Silence fills the space between us.
Then Alexei laughs, his whole face almost turning red, and his body vibrating on top of mine.
My face scrunches in confusion. “What’s so amusing?”
He takes a moment to calm down. Wipes his eyes with one hand while still holding himself above me with the other. When he finally looks at me again, there’s something wicked in his expression.
“Dear Zoya.” A slow shake of his head. “You’re mistaken about a few things.”
“What do you mean?”
“Your father told you Erik Müller was your future husband?” He laughs harder. “And you believed him? That’s priceless.”
Fury sparks inside me, shoving aside the confusion.
“What’s your point?” I stare daggers at him. “You’re practically salivating over marrying me. I’m perfectly marriageable. Believe it or not, I’m quite the catch.”
His amusement mellows, becoming something softer, almost fond. “You absolutely are.” His thumb strokes my jawline. “Beautiful, intelligent, everything a man could want. But Erik is taken.”
“By who?”
“Nikolai has him.” His smiles. “And trust me, Nikolai would put a bullet in you before letting you near Erik.”
My eyes close and open, trying to make sense of what he’s saying. “Erik is… with Nikolai? As in, they’re…”
“Very much in love, yes. Have been for years.” Alexei seems to be enjoying my shock. “Your father knew. Everyone knew. The whole arrangement with the Germans was a cover story. A distraction to keep you from figuring out who you really belonged to.”
I feel dizzy as I think back to all those dinners and meetings. It finally makes sense why Erik never looked at me or cared about what I had to say, since he apparently was just in love with someone else.
Alexei’s voice drops to a whisper as he moves closer. “But then again,” he continues, “don’t worry. I wouldn’t let a single hair on your head be hurt. Not by Nikolai, not by anyone.”
“Who am I supposed to marry?” I ask, my voice betraying my uncertainty. “If the Germans were a lie…”
“Me.” He says it simply. “You were promised to me, Zoya. You’ve been mine since before you knew I existed.”
My eyes stay locked on his while my brain scrambles to process this information.
“This whole time you knew,” I say as the truth starts to sink in. “Both kidnappings, my camera, and taking me out…it was all planned. You knew who I was from the beginning.” I try to pull back, but he holds me perfectly still.
Alexei moves his head until his lips are brushing my ear. “What do you think? Five years of surveillance,Vedma. Choosing my moment carefully. I’ve watched every part of your life, including your work as a journalist and all your photos.” My skin tingles when he mentions the last part. “Your OnlyFans streams.”
My face burns.
“Why didn’t you just take me then? If you knew…”
“Because I wanted you to come to me.” He pulls back just enough to meet my eyes. “I wanted you to walk into my world on your own. To choose me, even if you didn’t know what you were choosing.” A crack appears in his armor. “But then Dato took you, and choices became irrelevant.”
Nothing comes to me, my mind refusing to accept this reality. My father sold me to the Romanovs, not the Germans. I’d run from the wrong monster straight into the arms of the right one.
“This is insane.” My voice sounds weak as I try to process his words. “You can’t just… I’m not your wife. There was never a ceremony where we actually said our vows or made it official.”
“Details,” he says, shrugging as if it’s only a small problem. “Those are easily fixed.”
“I won’t marry you.”
“You will.”
“You can’t force me.”