Chapter 10 - Raisa

I don’t say a word as Oleg leads me out of the party. My heart feels heavy because I was so excited to see my brothers. I thought there was no way in hell they would fall for my pretend happiness at being this man’s wife, but they not only fell for it, they were very open about blaming everything on me too.

Is that really how they see me? As some silly girl who makes silly choices and puts the family at risk?

Do they really think I would go behind their backs and actually get married?

I can’t believe it. I hate the fact that they were so mean to me in front of everyone watching.

I feel embarrassed and hurt.

I don’t think they were fair at all with the way they treated me.

I sigh as I stare out of the window.

The driver starts the limo and I bite at my lower lip, lost in thought about how badly that all went.

I can’t believe that they all think I got myself into this mess. They didn’t even pause to think for a second that just maybe something else was going on. Not even Rad—who I get on the best with out of all the boys. He is more patient than the others, a little gentler with his words—but not tonight. Tonight, he was just angry.

“Are you ok?” Oleg asks, reaching out and brushing his hand over my leg.

I turn to glare at him, angry and hurt.

“No, I’m not ok and it’s your fault. You should never have done any of this. It hasn’t helped anything. Didn’t you see in there—how angry they all were? What did you hope to achieve by forcing me to marry you and then parading me in front of my brothers?” I snap loudly.

“Are you kidding me? I wasn’t the one who disrespected you in there. Your brothers treated you like shit. They have no respect for you at all. Why in the world did you let them talk to you like that? Why didn’t you tell them to go to hell?”

“My brothers are not the problem, Oleg. You are!” I shout back at him.

All of the calm that I have managed to maintain over the past week is suddenly exploding out of me. I can’t hold it back anymore. I’m too angry now. I’ve been put through too much. All of this for what? What was the goal? I don’t understand his thinking at all.

His brothers were angry at him the other day and my brothers are angry at me now. What good is coming of this?

“If my brothers spoke to me like that, I would have punched them in the face,” Oleg mutters.

“Oh, yes? You would have? What would that have solved? My brothers are just trying to take care of me. They have always protected me. My whole life they have been there for me.”

“It didn’t look like it tonight. All they did was treat you badly.”

“What do you know? You know nothing about me and nothing about my family. You have your comfortable life here in this city. You have whatever you want. We had a hard life growing up. My parents died when I was too young to even get to know them. Rodion has been a father figure to all of us, and each of us takes care of the other. My brothers might be overprotective and overbearing—but I know they love me and all they want is for me to be safe.”

It looks like my words have cut a nerve in him. His eyes are narrowed towards me and I can see he is biting back his own words. I feel bad, I don’t like to hurt people, but I didn’t say anything that wasn’t true. I didn’t say anything unfair.

He kidnapped me and then he turned my own brothers against me.

I have a right to be angry with him.

I wish I could speak to Ruslana. She would understand my frustration.

Finally, Oleg shakes his head.

“You don’t get it, Raisa. You don’t understand,” he says softly. He’s frustrated.

“You’re right. I don’t understand and with all of your talking, you haven’t bothered to actually explain it to me.”

He rubs his hands up and down his pants, trying to get rid of the tension building inside his body. I know, because I feel the same tension building inside mine. I am struggling not to explode in a louder rage, to lash out, to say things I will regret.

“I did this to form an alliance between our families,” he presses.

“But, Oleg, don’t you see how many alliances you are going to trigger as well? Not everyone agrees with what you did. People are going to leave alliances because of your actions. “

“Bullshit,” he snaps. “Just because people were staring at the party tonight doesn’t mean they don’t agree with me. People love drama. They love the politics. It’s all a load of shit if you ask me. They need to mind their own business—but I promise you something, my allies are strong.”

“Your allies might be strong, but what position have you put my brothers in? They haven’t had a chance to establish themselves like you have in this city. They have enemies here, enemies who might see this as a weakness and come pushing harder at their door.”

“Your brothers need to learn who to negotiate with and who to fight with. So far, they are fighting with the wrong people and causing shit with the wrong families. They came here with too much arrogance and it’s going to backfire,” he snaps at me. I clench my fists in my lap, trying not to react. I close my eyes and shake my head. He is making me so angry. How dare he speak about my family like that? He wants them to show respect, but he doesn’t seem to respect anyone.

“You are so busy standing up for me against my brothers—but what about you? Why do you get to treat me however you want to? Who is going to tell you that you need to have respect?”

“You think I don’t respect you?” He glares at me. “Are you blind? Have I not given you everything you need? Have I not done my best to make sure that you are comfortable in your new home?”

“ Your home. Not mine . I didn’t choose any of this. After you kidnapped me and forced me into a life I was trying to get away from.”

Oleg grabs my jaw in his hand. I can see an intense darkness in his eyes. One that terrifies me and, to my horror, turns me on like a fire screaming through my blood and igniting my skin.

“You don’t think I’ve treated you well, Raisa?” He says my name as though it was a threat on his lips.

“I—I—“ I stammer. All I can do is stare into his eyes, full of menacing threat. My mind is so focused on how his hand feels on my skin, and the way my body is alight with sudden and intense need for him.

His eyes drop to my lips and the way his mouth opens slightly makes me shudder. I gasp softly as he leans towards me—and then all of my self-control leaves me.

I throw myself against him, my lips pressed into his as I climb onto his lap.

I seem to take him as much by surprise as I take myself.

But I can’t stop.

The first time we kissed—and every day since then—I have not been able to stop thinking about what he would really feel like. How it would be to have him properly.

He grabs my hips and pulls me harder against him, thrusting his hips upwards and pressing his cock between my legs.

My dress is riding up over my thighs and his hands are hot on my skin.

His touch drifts beneath my skirt, up over my hips as he pushes me down harder against his cock.

Our lips are locked together, my hands around his neck as I kiss him harder, fierce and angry. It’s as though all my frustration is coming out of me in the most passionate way possible.

He grabs a handful of my hair and tilts my head backwards. His lips brush across my neck, sending shivers down my spine. I shudder with pleasure as he trails kisses along my skin.

My nails dig into him, my pussy throbbing as I rock my hips back and forth on top of him.

I’m nervous—to have sex for the first time—but I am more than ready.

I am desperate for him.

I’ve never felt like this for any other man—and I don’t want to stop what is about to happen.

He pushes me slightly back and tugs his belt open. I bite my lower lip as I stare into his eyes.

Sudden loud snaps of sound shockwave through the air and I let out a sharp scream as something slams into the window of the car.

Oleg lifts me, throwing me onto the seat next to us and covering my body with his.

The driver rolls down the privacy window and shouts back to us, “We’re taking fire!” The security guard next to him is busy cocking his gun, preparing to fire back.

I scream again as more thunderous sounds burst into the air around us and thud against the window.

“It’s bulletproof, Raisa. We’ll be ok,” Oleg says against my ear, cradling me in his arms.

“Get us out of here now!” he shouts to the driver.

The limo swerves and skids over the road as we turn corners at a speed I don’t even want to guess. I keep my face buried against Oleg’s chest and my eyes squeezed tightly closed. My heart is beating so fast all I can hear is the drum of it in my ears.

I want to cry and scream at the same time, I am so terrified.

Oleg doesn’t let me go, not even for a moment.

The car chase continues for far too long and we take a few more bullets, which slam against the side of the car but never break through.

In the front, the driver and his security guy are both shooting back.

The limo skids around another corner and I hear a loud crash as something happens to the other car.

“He’s rolled!” the driver shouts. We accelerate forward and all I can hear now is the growl of the engine as we race away.

Oleg holds me for a few minutes longer, then pulls me back to look at my face. Embarrassingly, my cheeks are stained with tears.

“Raisa, are you ok?” he asks. But all I can do is stare at him.

“Raisa,” he says more sharply, shaking me slightly.

I stammer, “I’m—I’m ok.”

“Good.” He looks up towards the driver as he pulls me onto his lap. “Take us to the safe house.”

He cradles me on his lap and I curl up in his arms, not caring about anything other than how safe he is making me feel right now. My heart won’t stop going crazy and tears are still streaming down my cheeks.

I have never been more scared in my life.

I’ve never felt like I was about to die—that was too much.

My entire body is shaking and my breathing is sharp and heavy.

Oleg keeps stroking his hand over my hair and whispering to me. “It’s ok, Raisa. It’s going to be ok.”

We drive for ages, out of the city center and towards the outskirts, to a place I don’t know.

We pull up into a driveway and the driver presses a button to open a security gate.

He parks inside the garage.

The security officer turns around to speak to us.

“I’ll guard the perimeter. You two get inside. Do you want me to call for backup?”

“There is no need. This place is secure enough. You two can bunk in the security hideout tonight. We won’t be staying here long. Just get some rest. We can deal with the car and this shit show tomorrow morning.”

Oleg opens the car door and lifts me out, still holding me in his arms.

His security officer unlocks the entrance and lets us into the house, then they disappear to the other side of the house and Oleg carries me into the bedroom upstairs. He gently puts me on the bed.

I still can’t stop shaking.