Page 77 of Vows of Blood
“No, no,” he says to whoever’s on the phone. “Send her up.”
He hangs up the phone and crosses his arms, the gun still pointed out at me. “I suppose this tragic love story wouldn’t be what it was without a proper goodbye, would it?”
Now I’m confused. What is he…?Send her up.
Isabella. Fuck. She found her way here.
“Don’t worry,” he says. He must see the change in my eyes. “A man should never have to mourn two wives. I will ensure that she remains unharmed.”
I want to believe him. He is currently in control of this situation, and as devious as he’s been, I’m having a hard time believing that he wouldn’t be so cruel as to kill Isabella in front of me.
There’s a knock at the door. I want to turn to see her. I don’t dare take my eyes off my father. I hear the door open and I catch a whiff of her. The soft smell of jasmine floats into the room.
She doesn’t say anything. I imagine seeing my father holding a gun on me is a shock. His face splits into a charismatic smile. “Isabella. Please. Come in.”
29
ISABELLA
This is probably the last thing I expected to see.
Alexei, alive, but looking a little beat up, is standing in the middle of the room staring at his father who is leaning against his desk, arms folded, with a gun on him. Pavel is standing holding the door for me, and his bottom lip is slowly swelling as blood trickles from the side of his mouth.
I have clearly missed several chapters here.
I walk in as Maxim smiles at me. Pavel closes the door behind me and immediately, I feel like I’m trapped… probably because I just walked right into one.
“What is all this?” I ask. I’m looking at Alexei’s profile. One side of his face and jaw are bruised up pretty good and he’s got blood splattered on his shirt, but otherwise, he looks whole. I want to wrap my arms around him and kiss him, soothe the angry, purpling bruises with my touch…
I don’t know that he would accept it if I did that, though. He was so angry the last time we spoke.
Maxim motions at me with his gun. “Have a seat, my dear.”
I walk over to the chair near the window and sit down. I don’t dare speak right now.
“Your arrival is quite fortuitous,” he says. “We were just discussing you.”
I shift uncomfortably in my chair. “You were?”
He shrugs. “I was questioning my son’s decision to bring you along to the cabin. An odd choice for a marriage of convenience, I think. Especially when we are actively at war with your father. A war, as it happens,hestarted.”
My mouth is so dry. The cold finger of fear runs down my spine. I feel like I’m either standing in front of a firing squad or sitting by and watching it.
“Alexei broke our agreement by targeting your father,” he goes on. “This… attack that happened to you this morning would not have occurred if he hadn’t made an attempt on his life. Now, tragically, I have to act. Retribution is inevitable, I’m afraid.”
He’s lying. I know he is. I don’t know what he’s trying to pull by attempting to make me believe that obvious fucking lie, but it’s not working. “Alexei didn’t try to kill my father,” I tell him.
“No? Well, who else would? Especially since it was I who ordered the hit.”
That terrible nausea that’s been swirling in my stomach for the past day has come back. I can taste it at the back of my throat. “You told Alexei to kill him?”
Maxim glances at me and smiles. “Don’t act surprised, my dear. It’s the perfect job for him. He’s an excellent marksman.”
I have to swallow to keep the bile down. “That doesn’t make any sense. Why would he…?”
“It doesn’t matter, does it?” he says. “All that matters is how we move forward. And now that you’re here, I want to make you an offer. Something that might solve all of the problems you’ve been having these past few months.”
“Problems?”
