Page 49 of Claimed in Sin
"So, we isolate him?" Radimir asks. His eyes narrow on Roman's as we all start coming to the same conclusion. We're gonna force this fucker to bow, and it makes my chest do something wickedly sinful. I want to hurt him so badly for how he's hurt his own fucking daughter.
"We isolate him," Roman confirms. "Force his hand. Make it clear Marina isn't going back, and the child belongs to this family. Any move he makes against us is a move he makes alone."
"Timur, how fast can you get this out?" Radimir asks, leaning forward. He's itching for a battle like me, but if this works out how Roman thinks, we won't see much fighting at all.
"Within the hour. I've got people in every circle worth reaching. By sunrise, it'll be the only thing anyone hears from here to the Urals."
"Do it," Roman says. "But make it clean. We're not declaring war, we're announcing a fact. The Belova daughter is carrying a Kuzin heir. That's all anyone needs to know."
"Understood..." Timur is still typing as I sit back in my seat and rub the back of my neck. When I walked into this place, I figured my world was about to erupt. Now I wonder if Marina is ever going to forgive me for this. We're making choices for her just the same way her father did. I never wanted it to be this way.
"And Timur," Roman adds, "keep your ear on the Orlov side. The moment they start pulling back from Sergei, I want to know. We have to know how Maksim's death is playing out with them."
"I'll have eyes on it within the hour."
The line goes dead and Roman steeples his fingers on the desk and stares past me at the far wall. I watch his face shift from the tight frustration he's been wearing all night into a look I've seen a hundred times from the other side of that desk. He's strategizing for the worst-case scenario and he's not happy about being in this situation.
"Sergei will come," he says, mostly to himself. "When he finds out the pregnancy is public and every family in the region knows his daughter chose us, he won't be able to sit still. His pride won't let him. He'll either come to negotiate or he'll come to fight, and either way, he walks into our territory on our terms."
When he turns to me, I'm surprised by his question. "How certain are you that Marina will marry you?"
It paralyzes my heart for so many reasons. I've done this with her, and she's rejected me. I know it was because of the alliance that she turned me down, but that doesn't make the thought of asking her again to be turned down again any easier to think about.
This isn't just about saving our asses, either. I love her. And hearing her push me away when I know she's pregnant will crush me. I'll never be the same. I really would ask to be transferred out of country, or at least to Siberia.
"I don't know," I say. "She's turned me down twice."
Roman stares at me for a long moment. Then he picks up his glass and throws back the last of his vodka and sets it down hard.
"Then you'd better figure it out," he says. "Because everything we're about to do depends on it."
My throat constricts as I let his words sink in.
The thing I never wanted to do has become the only way out of this. I have to make her want me, even after seeing her shock when she walked into that garage and saw the Radin men.
We're her enemy, and she's already pregnant with my baby. The only way to convince her to marry me is to phrase it as her only hope. I save her by marrying her, the same way Maksim was set to save her family.
I can only hope she sees this is done in real love, not coercion.
25
MARINA
The woman named Sorin walks ahead of me down a long hall, and I follow behind her feeling scared. What else am I supposed to do? It's not like I can just walk out of here into the street and go home. I know what it means for Stepan if I do. My father won't just hurt me. He'll kill the man I love.
She opens a door at the end of the hall and holds it for me. I step into a guest room with a bed and a nightstand and a bathroom through an open door on the far wall. It's all too much, too expensive for my taste. But it's a kind gesture from a man I've been raised to believe is a very unkind man.
"I'll draw you a bath," Sorin says. "Sit for a moment." She has a warm smile and soft eyes, kind like my grandmother's were before she passed. They put me at ease as I sink onto the edge of the bed and listen to her move around in the bathroom.
The faucet turns and water hits the tub, and within a few seconds, the roar of a bath being filled reaches my ear. I hear her open a cabinet and shut it, then the scent of oils and salts driftsthrough the open door. I've never had a maid or housekeeper take care of me. Hell, my mother wasn’t even around to care for me much. My first experience with this seems so surreal, I'm not sure how I'm supposed to feel.
She comes back and stands in front of me with her hands folded. "The bath is ready, Ms. Belova. There are towels on the rack and night clothes on the vanity." She pauses. "Can I get you anything to eat? Some tea?"
"No. Thank you, Sorin. Really." I feel bad turning her down. Stepan's cousin did say for her to feed me, but if I eat this time of night, I'll throw up for sure.
"You're sure? It's no trouble... I could make toast or perhaps soup." She really is a kind woman.
"I'm sure, thank you," I tell her, again refusing her offer. I wish Stepan were here. I feel so out of place.
