Page 37 of Claimed in Sin
“You are gonna learn exactly who's in control here,” he says softly, his face inches from mine.
Any second now, everything will go dark for good. But just as darkness starts to close in completely, the bedroom door swings open.
My father walks in and Maksim backs away, letting air rush into my lungs. The sensation is so powerful, I'm lightheaded, and I collapse onto my bed sobbing. But my relief is short lived as I look up at my father's cold detachment. He doesn’t care that Maksim was just choking me. He's so angry with me, he doesn't even look worried about me.
“Papa,” I choke out, gasping for air as I crawl up onto the bed, farther away from Maksim.
"Get yourself together, young lady." My father stands over me, glowering at me as Maksim rounds the end of my bed and straightens his tie. He's still every bit as angry as he was, more so, if that's possible.
"She gets an abortion or our deal is over. Do you understand me, Sergei? You promised me a bride, and I won't marry a whore."
Hearing them talk about me like this is humiliating, but now that I can breathe, I have no intention of just letting them control me. "No! I won't do it. You can't do that."
"Shut up!" Maksim screams, so loud, it makes me jump back in fear. "You listen to me, you little bitch. You aren't going to be my humiliation. You'll get the fucking abortion or we'll have to deal with this another way."
My body trembles as I shrink back against the headboard and pull my blankets up to cover myself. Tears still stream down my cheeks, but the fight is going out of me. I won't let them kill my baby, not for any reason.
"He's right, Marina. You'll have the abortion and you'll go through with this wedding because I won’t allow you to shame our family name either?—"
"Papa," I squeak, but he turns to Maksim, who is still glaring at me.
"And if you don't," Maksim says as if continuing my father's sentence for him, "I'll kill you myself."
"No," I whisper, but my father says nothing. A mercy killing? Because I'm pregnant?
"Finish this, Sergei, or you won't like what happens." Maksim walks out, slamming the door behind himself, but my father just stands there hanging his head.
"Papa, please, say something," I whine, crawling closer to him now, but he backs away, looking up at me with complete disappointment in his eyes.
He looks defeated, very much like he plans to surrender or something. How can he just give up and not protect me? Why would he let Maksim do this to me? I made a mistake. It wasn’t supposed to happen like this. It's not my fault, and my father won’t stand up for me.
"Papa..."
"You brought this on yourself, Marina, and now you have to do the right thing. I'll arrange for the doctor to come by later thisafternoon." He turns, heading toward the door, and stops when he gets there. "I am so furious with you."
My heart sinks first, then my body. I curl into a sobbing ball. The only way out of this is to run, to get as far away from here as possible. The things I would do for my family mean nothing anymore because my own father won't turn to protect me the way I would him.
I should've accepted Stepan's proposal, and I should've told Maksim no from the beginning. What was I thinking? Why did I let this happen to me?
"Oh, my God," I whine into my pillow, letting more tears come. I don’t even know if Stepan will take me back now. It's been so long since I even texted him, and I don’t know where my phone is now.
I need help. And I need it now. If it's still available.
20
STEPAN
If Timur's intel is correct, we're in the right place. Kazimir and I sit in my blacked-out SUV waiting for this thing to go down. I could never trust this to a group of fighters or guards. Yegor, Radimir, and Angus are my top picks, mostly because they're the best I know, or they’ve been around the longest. No better men to have by my side on a night like this.
The airport hangar is dark for now, and we managed to get the SUV parked far in the back corner where even when the lights come on, it'll go relatively unseen. Orlov will never know we're here lying in wait, and hopefully, this'll go off without a hitch.
"How you doing?" Kazimir asks, not bothering to look at me. He sits casually in the seat with his elbow on the door and his chin propped on his hand. He's watching for movement like me, but I'm on edge and tense.
"I'll feel better when this is over." Ever since he told me I shouldn't be here, I've been riding the fence on whether to do this myself or let him handle it, but every time I think maybe Ishouldn't, I end up getting really pissed off. That man has what I want and I am not the sort of man to take that lying down.
"You look like hell, Cousin." He's being serious, but I hear a dark chuckle from behind me and flick my gaze to the rearview mirror. Angus has a dumb smirk on his face, while the other two look more serious, but Radimir has his eyes shut. To them it's just another job, another man to take out. Tonight we purchase the near future for ourselves, assuming we are successful, and stop the alliance from forming which would otherwise crush us.
But that's not why I’m here.
