Page 145 of The Darkness is Calling

“Am I not allowed to kiss my wife?”

“No.”

“Why?”

“Because this entire marriage is just as fake as the one with Oliver would have been.”

“That’s what you think, dusha moya.”

She rolls her eyes and looks toward the other two, trying to ignore me, then sits on the stool beside mine.

“Having marriage problems already? They say sex is the best solution,” Sasha says, then he puts a worm smile on his face, looking at my wife. “Hello, Helen.”

She’s looking at him confused. “Helen?”

“You’re Helen of Troy!”

“I’d smile if it weren’t so tragic in reality. Were you both on board with your brother’s plan this whole time?”

“More or less,” Yar declares, his voice impassive.

“I’m sorry you were dragged into this war because of me,” she says, with a trace of guilt on her face that makes all of us look at one another for a moment, guessing what’s going through her mind when she sees us all involved in this problem.

“You have nothing to apologize for, my dear sister-in-law,” Sasha says immediately. “It’s not that bad. It’s beautiful, actually!”

“It is bad,” Yar intervenes calmly. “We’re all risking death...”

“And death isn’t beautiful?” Sasha interrupts him.

Yaroslav rolls his eyes.

“I repeat. It’s bsd,” he continues, looking back at Ekaterina. “But there was no other way to get you out of there. And we’re glad you’re part of the family now, so don’t imagine any one of us is here without having been fully on board with our Pakhan’s insane plan.”

I’m glad he made that clear to her. It gives them the chance to grow closer as a real family, now that Ekaterina is with us too.

“Thank you,” she says with a faint smile, though a little forced. “Although I’m not sure attacking the cathedral was the best approach to the situation.”

She’s right. I could have abducted her before the wedding, I could have called her and explained why I didn’t make it to the recital. There were many options, but I needed confirmation that Oliver’s people were working with the ones who tried to kidnap me.

Oliver Prescott III sent the men who attacked us at the club ten days ago.

I had to drag the bastard out of the hole where he had been hiding before the wedding and find out how far his cockroach antennae stretched.

But first and foremost, I wanted to have my own wedding with Ekaterina and, since everything was already prepared...

Remembering that detail, I drag the papers in front of her in an instant, and Sasha pulls a pen out of God knows where, offering it to her like a devil grinning dangerously.

“The lawyer is waiting for the signed marriage certificate so Oliver can no longer lay any claim to you,” I tell her, slightly irritated by her hesitation, but also by the lack of trust she has in my feelings.

Or maybe she still doesn’t feel something as strong for me as I feel for her. Obsession. Madness.

This is love, right?

She slowly takes the pen from my youngest brother’s fingers and looks at me.

“I hate you,” she tells me without conviction, in a way that, in fact, strengthens my theory that she feels the same as I do.

“And I love you too, Katya.”