Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 89090 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 445(@200wpm)___ 356(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89090 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 445(@200wpm)___ 356(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
My eyes shoot to Yev when Vasily offloads his drink onto a waiter’s tray before he bends to one knee in front of me. There’s no flurry of a pricy black suit as its owner sprints across the dance floor. No angry snarls or vicious mutterings. Nothing but prolonged eye contact I don’t deserve while being proposed to by another man.
“Polina, there is no set time to find love. Some take years, others take months, ours took only days.” The crowd coos in sync, wrongly believing Vasily’s confession of love is genuine. “You challenge and complete me. Mock me and teach me. You’re my better half, so will you do me the honor of becoming Mrs. Vasily Cabanow?”
A head bob shouldn’t hurt, but this one does. It rockets pain through my heart before tethering itself to the guilt I haven’t been able to budge for the past several days. It’s been hanging heavily on my shoulders since Yev confessed he came back to Russia for me.
With the holler of a man far younger than his age, Vasily slips a diamond ring onto my finger, stands to his feet, then wraps me up in a bear hug. His excitement is understandable when you learn how much he has to gain from our nuptials. He will have more money than sense.
Once Vasily releases me from his clutch, over the next ten minutes, we accept the congratulations of our guests.
Even Yev gets in on the action.
“Congratulations,” he mutters before thrusting his hand out in offering to Vasily.
Vas is skeptical about accepting his handshake. What man wouldn’t when they still haven’t regained the use of their hand?
“Thanks,” Vasily eventually murmurs when he notices our exchange is being witnessed by more than the gossip mongers of Kronstadt. His father is standing at Yev’s left.
“It is about time the cat was freed from the bag,” Leon voices loudly before swooping in for a peck kiss on my cheek. “I was beginning to think we’d have to draft another prenup with how long it was taking him to come to his senses.” He whacks Vasily on the back before shifting on his feet to face Yev.
“Feo the Flatliner…” He announces Feo’s fight name like a commentator at a big match. “I’m glad you made it. I wasn’t sure you would. You didn’t seem interested last week when I gifted you an invitation.” Before Yev can come up with an excuse for his earlier rudeness, Leon adds, “Can’t say I blame you. These events are nowhere near as interesting as the ones you usually attend.” After congratulating Vasily with a second slap to his back, he curls his arm around Yev’s shoulders and guides him toward the bar. “Talking about events, what are your plans…”
I miss the rest of what he says. It is gobbled up by the men and women who hover in close to Leon like he’s a rock star at a concert, and the shock pulsating in my ears when Yev cranks his neck back to me and mouths, “I trust you.”
26
POLINA
“I don’t trust him.”
While sipping on champagne, I sling my eyes in the direction Vasily’s angry sneer is facing. Unlike the past several hours, he is no longer shooting daggers at Yev.
His stern gaze is rapt on his father.
“Did he say something?” I ask, curious to discover if our ruse has been unraveled before it has truly begun.
I need Leon on my side just as much as Vasily.
Dark locks fall in front of Vas’s glossed-over eyes when he shakes his head. “I just have a feeling.” After downing his umpteenth double shot of whiskey, he twists to face me. “Probably wouldn’t be so paranoid if he weren’t up in that kid’s business all the time.”
He doesn’t need to nudge his head to Yev for me to know who he’s referencing. He’s referred to him as “kid” multiple times tonight.
Yev is the youngest person here, but that isn’t the cause of Vasily’s nickname. He wants me to believe he’s too young and dumb for a woman of my supposed “class,” and that I’ll grow bored of him like his mother did the pool boy.
Some of his disdain for women made sense during his swipe of his mother’s adulterous ways, but it doesn’t excuse his rudeness when he dumps a handful of bills onto a female waiter’s tray before asking her if she’s ever had coke sniffed off her tits.
I excuse myself from the table before I’m mistakenly seen as one of the elite who treat even the middle class as if they’re gum stuck under the bench.
“Fuck no. You need to stay.” I realize Yev is watching Vasily as much as me when his jaw tics as I’m yanked back into my seat. The vibe of the party changed the instant dessert was served. The older, more sophisticated guests left, leaving the riffraff with too much money and no manners. “He’ll be back. He can’t help but snoop.” He pulls a bag of white powder out of the breast pocket of his dress suit. “That’s how he found out my last engagement was a sham. I wasn’t fucking my fiancée on his desk. I was balls deep in his secretary, so if you want your father to attend our wedding, you need to keep me in line.”