He kidnapped me.
He bribed me with ten million dollars to marry him in a quest to win control of his family’s apparently criminal enterprises, a minor detail he was not upfront about.
He is the one who stole my employer’s car and got me fired.
Worst of all, he had unprotected sex with me and despite all his horny words in the hotel room during our truncated honeymoon night, he doesn’t seem to care whether or not I’m pregnant with his baby. So much for being a family man.
I truly have the worst taste in men.
With a sigh, I watch my sister walk to her car from the window of her ground-floor apartment. A shadow shaped like Nik melts out of the neat hedge growing along the fence. Shock slices through me. How would he have found me? Without hesitation, I dash for the door and run out onto the lawn in my bare feet.
“Rae!” I shout. She turns, sees the man in a suit drawing a gun on her, and throws her purse at him. His arm comes up. Startled, his shot goes wide.
It’s not Nik.
Cars come speeding around the corner, all of them black and menacing in the bright California sun.
“Get down!” a man shouts. I don’t listen. I run to my sister and tackle her to the pavement, knowing that Rae would try to take them all head-on. Gunshots ring out. We flinch in unison.
“Get the women!” Strong hands grab my arms. “You have to move, kitten. We can’t stay here.”
Nik. I’m so shaken that I allow him to get me to my feet. A second man, who at a glance looks similar but a few years older with a hard jaw and steel eyes, picks up my sister like she’s a rag doll, and throws her into the back of a huge black SUV.
“Why are you taking us?” I wail. “Leave us alone!”
“I’ll explain once you’re safe. Get in the car.” He doesn’t give me a choice. He drags me into the back seat and shouts at the driver, “Go.”
As we speed away, police sirens wail in the distance.
13
NIKOLAI
I know I screwed up. But it took nearly losing Sierra to realize how much I care about her. She tries to shrink away from me. I grip her arms and hold her close. At last, the sirens fade into the distance.
“That was close,” I say. Blood pounds in my veins, cooling slowly.
“What are you doing here?” Sierra demands.
“Saving your life.”
“I didn’t need saving until I met you, Nik.” She jerks away. Though it pains me, I let her move across the bench seat.
“I know that. I put you in danger. You are the one who ran. I told you not to go anywhere without bodyguards, Sierra. This is why. I’ve been frantic.”
“You put myentire familyin danger!” she shouts, glaring at me. “You did not tell me you were in the Russian bratva.”
How did I ever think she was soft and compliant? My wife is a firecracker with a steel spine. It’s amystery what happened to the thousands of dollars she spent on clothes. She’s wearing nothing but a threadbare oversized T-shirt with a faded Lakers logo over her braless breasts, and a sagging pair of sleep pants. Her hair is tangled. She’s never looked so beautiful.
How can I say I’m sorry when I’m not? Now that I have her back, I’m never letting her go. She can hate me all she wants to. I’ll fuck her back into a loving disposition as soon as she’s given me a piece of her mind, which I so richly deserve.
“You tricked me!” She prods my sternum. “You kidnapped me, bribed me, and married me under false pretenses. Give me one reason why I shouldn’t annul this marriage.”
“If you leave me now, you’ll be running for the rest of your life.” I lean forward, narrowing my eyes. “Whether from our enemies or from me, you will never know a moment’s peace.”
She blinks at me. “You wouldn’t.”
“You might be carrying my child. I absolutely would hunt you down to ensure you’re safe.” I scrub my face with a sigh. “I shouldn’t have accused you of being a spy. My mother made some suggestions?—”