Total pages in book: 35
Estimated words: 33162 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 166(@200wpm)___ 133(@250wpm)___ 111(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 33162 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 166(@200wpm)___ 133(@250wpm)___ 111(@300wpm)
This was a couple of hours before. The theme of the wedding was white and black. Women were meant to wear white, the men wearing black. Roman had his designer suit on, and he’d picked out the white wraparound-style dress for his woman. She looked so beautiful in it.
“I won’t leave your side,” he said.
“You know I don’t want to be here,” Chloe said, as they finally arrived at the country estate where the wedding was being held.
This was the first time since their wedding that Chloe had been exposed to the Zaitsev Bratva.
“I know,” he said. “But we all must do things we don’t want to do. This is business.”
“Business. Right. And nothing gets in the way of business. Not even civilian people who were just living their lives without a care in the world.”
“Chloe?”
“It’s fine. It is just something I have to put up with, right? Just another part of our charm. You know, the fact that you lied about who you were. That you never loved me, and our whole wedding was a complete sham.”
The limousine came to a stop. Chloe reached for the door handle. Roman had the sense to get the driver to put the child lock on so she couldn’t make her escape. He grabbed her hand and pulled her in close.
“What?” she asked. “Are you angry with me? Are you going to hit me?”
Other than spanking her ass, he’d never raised his hand to her in anger, or to cause fear. He would never hit Chloe.
Cupping her cheek, he forced her to tilt her head back. “I know this is hard for you. To you, that night, everyone was part of your family’s death. I can promise you, no one here had anything to do with that night. They don’t even know who you are. Only Zaitsev, he’s the only one who knows. As far as everyone is concerned, you are mine. I made my claim of you.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“The only person you’re allowed to be angry at, is me.”
She glared at him. “I hate you.”
“No, you don’t.”
She growled at him, and he found the sound so utterly cute.
“No, you don’t,” he said, gripping the back of her neck, and kissing her hard. “You don’t hate me.”
“But you don’t love me.”
Roman stared at her and saw the tears in her eyes. She tucked her head down, but then she glanced past his shoulder. “We better go inside.”
Gritting his teeth, he opened the door and stepped out. He gave Chloe a few seconds before reaching for her hand. She took it, but he felt the shake of her palm.
Chloe thought he didn’t love her. What was love? He didn’t know the emotion. He certainly didn’t understand it. Love made men weak. It made them fools.
No, he wasn’t in love.
He wasn’t capable of loving anyone or anything.
Stepping into the main foyer, he shook his head at the lavishness being exposed. There were flowers everywhere. The scent of them hung heavy in the air. There were so many different kinds—daffodils, daisies, roses, petunias, dahlias. He shook his head and held onto his wife. There were a lot of people—men he recognized, several other Brigadiers, associates, powerful politicians, and many more. He noticed Zaitsev himself, who gave him a nod.
“There are a lot of people here,” Chloe said.
“They would have all been at our wedding, but I knew you wouldn’t approve.”
There were several passing waiters, holding trays of champagne. When one passed him by, he took two glasses and handed one to Chloe.
“You’re allowing me to drink?” she asked.
“One glass before the ceremony. It won’t hurt.”
She took a sip and he saw her wrinkle her nose.
“Yeah, I think this is going to last the whole ceremony.”
Chloe wasn’t a big drinker. Roman checked out the room, looking for any sign of an attack. The Zaitsev had a lot of enemies who would love to take advantage of the moment. He wasn’t a fool, and knew this put them at risk. So did Zaitsev, but he refused to lower the numbers for any wedding. The only reason he had done so for him was at his personal request, and considering who Chloe was, it had been one he’d gone through with.
Sipping at the champagne, he took hold of Chloe’s hand as they were escorted out of the back into the lavish garden that had been set up as a church. He spotted the priest at the end of the aisle. The seats on the bride’s side were all white, and the men’s side were all black.
Roman didn’t get it, but he didn’t have to. All he needed to do was get through this wedding and get Chloe home. He saw several of the women sitting in the bride’s area, but Roman wouldn’t allow Chloe to go anywhere.