He was equal parts annoying and sexy.
Wounding me up like a toy every single time his name so much as came up.
In front of my father, I’d been passive, unbothered. My father would never cage me. I knew if I even looked slightly bothered, he would undo the decision regardless of the consequences.
I’d agreed.
For our organizations, for my family, for my father.
When I told Paulina and Sam, they burst out laughing.
“No, no,” Sam said between laughs, completely out of breath, “because I seriously thought you were joking.”
“Ha ha, keep laughing.” I rolled my eyes at the both of them, laughing and holding on to each other as the driver drove us to a club for the night.
My shoulders were tensed. Losing two properties, having my first contribution to my family’s business blown up, having a girl that had been under my care cut up like an animal, and now I had to get married to a man that infuriated me.
Whoever said life was a bitch knew exactly what they were talking about.
Paulina wiped at the tears in her eyes. “I know you said it over the phone but hearing it from your lips is just….”
“I know!” Sam was still hysterical.
“I always thought Sam would be the first one to get married.”
“And you would be the last.” Sam added. “Not just the last, but probably a widow in less than ten years because of that shitty temper of yours.”
“Yeah, you were supposed to be our black widow, not fucking Mrs. Klaus.”
I sighed and turned my face to the window as my friends laughed and joked all the way to the club.
Paulina whooped at the packed club. “Barely in, and I can already see ten hotties.”
“Are you going to attempt chastity before your marriage or…?” Sam asked with a raised brow, and they both looked at me quietly for a while before a wicked smile broke across my face.
They laughed again, and we went on to party.
The music was pumping, and the dancefloor was packed with writhing bodies, but the sense was sharp and clear.
Somebody was watching me.
“Katya, are you good?” Paulina yelled over the music when she saw I’d stopped dancing.
Looking around, I couldn’t make out much. Too many people, most of the moving, plus the flashing lights.
“Yeah, keep dancing. I’m going back to the table.”
The VIP section was a lot less packed, and getting visuals was better because the lights didn’t flash, although they were dim.
I could survey better from my seat up here. Watching the dance floor, I couldn’t catch the person that was watching me.
But they were still there because the feeling was still here, at the front of my mind.
I turned my eyes upwards. If they were still watching me, maybe it was from the VIP section.
Carefully I scanned the room until I stopped at a figure enjoying a drink on the other side of the VIP section.
Maxim Triev.