The gruffness of Oleksandr’s voice had made me anxious, though. Something in his tone bothered me, putting a knot in my stomach that had nothing to do with morning sickness. It made having to meet him that much more nerve-racking for me. Not that I’d told Zak. He loved his surrogate family so much. I wanted him to be happy, so I needed to get along with the man who had raised him.

  Zak wrapped his hand around mine, giving it a reaffirming squeeze, reminding me without words how much he loved me. “If it becomes too much for you, just let me know. We can leave. I’ll tell them we want some alone time.” His jaw clenched, a muscle twitching in his cheek broadcasting his displeasure. “A few hours to ourselves before your mother carts you back to that fucking compound for the night.”

  Some of my nervousness eased at the pout in his voice. He wasn’t happy about us having to spend the night apart. It would be the first time we hadn’t slept in the same bed since the day after we’d met. I wasn’t excited about it either. My greed to have all his time and attention bordered on obsession, but I couldn’t bring myself to care.

  With Zak, I felt like a different person—maybe even a better person. The only thing I was selfish about now was him, and from how he was with me, I got the feeling he was just as obsessed with me as I was with him.

  Entwining our fingers, I leaned my head against his shoulder. “I can’t wait until I’m your wife.”

  He kissed the top of my head, and I heard him inhale deeply. “Neither can I, dragotsennyy.”

  Like this, there were no other problems in my world. The city could have been on fire, the entire world turning to ashes, and it wouldn’t have mattered. Because I knew as long as I had Zak holding me, I was safe and loved. Our baby and I were untouchable to everything bad in the world as long as he was at my side.

  Tipping my head back, I didn’t have to wait longer than a second before he was kissing me. He showed so much passion and emotion in each brush of his lips over mine, his hunger matching my own. I thrust my fingers into his hair, and I started to push him backward onto the town car’s bench seat, thankful for the partition that separated us from the driver—

  The back door opened, and the only reason I knew who had interrupted us was the vicious curse of my brother as he slammed the door shut. Tavia’s laughter greeted me as I dropped my head to Zak’s chest with a pained groan.

  “Brothers suck,” I muttered unhappily.

  Zak agreed with a grunt, running his fingers through the hair I’d tousled with my own only moments before.

  “I would think you children would have learned to knock before opening any door when it comes to your siblings and their significant others,” Tetka said loudly from just outside the door.

  “It’s an idling car in front of the restaurant where her rehearsal dinner is taking place,” Theo argued. “I didn’t think she would be on top of him like…that.”

  Tavia’s snort was joined by several others’ I recognized and had come to love over the long summer I’d spent in Creswell Springs. “Says the man who—”

  “I do not need that image back in my head, thank you very much,” Raven Reid cut off her daughter abruptly, only causing both Lexa and Tavia to laugh harder. I heard a sharp rap of knuckles on the window. “Sofia, I suggest you join us out here. Your parents just pulled up, and with the way Theo is behaving, your father is about to find out about your clandestine moment with your groom.”

  Sighing, I kissed Zak one more time before opening the door and then jumping out and into the arms of the woman who had taught me so much in such a short amount of time. Raven hugged me back tightly. In a matter of a few months, I’d gone from hating and resenting her to respecting and then loving her. All because she’d had the guts to be hard on me, to teach me what it was like in the real world. My entire life, I’d been given everything I’d ever wanted, but for once, I’d had to work for everything.

  My time in Creswell Springs was full of hard lessons, but they had been ones I would never forget for as long as I lived.

  “Thank you for coming,” I told her as I stepped back, wiping at the tears that had started leaking out of my eyes the moment her arms had wrapped around me.

  Her smile was tender as she dashed away one of my stray tears with her thumb. “I wouldn’t have missed this for anything, sweetheart.”

  Behind me, Zak stepped onto the sidewalk, and I hurriedly introduced him to her and everyone else. Raven and her husband, Lexa and her small family, along with Flick, Jet, Garret, and Nova, all stood there. Of course, my cousin Ryan was right beside Nova, and the sight of the best friends only broadened my smile as I hugged Nova. Everyone greeted Zak warmly, welcoming him into the weird family dynamic they had adopted Tavia into years before. I’d been made a part of their family as well by the end of the summer, but at times, it had felt as if I was fighting not to be included in it.

  Now I was thankful I hadn’t made them give up on me.

  By the time my parents joined us, it was time to go in for dinner, but Zak’s family had yet to arrive. He waved it off, saying they were always late for everything, and we made our way inside.

  Since the Vituccis owned the place, it had been closed down for the rehearsal dinner, but all the waitstaff were there to seat us and keep drinks and appetizers flowing. My dad sat at one end of the table, my mom to his right, while the other end had been reserved for Oleksandr and his wife. Zak and I sat in the middle of the long table, surrounded by everyone but his own four family members.

  He didn’t seem to mind that they were running late, instead making conversation with my cousins and Lexa’s husband, Ben, who were the closest to us. But my mom, Tetka, and Zia Scarlett kept tossing me raised-browed looks, silently asking me what the delay was.

  Their curiosity over the absence of my future in-laws only made me ten times more nervous to meet Oleksandr.

  Finally, as the first course was being served, the group of four walked in. My mom, always the perfect hostess, rushed to greet them, and I tugged on Zak’s arm to follow her. Taking my hand, he lifted it to his lips to kiss my palm before getting to his feet to welcome his family.

  Olena and Mom were just stepping back from a hug, but I noticed right away that Yulia seemed tense. When Mom went to embrace her, Yulia stuck her hand out instead of accepting the hug. Before I could really wonder about what was going on with her, I noted the tear streaks down Yulia’s cheeks and rushed forward to hug her myself.

  “Is everything okay?” I murmured softly, so only she could hear me. I gently ran a finger down her cheek, and to my surprise, she leaned into my touch.

  “E-everything is fine,” she answered a little unsteadily. “Sorry for our tardiness. Our call with my stepchildren ran later than we anticipated.”

  “I’m sure they are missing you and your husband,” I told her with a smile, lifting my gaze to the man directly behind her. When I found him unsmiling, that knot of nervousness returned, and I blindly reached for Zak’s hand that I’d dropped to hug Yulia.

  But he wasn’t there. Instead, I caught Mom’s hand and held on tight, needing her to center me. There was something about Volodymyr that unsettled me. I didn’t sense a threat, something I’d learned to be aware of since I was practically a baby. Yet something in his eyes made me want to hide behind my parents and not have to look at this man who was about to become family.

  Mom squeezed my hand before releasing it, but only so she could place her arm around my waist. There was no mistaking that she was not my biological mother, but we were close, and she could sense my unease immediately. Then I felt Dad come up behind us, his strong hands landing on both our shoulders, and I could finally take a deep breath for the first time since looking at Volodymyr Yanukovych.

  With my nerves somewhat calmed, I glanced around for Zak and found he had moved off to the side to speak in hushed tones to Oleksandr. The older man’s back was to me, but I could see part of Zak’s face, and his narrowed eyes told me he was displeased with his surrogate father.

  Reaching up, I gave Dad’s hand a pat before walking over to Zak. Behind me, Mom and Dad struck up a conversation with Olena, while I vaguely noted that Yulia and her husband remained quiet. But I couldn’t focus on their oddly distant behaviors when I could see how pissed Zak was.

  Wanting to distract him, I slipped my arm around his waist and cupped the side of his face, drawing his head down for a kiss. An annoyed grumble came from the old man in front of us, but I paid him no attention as I got lost in the taste of the man I loved.

  When Zak lifted his head, his lids were at half-mast, and he looked down at me with nothing but passion shining from those golden eyes that never failed to enthrall me. “Hi,” I breathed.

  “Hello, dragotsennyy.”

  Reluctantly, I turned my head and looked at Oleksandr for the first time. For several long moments, we stared at each other, and I got the strangest feeling he was not only sizing me up, but was playing a game with me. Waiting to see who would give in first.

  But that was childish, and I wasn’t that person any longer. Pasting a smile on my face, I extended my hand. “Hi, I’m Sofia.”

  He glanced down at my hand for a short moment before finally shaking it. “Oleksandr, but you already knew that,” he said with a hard grin. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, girl.” Zak’s growl made him roll his eyes, but he amended his greeting. “It’s a pleasure, Sofia.”

  Zak

  The instant Sofia’s hand touched Oleksandr’s, I wanted to snatch it back. Especially after the conversation we’d just had.

  He’d explained the reason they were so late was because Yulia was having a meltdown. The tantrums of all tantrums—or so Oleks had said. The old man didn’t have much patience for female emotions, so that could have meant anything from a simple passing comment to a full-on stomping, screaming fit full of hysterics and dramatics that could bring a city crumbling around us all.

  Given the coolness Yulia and her husband were currently directing at my soon-to-be in-laws, I had to guess that it was more the latter than the former. My ex-sister-in-law didn’t get emotional often, a safety mechanism she’d built up inside herself to survive first her father and then my brother during their marriage. But when she did let her feelings get the better of her, she became unpredictable.

  And it was all because of Oleksandr. His glee over my wedding. The way he’d been so damn condescending since his arrival the day before, because everything he’d ever wanted was within his grasp. I wanted to punch that smug look off his face, but that would surely be hypocritical of me since I was the one responsible for putting it there.

  By doing everything he’d ever asked of me out of a sense of obligation to him, I’d allowed him to think he could rule my life even after my marriage to Sofia was finalized. I could see it in his eyes, the way he wanted to use her—and me. Then once Oleksandr found out about Sofia’s pregnancy, it would only get worse. His ambitions would escalate until he was literally the president of our country.

  Anger directed solely at myself burned in my gut, and I wanted to scoop Sofia into my arms and get her as far away from her biological family as possible. One word from any of them, and I knew without a shadow of a doubt that I would lose her. Not that I had anyone besides myself to blame.

  I should have explained everything the moment I met her. But even then, I hadn’t considered the consequences of what would happen should she learn the truth. Now, it was my greatest fear. A fear that was like a noose around my neck, tightening with every smug grin directed at my bride. I couldn’t fucking breathe each time Yulia and Volodymyr glanced at Sofia with longing, and then me with disgust.

  Dinner passed in a blur. Fear I was unused to feeling made my palms sweat. I barely ate the food that was set before me. What I was able to put into my mouth was tasteless. My lack of appetite didn’t go unnoticed by Sofia, and she moved closer, resting her hand on my thigh and rubbing up and down in a manner I knew she meant to be soothing, but even with anxiety and fear churning in my gut, my body couldn’t stop its reaction to her soft touch.

  Capturing her hand, I brought it to my lips and kissed her palm. Need flashed through her blue eyes, and I wanted to pull her under the table and make her come on my tongue. But my Sofia was anything but quiet when I was giving her pleasure. Everyone in the building would know what she sounded like when she fell apart for me, and then I’d have to kill them all.

  “Have mercy on me, dorogaya,” I pleaded against her soft skin.

  She gave me a mischievous smile, but it didn’t completely hide the concern in her gaze. “You seem upset. Is everything okay?” Her bottom lip began to tremble, and she lowered her voice so only I could hear her. “Zak, you aren’t having second thoughts, are you?”

  I tightened my fingers around hers. “Never,” I assured her vehemently. “Nothing will stop me from making you my wife tomorrow, Sofia. Nothing.”

  Relief filled her beautiful face, and she leaned closer until her lips brushed over my ear. “Once my parents go to bed later, I’ll sneak out and come home. There’s no way I’ll be able to sleep without you. As long as I’m back before Mom starts the day, she won’t even notice.”

  “I’ll send a car for you,” I murmured, some of my tension melting, knowing I wouldn’t have to spend the night away from her. It had been driving me crazy thinking about sleeping in our bed alone.

  “No,” she told me firmly, still so close her breath caressed my ear and neck. “If anyone sees one of your cars or men, they will rat me out, and then my mom will go ballistic. Don’t worry about me getting home. I’ve done this plenty of times to know how to get where I need to go safely.”

  “Sofia!” I bit out, disliking the thought of her taking risks in the past as well as later that night.

  “Zakhar!” she mocked, her eyes glittering with amusement as she settled back into her chair. “Trust me.”

  I wanted to argue with her about it, but those around us seemed entertained by our whispered conversation. Sofia hurriedly distracted them before anyone could ask what we were talking about. The rehearsal dinner was over not long after that, and her mother was in such a rush to get her away from me before the clock struck midnight that I barely got the chance to kiss Sofia before she was being shoved into the back of her parents’ car and driven away.

  Muttering curses under my breath, I put Oleksandr and the others in two town cars and sent them back to their hotel before any of them could draw me into a conversation that would only piss me off. With Sofia’s promise to come home later that evening, I didn’t want to be angry and cause her more reason to worry about what was going on between my family and me.

  Back at the townhouse, I showered and prepared for bed in anticipation of Sofia’s return. As I washed the day away, I knew that my plans had to change. Oleksandr wanted us to spend the time leading up to the holidays at his house, but I no longer trusted him. Whatever plans he had for my marriage to his granddaughter were more extreme than I’d been led to believe, and while I was still in the dark about what they might be, I wasn’t going to risk it.

  Then there was Yulia. She was the one I was the most worried about. The longing in her eyes when she looked at Sofia bothered me, but it was the jealousy I’d witnessed on her face as she’d shot glares at the Volkovs that had put me most on edge.

  Pulling on a pair of sleep pants, I was using the towel to finish drying my hair when the doorbell sounded. Figuring Sofia had forgotten her key, I practically sprinted downstairs to the front door and pulled it open.

  But it wasn’t my bride-to-be on the front step.

  Standing there, practically seething with a rage I’d rarely seen her express in all the years I’d known her, Yulia looked ready to slit my throat.

  “You’re just like him,” she snarled with hate glowing out of her eyes, not even bothering to step inside the house. “You may not share any DNA with him, but you and my father are one and the same. Taking away her choices. Marrying her off to get the political power that shouldn’t even matter in this day and age. The only difference between what he did to me and what you are both doing to her is that she gets to keep her baby, while I had to give mine away.”

  “How do you know she is pregnant?” We hadn’t told anyone yet. Not her parents or brother and sister-in-law. Not even my security detail knew.

  “An educated guess,” she said with a shrug. “Like me when I was pregnant with her, she was sensitive to many of the food smells during dinner. She couldn’t eat enough sour things, but she turned green the moment anything remotely spicy was placed in front of her.”

  “Okay, yes, she’s pregnant,” I admitted in frustration, raking my hands through my damp hair. “But the rest, you’re only seeing what you want to see, Yulia. This has nothing to do with the political power Oleksandr is after. At least not for me.”

  “Bullshit!” she shouted in Russian. “You love the power you will get by making her your wife. Just like him. I never should have brought you home with me when I divorced Leonid. I should have left you to fend for yourself with that bastard.” Tears dripped from her lashes. “Maybe then, my daughter wouldn’t have been pulled into the same nightmare I was twenty years ago.”

  “Yulia—”

  “The cycle has to stop somewhere,” she cut me off. “This ends here. I can’t allow my child be used as a pawn the way I was. Sofia deserves better.”

  “I admit it started off the way Oleksandr wanted.” My anger made me forget where we were—on the top step of my townhouse—and that anyone passing by could hear us shouting. If I’d been thinking clearer, I would have dragged Yulia inside and shut the door, but my only thought was to make her understand. “By marrying her, and producing a child with both our bloodlines, he would have it all. Just like he wanted when he married you off to Leonid. I set it all up so she would fall for me, but I never expected—”