No. He couldn't do that to me. How could he say no to me?
"Please, you don't mean that," I said, moving closer to him."A few days ago, you rejected me." He shrugged. "No one says no to my proposals."Real fear rushed through my heart. I had spent my last money to come to him. Without him, I would lose my sister. She would be entangled in the reckless life of Andrei Andreevich.She would be his possession forever. A slave. Tears gathered in my eyes, and without thinking, I flew toward him and grabbed him by his arms."Please, you said you would do anything for me to get the land back. That you made a dying promise to your mother." Although I was pleading for him to accept me, I couldn't help but wonder how much weightlifting he did.He looked at me, and I slowly let go of his arms. I had forgotten for a second that he was a mafia lord. He looked down at me like he cared, and I wished he did.But he was no lover boy. Viktor was a survivor, and that made him dangerous. He was not a man to be toiled with and would crush me with one hand if I did. Although I felt desired around him, I had to remind myself he didn't fit into my whole idea of a perfect husband.He reached out and brushed my chin. I tried to pretend I didn't feel the tension and the tingling sensation of his touch. He lifted my face to meet his gaze. "Tell me, why did you change your mind?"I could tell he didn't trust me. A man like him had a lot of enemies. He was probably assuming that his brother had sent me. Only if he knew I was penniless and hoping for a miracle from him to save my sister.I breathed. "My sister.""Illyra changed your mind?" He asked with shock. He dropped his hand from my face and walked around me. "Judging on her past relationship with my brother, I find that hard to believe."I took a deep breath. "Your brother kidnapped her. He took her hostage three days ago."He paused in his tracks and turned to me. "Bloody son of a bitch!""Yes," I answered, unsure what he truly meant by his last words. "I want you to rescue her from him."I waited for his expression to change. I waited to see his anger, shock, rage, or anything at all. But his expression remained impassive."You..." He started, then paused. "Wait. Andrei kidnapped her?"I bit my lips, then my shoulder slumped. "She wagered herself to him in a poker game, and she lost. But he forced her to go with him. Same thing.""I see." He said, eyeing me warily."Yes. I wouldn't be here if he didn't kidnap her.""It was a lover's game." He said. "She wouldn't wager herself to him if it wasn't. I mean, they have always been obsessed with each other. It only makes sense that they have decided to come back after ten years apart from each other.""What?" I blurted, my eyes wide open. "Illyra hates him.""Did she tell you that?""He forced her to go with him.""It doesn't matter how he took her." He replied."It's all my fault that he took her in the first place. I want my sister back." I said slowly."When did you start gambling, Lyra?""You ask that like you have known me all my life," I responded sharply."I may have met you four days ago, but two minutes is enough to know you are the most naive and innocent lady I have met.""That's not true." I fired back. "Illyra said I'm tough."He cocked an expectant eyebrow at me, and I sighed. I couldn't even boost of my toughness without bringing my sister into it."What happened?" He asked again."The night after you proposed, my boss invited me to a private poker game. I snuck out while Illyra was working to play because I believed I would win some money to pay off our debts. She stopped me from ever gambling, and she also warned me about Mr. Aldric.""Why?""I don't know. My sister is always suspicious of everyone. Maybe it was how he hired us quickly and paid for our flight to Hawaii." I answered. "Anyways, she was right. There was something weird about the poker game, and I wish I had listened to her. She lost everything to that son of a ..."I stopped once again, careful not to infuriate him further. "Please help me.""Why do you think I can save her?"I cleared my throat. "Because you are the only one who can stand up to Andrei Andreevich. You are the only one who can take him down because you hate him the most." I took a deep breath. "You can take anything from me. I just need you to save my sister. I can't live without her."He didn't say anything, and I knew he was thinking. He was probably considering if I was lying to him or not. I only hoped that he was desperate enough to get his hands on my land."Fine. We have a deal." He said, and I let out a deep breath."Thank you. You are the kindest person on earth." I voiced, almost jumping in excitement."After we are married, you will remain with me until the land is legally transferred to me." He stared at me straight in the eyes. "Then I shall bring your sister to you, and both of you will be free to leave." He held out his hands to me."Yes." I cried out. "Perfect." I reached out my hands to his. I felt his strong rough hands against mine, and I trembled. I slowly lifted my gaze to meet his and almost melted when I noticed he was staring at me with those electric blue eyes."Thank you for doing this," I said once again."You look like you haven't slept in days." He said, ignoring my appreciation."Oh, you can't imagine," I said. "You don't know what I've had to eat for the past twenty-four hours. I couldn't even afford a ..."I broke off when I noticed he was slightly amused. Why did I have to blurt out every thought in my head? Why couldn't I be reserved like Illyra?This time wasn't my fault. He was far too handsome, and no woman could think properly beneath the focus of his blue eyes."Come with me." He said, and I found my feet shuffling toward him immediately. He led me to a high-ceilinged room lined with books on one side. He walked over to the bar on the other side of the library. "What will you have?""Water, please," I replied faintly.He frowned back at me. "I could order you coffee if you don't...""Just water, please," I replied, cutting off before I realized I did. "Sorry, water with ice if you want to be fancy."He shook his head and poured water into a glass."Thank you," I murmured, taking the glass from him and downing its content."You're an unusual girl, Lyra." He said, observing me.Unusual didn't sound good to me. I wiped my mouth and cleared my throat. "I am?""It's sort of exciting to be around a woman who makes absolutely no effort to impress me."I chuckled. "Trying to impress you is a waste of my time. Men like you don't settle for women like me."He looked down at me, his blue eyes breathtaking. "You're selling yourself short." And I felt that tension again."I hope it's not too embarrassing for you." I stammered. "Being married to me."He smiled slightly, and I tried not to show how that affected me. "You'll be my only wife ever. I'm sure I'll enjoy you."I gulped. "Enjoy me? Your only wife ever?" I asked. "You might meet someone else in the future and...""Oh, Lyra." He cut me off. "I am not a man to love. The only thing that awaits me in the future is more power and wealth. But you are the answer to my every prayer."Viktor I didn't start the feud with my brother ten years ago. As a child, I idolized Andrei. I was proud of him, my loving family, and my home. Our great-grandfather was one of the last great princes of Russia before he died fighting for the white army in Siberia. But he sent his wife and son to safety in Alaskan exile. Since then, my generation has lived in self-sufficient poverty on an Alaskan homestead far from civilization. To me, it had been an enchanted winter kingdom, and I loved it. But Andrei despised the isolation and the wildlife. He hated the lack of electricity and indoor plumbing. As I played, running around with sticks and toys, he buried his nose into business books. He wanted to be rich and leave the homestead. "Someday, I'll have a better life." He told me one day. "I'll buy clothes instead of making them. I will buy a private jet and travel around the world. I would eat at fine restaurants and leave this life behind." I listened to him breathlessly. "Really, An
I had long despised Illyra Bennet, the con artist that caused a rift between me and Andrei years ago. The girl who made my brother weak and vulnerable. All this time, I had kept track of her, waiting for her to go back to her old ways, but she didn't. It came as a shock to me when I realized that she might have changed after all these years. I knew her failed engagement with Andrei had everything to do with it. I had sent several private investigators to watch when she would start gambling again, but she didn't. She had also blatantly refused to let Lyra marry me to get the land, and she could go to hell for that. When I realized none of my plans were working, I decided to try another way. Lyra herself. Until we had met at the restaurant a few days ago, all I knew about her were from a private investigator with a grainy photograph. Illyra had always made a great effort to keep her away from me. They moved to different cities once they suspected they were being watched. It was a s
But Lyra was quite different. I could hardly believe they were sisters. In her, I saw innocence and her heart was warm. "But.." "I will be happy to get you a cake," I said fervently. "And a designer wedding gown and a ten-carat diamond ring." Reaching for her hand, I kissed it, then looked into her eyes. "Just tell me what you want, and it's yours."I felt her hands tremble in my own before she yanked it away. "Just bring my sister home. Safely from your brother. The more time she spends with him, the more her life is in danger. We have never been apart for years and it's driving me crazy." "You have my word. I will bring her back to you soon." I rose to my feet. "I must call my lawyer to discuss some important things. In the meantime, you should rest." I gestured to the bookshelves of first-edition books. "Read if you like. I have great books that may interest you. Your breakfast will be here at any moment. Excuse me.""Thank you for saving my sister," she whispered. She took a de
Illyra's POV“Illyra, wake up! Wake up, please!”A hand roughly shook me awake. Startled, I sat up with a gasp, blinking in the darkness. Were we under attack?My younger sister, Lyra, was sitting on the edge of the bed. Tears sparkled on her pale cheeks in the moonlight, and I immediately knew something wrong had happened. “What’s happened? Talk to me, Lyra. What happened?” I dropped my bare feet to the tile floor, ready to run, ready to fight anyone who had made my baby sister cry. “What’s wrong? Did anyone hurt you?”Lyra took a deep breath and exhaled. “I really messed up this time.” She wiped her eyes. “But before you freak out, I want you to know it will be fine. I know how to fix it.”Rather than be comforted by this statement, I felt deepening fear. There was nothing scarier than the words she said to me. My twenty-one-year-old sister, five years younger than me, had a knack for getting into trouble. Everything she did somehow always got her into a mess. And she was wearin
For a second, I couldn’t understand the words that Lyra said. Or maybe I didn't want to understand them.The lingering tears of relief burned my eyes like acid as I stared at my sister. How on earth could she do something so stupid? A hundred thousand dollars. How would we pay back a hundred thousand dollars? We were running from men already because of our debts, and the least she could do was lay low. Instead, she decided what we owed was not enough and had to add to the number. Turning away, I started to pace, compulsively twisting a long tendril of blond hair into a tight ringlet around my finger as I struggled to make sense of all my worst fears coming true. I had feared something like this would happen at the resort. I had dreaded the day we would be stuck in a terrible situation and flee our job. I tried to control my shaking hands, but I couldn't. I tried desperately to think of a way out, and my mind was blank. There was only one way out in situations like this. “But I to
“No! It’s my fault, Illyra, and I can fix it. Listen. On Christmas Eve, I met a man who told me how...”But I didn’t wait to hear whatever cockamamy sob story someone might have fed my softhearted sister this time. No one was coming to save her, and I had to do it. I grabbed my black leather motorcycle jacket and headed for the door.“Illyra, wait! Don't do it! You don't have to do this for me. I could get you into trouble.” She cried but I ignored her. I didn’t look back. I walked out of our tiny apartment and went down the open-air hallway to the moss-covered, crumbling concrete steps of the aging building where all the Hale Ka’nani Resort’s staff lived."It’s just like riding a bike. It will be easier than you think." I told myself fiercely as I raced down the steps. It was just as easy as dozing off after a long workday. Even after ten years away from the game, I could win at poker. I could. I didn't have a choice, or my sister would be indebted. And I knew just the way Aldric w
“This is my outfit for the night.” My voice was cool as I stared him down. “For poker.”"Are you going in to play?" He asked me, looking shocked. "Yes, my sister started a game and I am here to end it." I replied. “Oh.” His round, friendly face looked confused. “Well. Okay. Go in, then.”“Thanks.” Forcing the ice in my voice to fully infuse my heart, I pushed open the door. There was no going back, and I knew it. I walked into the room and exhaled. The private room for the villa residents had a cavernous ceiling and no windows. Everything was built with security and privacy in mind. The walls were soundproofed with thick red fabric that swooped from a center point on the ceiling. The effect made the room glamorous and cozy, and claustrophobic all at once. It felt all too dark and unhealthy for me. I wondered how Lyra was brought to a place like this and didn't freak out. To me, it felt like entering the tent of a sheik’s harem. But as I approached the wealthy men who were playing
Andrei Andreevich's eyes narrowed with recognition, and then I felt the rush of his sudden searing hatred like fire. I could feel the heat of his intense eyes all over my body. “Have you met Prince Andrei?” Aldric asked, looking between us. Everyone at the table was staring as well. Maybe it was the way I looked like I had seen a ghost or the way he was gritting his teeth. Either way, we both looked vicious. “Prince?” I choked out. The last time I remembered, he didn't use his worthless title. I could not look away from his face, the face of the man I’d dreamed about unwillingly for the past ten years.His cruel, sensual lips curved as he leaned back in his chair. My heart tried to pump blood aggressively, but I resisted. I wasn't going to let my guard down for him. “Miss Bennet,” he drawled. “I didn’t know you were in Hawaii. And gambling. What a pleasant surprise.”Miss Bennet? He would never call me that ten years ago. He loved to call me Illyra all the time. His tone also carri