Page 53 of Keeping My Enemies Closer: Pt. 1

My father smirked as he said, “I fear that you may be underestimating my son.”

She glanced at me quickly before addressing my father’s opinion of my character.“While that might be true, I will always be a fan of living, so...”She shrugged as she trailed off.

“What of you, Ms.Kuzmin?”he asked.“Do you have any demands of your own?”

“Would they matter?”she countered.“Not for nothing, Kasimir would never be required to honor any of my demands, so why does it matter?”

“Careful,lepestok,” I warned.“It sounds like you’re questioning my word.”

Looking over at me, she said, “Fine, then I demand that you never physically abuse me, throw me out on the street with nothing, or cheat on me.”

My head reared back in surprise at that.“And what makes you think that I’d ever do any of those things?”

“It’s not that you would,” she argued.“It’s that youcouldand nothing would be done about it.While I have no problem living a life of ignorance where your job is concerned, I will not live my life as a man’s wife and the mother of his children, only to be humiliated for my efforts.”

I eyed her as I said, “I will only recite my vows once during my lifetime, and I plan on honoring them all, Zoya.However, if you need it to be said, and you need it to be said in front of my father and Pahkan, then I give you my word that I will never physically harm you out of anger, I will never leave you destitute, and I sure as fuck will never touch another woman.You are all that I want,lepestok.”

Zoya let out a quiet breath, and that’s when I realized that her concerns had been genuine.She’d really been afraid that I might hurt or cheat on her, and that was just insane.I was obsessed with her in a way that should frighten her, truth be told.

“Well, I guess that settles that,” my father stated as he stood, signaling the end of the meeting.

Yeah, not quite.

Chapter 26

Zoya~

“Welcome to the family, Ms.Kuzmin.”

Aleksei Korolev had left about half an hour ago, but I was still reeling from the meeting.Talking to him for the first time ever in my life, he had sounded just as unhinged as his son, and it wasn’t hard to see where Kasimir had gotten his bulldozing personality from.Aleksei hadn’t cared about anything other than making sure that his son didn’t end up in prison, but it was also hard not to admire his singular focus.Aleksei Korolev wasn’t one for bullshit, that was clear.

“Are you okay?”

I turned a the sound of Kasimir’s voice, and he was leaning against the doorframe, his arms crossed over his chest, and he looked so comfortable standing there, though that should be expected since we were in his ‘real’ house as he had put it when we’d driven up to the massive gated community of Bakers Hills.

“Why wouldn’t I be?”I asked.