Mama would want more for me. I must make her proud.
Ten
Cammie
The driveback to the stables wasn’t exactly excruciating but neither was it comfortable. Relief warred with my nerves, because as happy as I was to be escaping my father, Brennan was a stranger.
More than that, he was an enemy. Even if the Irish weren’t technically our foes anymore, they’d spent most of my life as such and would remain that way until I was tucked safely in their bosom.
They’d accepted Inessa, so I didn’t see why they wouldn’t accept me. Especially when I’d do anything, and I meant anything, to make Brennan happy.
A happy husband was a means of survival.
If he was content with me, I’d live.
If he wasn’t, then my usefulness would end.
Just like Mama…
He wanted kids—I’d give him kids. As many of them as he wanted, and when he grew displeased with my body, one that bore the signs of his offspring, I’d be grateful when he took to a mistress. I’d be safe.
I’d have a family.
I’d no longer be a Vasov.
I’d no longer be Bratva.
As I wondered if Inessa knew how lucky she was, I stared out of the window, trying to be as quiet as I could be. As meek as possible. I’d been trained for the role of timid, placid,acceptingwife all my life, so this was no hardship, and I didn’t want to do anything that would change Brennan’s mind.
Twenty-four hours.
God, it was like a ticking time bomb in my head.
I hated that there was a waiting period. If we could have gone to the judge right then and there, I would have. I resented that I couldn’t.
Goddamn rules and regulations.
My hands tightened into fists as I watched the city swirl by.
The time for hopes and prayers was gone. I’d seen how Eoghan cared for Inessa, and had to pray that his brother fell from the same tree.
If I was tying myself to someone as brutal as Abramovicz, then I’d end my life in a heartbeat. I wasn’t about to be a man’s punching bag.
No way, no how.
But that kiss… I didn’t think brutality was in him. At least, not against women. He could have taken me in the stables, but he hadn’t. Could have shown me what my new life was going to look like. Could have taken what wasn’t offered, but he hadn’t.
Instead, he’d made me experience things that might as well have been extra-terrestrial before—arousal.
“Are you okay?”
The question stirred me from my thoughts, and I turned to find Brennan watching me.
He did that a lot.
I could feel his gaze drifting over me in the clerk’s office and on the journey to and from it. I didn’t mind. I was used to being looked at like I was an inanimate object.
No thoughts in my head.