diana’s scarf. Their blatant flirting is going to get her killed by the time the night’s over. Before I lose my nerve, I do something I can’t take back:
I make my move.