Page 35 of Bedazzled
No one bothered me after that.
When Yuri took his place by the altar, escorted down the right side by Maksim as per tradition, my heart nearly turned inside out from needing him. If anything, he was broader and more muscled than before the kidnapping as if he could protect himself from another attempt by sheer muscle mass.
He looked incredible in that tux, I knew it had to be custom-made because no designer built a formal jacket for shoulders the size of Yuri’s.
The bride walked in on the left. She was really pretty in that tall, well-bred, “I went to private schools in Switzerland all my life,” way. Blonde. Her head was tilted at the weirdest angle, and it took me a minute to realize she was trying to position her chin for the best profile picture.
My heart was pounding hard enough to punch out of my chest if I didn’t get it under control. This was such a stupid idea. Why was I doing this? These people are going to cut me up into little pieces and-
Maybe if someone didn’t know Yuri very well, they might have missed it, but as the bride walked toward him at the altar, he looked terribly sad. Just for a moment, but I saw it. That’s why I was insane enough to raise my hand and shout, “I object!”
Chapter Twelve
In which Tania discovers “I object!” in the Bratva means sudden death.
Tania…
I hadn’t seen pandemonium like this since the After-Christmas sale at Sak’s Fifth Avenue.
I was sitting in the corner of some kind of magnificent, high-ceilinged receiving room after being hustled through a nearly invisible door behind the altar. There were two beautiful statues flanking the wooden bench where they seated me and I really hoped they weren’t martyrs who would be predicting my fate. Maybe they would make a statue of me and my horrific end.
Yeah. Saint Tania. That would never be happening.
The room was so grand and regal that it made the angry men, pounding on the table and the crying women seem even more surreal, like nothing as mundane as human heartbreak had any place here.
The bride - Ksenia Balabanov, I learned - spent the first ten minutes screaming in my face until her father yelled at her to shut up. Maksim directed three of his men to form some kind of impenetrable bodyguard wall around me when she tried to poke one of my eyes out with her terrifying, pointy fingernails.
It’s not like I could hold it against her.
Ella played herPakhan’swifey role and spoke with the furious Mama Balabanov and the bride, who was now wailing loudly with mascara running down her cheeks.
By the time she’d calmed them down a bit, Maksim was in my face.
“Did Ella help you with this? Do you understand what you have done?”
“No, Ella didn’t help me. I would never put her in that position.” I was scared shitless but I was not going to show it.
My eyes darted to Yuri, who was still speaking with Daddy Balabanov, who was at least not shouting anymore. The one glance he had sent my way was petrifying. He looked me over like I was an insect, far less than human and certainly not worth anything more than a bullet in the back of my head.
“Tania!” Maksim snapped, “This is very, very bad. I’m not sure I can save your life. The father of the bride is demanding your death as part of retribution for your actions.”
“Oh, that isnothappening!” Ella hissed, trying to keep her voice down. “Write him a check, add some extra zeros but they are not getting Tania!”
He looked at her, his furious expression softened just slightly. “Did you know about this?”
“No,” she shook her head, “but I wish I’d thought of it.”
“Solnyshko, you have no idea how bad this is,” he groaned. “This is not about money. This is about honor. And Tania spat in their faces. She could not have insulted the Balabanov family more.”
“It was two words!” I protested weakly, “I mean, I wasn’t objecting toher.Sure, she tried to pop my eye out like the last grape in a fruit assortment but I understand.”
He rounded on me in such a fury that even Ella jumped. “What did you think would happen here, you stupid girl? You have started a war between our families. Men will die for your grand gesture. Do you understand now?”
Yeah, I did. And it was not Patrick’s fault. He’s a romantic Irishman at heart but I should have known better.
“I can’t even apologize for being an idiot,” I said, even though my lips were kind of numb now and my ears were buzzing. “It would never be enough, would it?” Looking between his furious face and Ella’s anguished one, I took a shaky breath, trying not to vomit. “If giving me up will… you know, clean up this mess then do it. No one should be dying for me.” My courage cracked wide open like a chocolate egg. “But will you do it? M- make it quick?”
Ella wrapped her arms around me, “No, no no no! No, Tania, that is not going to happen! We’ll figure this out.”
