Page 11 of His to Own

“What’s going on?” I whisper.

“I am Dr. Ivanov,” the man explains. “I am Nikolai’s personal doctor. I came to look at your head. Fortunately, there’s no bleeding. You were lucky. You didn’t hit your head as hard as your sister thought you did.”

A headache rips right through my skull. “But my head hurts. A headache.”

“You should still go to a hospital. Get it looked at in case there’s anything deeper going on that I couldn’t see with my own eyes. But from the outside, you’re fine.”

“Good,” Father says in his gruff voice. “So we’ll be leaving now.”

“You will bring Elena to the hospital, right?” Lana asks.

He stares back at her for a long moment before he nods. “I will take her. Elena, let’s go.”

“Give her a minute,” Lana snaps. “She just fell and passed out. She needs a moment.”

“You are getting awfully comfortable bossing me around, daughter.”

Lana stands up straighter. At five-seven, she’s always been on the taller side and right now, she looks like an imposing figure. As someone who’s shorter than her, I knew I would never be able to have the grace and elegance my sister has. I’ll never be able to stand up to my father like she can.

“I am the wife of Nikolai Smirnoff,” Lana says. “I may be your daughter but you will show me respect.”

Father sneers. “I am taking my daughter home.”

“She should rest. At least for a little while. Come back in a few hours. I’ll look over Elena.”

He curls his hands into fists. “She is my daughter.”

“And she’s my sister.”

“Enough,” Nikolai cuts in. “Elena will rest here for a few hours. Gregory, why don’t you and I talk for a bit, mmm?”

“What is there to talk about?”

“Business. Like the business of marrying Elena to that man. Sergei, was his name? I never agreed to it.”

“No. That’s because you want to marry her to that punk.”

My chest squeezes again. “What… who…?”

Lana sighs, her eyes fluttering closed.

“Who?” I demand, trying to find strength in my voice.

“Maxim Morozov,” Father says with a huff. The way he says Maxim’s name, like a dirty word, makes the pit in my stomach grow. “Nikolai wants you married to him to make a peace deal but I will not stand for it. I am your father and I will choose the man you will marry and that is Sergei Petrov. End of discussion. There is nothing you can do about it, Nikolai. Elena is my daughter. I get the final say.”

Nikolai glares at my father for a long moment before he nods. “I know you do, Gregory. But you will lead us into a war. I’m keeping Maxim at bay. He’s having fun for now. But he will not like being slighted.”

“Then you never should have promised him my daughter in the first place.”

“Because I thought you would agree to the deal,” Nikolai hisses. “It’s a good deal. Maxim has a lot of power and connections and right now, he wants to be on our side. But he could easily go against us and if he does, that will put us at war. I am trying to prevent that.”

“By using my daughter?” Father huffs. “Think again. I will not let you steal another one of my daughters from me.”

“It’s your pride talking, Gregory. Not the love for your daughters that has you upset.”

He points a finger in Nikolai’s face. “You do not get to speak to me this way. We are partners.”

“Then as my partner, you never should have told that old fucker he could marry Elena without discussing it with me first.”