I braced myself before turning around. My heart was pounding in my chest, and my palms were perspiring.
"You can do this," I whispered as I turned to him.Deep blue electric eyes cut straight to mine, and I felt my heart stop beating. Prince Viktor Andreevich's incredible looks still hit me like a fierce blow. He was even more impossibly handsome than I could remember. He was tall, around six foot three, with broad shoulders and a hard-muscled body. His face was perfectly chiseled, and his lips were alluring. His expensive suit, which spread across his chest, spoke of money while the ruthlessness in his eyes and ticking jaw screamed power.Despite my best efforts, I was still briefly thunderstruck. Usually, I had no problems talking to people. In fact, I had a problem with over sharing with people. But Viktor left me tongue-tied. No man this handsome and hot had ever paid me attention. Better, he was a prince and Mafia lord. Staring at his face, I almost forgot to breathe."The last time I spoke to you, you said you'd never marry me." He paused, his eyes scrutinizing my shirt and cheap flip-flops. "For any price."My cheeks turned a slight shade of pink. "Maybe I was a little confused.""You threw your drink in my face.""It was an accident. I swear it."His eyebrows rose. "You ran out of the restaurant.""You just surprised me, you know!"Four nights ago, he called me at the Grand Cherokee Hotel, where I worked as a housekeeper. "My sister instructed me never to speak to you." I had blurted out."Then you might miss the best proposal of your life." He had told me, and I couldn't resist the offer. He asked me to meet him in a restaurant near Waikiki beach. Despite knowing he was forbidden and that his brother was my sister's ex-boyfriend, I was intrigued by the strange offer. And I had even been more shocked to find out that he meant an actual proposal. Marriage.It had been one of the most shocking days of my life. Viktor had proposed to me? I really wanted to tell Illyra, but I knew she would freak out. Worse, she could insist we moved to a new country. We had been avoiding the Andreevich brothers for years. By we, I mean Illyra, who had stupidly fallen for a dangerous mafia lord. But I couldn't blame her. She was far wiser than me and knew how to handle her shit."You ran away from me," Viktor said, snapping me out of my thoughts. "Like the devil was chasing you."I swallowed, gripping my clothes. "Because I did think you were the devil."His eyebrows cocked up in disbelief. "Is this your way of apologizing for what you did?"I shook my head. "You don't understand." I choked out. "You.." my throat closed.How could I explain that even though his brother had almost ruined my sister's life years ago, I was still electrified by his blue eyes? How could I explain that even though I knew he only proposed to me so he could get his hands on our land, I had been overwhelmed by too many years of staying single and yearning for a man to want me that I immediately wanted to yell out yes?How could I explain such pathetic stupidity? I couldn't."Why did you change your mind?" He asked, barely inches away from me. "Do you need the money?"We did need to pay off the debts we owed for some years, but that wasn't the reason, so I shook my head."Then is it me you want?"I threw him a startled look. "Really?""Many women dream of being in my bed.""Not me," I replied with a snort. "Besides, my sister told me to avoid you at any cost. You might be rich and handsome, but a dangerous drug lord who ...."Oops. I realized I was saying too much when I noticed how he stared at me.I swallowed when he took a step, closing up the small distance between us. "Why did you change your mind, Lyra?"I opened my mouth to speak, but the words were fighting at the back of my throat. It was impossible to speak when he was staring at me intensely, and I could feel his breath on my neck."Why do you want our land?" I asked, with the last courage in me. I didn't think I could speak until the words left my mouth."We owned the land in Alaska for years. It's rightfully mine." He breathed, and I gulped. Everything about him was intoxicating, and I suddenly understood why Illyra had fallen for his brother."Your brother sold the land to my father for a fair price," I answered, taking a step back from him. But he closed up the distance between us again."He sold it against my will." He replied crisply. "Without my knowledge."I took an unwilling step back from the dangerous gleam in his eyes. A self-made Billionaire and Mafia boss, Viktor was well known to be a ruthless, heartless playboy whose primary interest, more than his cartel and dating supermodels, was destroying his elder brother. He was determined to take him down for cutting him off from their first cartel right before it could have made him hundreds of millions of dollars. Their efforts to destroy each other were part of the reason that Illyra ended her relationship with Andrei. I didn't know how to tell him I was agreeing to marry him so he could save my sister from his brother."I want to marry you because I need your help," I whispered."I don't help people." He replied immediately."What? What are the benefits that accompany getting married to you, then?" I asked desperately."The title, the..."I scoffed. "I don't want to marry you for some stupid title."He glared at me, and I immediately wished I had swallowed those words. "You don't seem to be scared of me.""I am.." I whispered. "Why shouldn't I be?""Good." He said, leaning closer to whisper in my ears. "Because some say I am insane and ruthless. That I have been driven mad by my hunger for revenge."I shivered at his words. "Is it true? Are those rumors true?"He chuckled, his thick voice coming off smoothly in my ears before he turned his back to me and walked toward the door."I would hardly admit if they were true." He replied. "Keep speaking to me that way, and you will find out."At that moment, I knew I had to keep my mouth shut because whenever I did open them, I couldn't stop the words from flowing."I would be careful with my words," I said, hoping it meant something to him. "Can we talk about the proposal?"He paced about for some seconds before turning to me. "Yes, I know you have changed your mind. But has it occurred to you?" He paused, a cold smile appearing on his lips. "That I might have changed my mind about marrying you?""What?" I blurted out. There was no way he could reject me. He was my last plan. My final backup plan, and without him, I wouldn't see Illyra again.No. He couldn't do that to me. How could he say no to me? "Please, you don't mean that," I said, moving closer to him."A few days ago, you rejected me." He shrugged. "No one says no to my proposals."Real fear rushed through my heart. I had spent my last money to come to him. Without him, I would lose my sister. She would be entangled in the reckless life of Andrei Andreevich. She would be his possession forever. A slave. Tears gathered in my eyes, and without thinking, I flew toward him and grabbed him by his arms. "Please, you said you would do anything for me to get the land back. That you made a dying promise to your mother." Although I was pleading for him to accept me, I couldn't help but wonder how much weightlifting he did. He looked at me, and I slowly let go of his arms. I had forgotten for a second that he was a mafia lord. He looked down at me like he cared, and I wished he did. But he was no lover boy. Viktor was a survivor, and that made him dangerous. He was not a
Viktor I didn't start the feud with my brother ten years ago. As a child, I idolized Andrei. I was proud of him, my loving family, and my home. Our great-grandfather was one of the last great princes of Russia before he died fighting for the white army in Siberia. But he sent his wife and son to safety in Alaskan exile. Since then, my generation has lived in self-sufficient poverty on an Alaskan homestead far from civilization. To me, it had been an enchanted winter kingdom, and I loved it. But Andrei despised the isolation and the wildlife. He hated the lack of electricity and indoor plumbing. As I played, running around with sticks and toys, he buried his nose into business books. He wanted to be rich and leave the homestead. "Someday, I'll have a better life." He told me one day. "I'll buy clothes instead of making them. I will buy a private jet and travel around the world. I would eat at fine restaurants and leave this life behind." I listened to him breathlessly. "Really, An
I had long despised Illyra Bennet, the con artist that caused a rift between me and Andrei years ago. The girl who made my brother weak and vulnerable. All this time, I had kept track of her, waiting for her to go back to her old ways, but she didn't. It came as a shock to me when I realized that she might have changed after all these years. I knew her failed engagement with Andrei had everything to do with it. I had sent several private investigators to watch when she would start gambling again, but she didn't. She had also blatantly refused to let Lyra marry me to get the land, and she could go to hell for that. When I realized none of my plans were working, I decided to try another way. Lyra herself. Until we had met at the restaurant a few days ago, all I knew about her were from a private investigator with a grainy photograph. Illyra had always made a great effort to keep her away from me. They moved to different cities once they suspected they were being watched. It was a s
But Lyra was quite different. I could hardly believe they were sisters. In her, I saw innocence and her heart was warm. "But.." "I will be happy to get you a cake," I said fervently. "And a designer wedding gown and a ten-carat diamond ring." Reaching for her hand, I kissed it, then looked into her eyes. "Just tell me what you want, and it's yours."I felt her hands tremble in my own before she yanked it away. "Just bring my sister home. Safely from your brother. The more time she spends with him, the more her life is in danger. We have never been apart for years and it's driving me crazy." "You have my word. I will bring her back to you soon." I rose to my feet. "I must call my lawyer to discuss some important things. In the meantime, you should rest." I gestured to the bookshelves of first-edition books. "Read if you like. I have great books that may interest you. Your breakfast will be here at any moment. Excuse me.""Thank you for saving my sister," she whispered. She took a de
Illyra's POV“Illyra, wake up! Wake up, please!”A hand roughly shook me awake. Startled, I sat up with a gasp, blinking in the darkness. Were we under attack?My younger sister, Lyra, was sitting on the edge of the bed. Tears sparkled on her pale cheeks in the moonlight, and I immediately knew something wrong had happened. “What’s happened? Talk to me, Lyra. What happened?” I dropped my bare feet to the tile floor, ready to run, ready to fight anyone who had made my baby sister cry. “What’s wrong? Did anyone hurt you?”Lyra took a deep breath and exhaled. “I really messed up this time.” She wiped her eyes. “But before you freak out, I want you to know it will be fine. I know how to fix it.”Rather than be comforted by this statement, I felt deepening fear. There was nothing scarier than the words she said to me. My twenty-one-year-old sister, five years younger than me, had a knack for getting into trouble. Everything she did somehow always got her into a mess. And she was wearin
For a second, I couldn’t understand the words that Lyra said. Or maybe I didn't want to understand them.The lingering tears of relief burned my eyes like acid as I stared at my sister. How on earth could she do something so stupid? A hundred thousand dollars. How would we pay back a hundred thousand dollars? We were running from men already because of our debts, and the least she could do was lay low. Instead, she decided what we owed was not enough and had to add to the number. Turning away, I started to pace, compulsively twisting a long tendril of blond hair into a tight ringlet around my finger as I struggled to make sense of all my worst fears coming true. I had feared something like this would happen at the resort. I had dreaded the day we would be stuck in a terrible situation and flee our job. I tried to control my shaking hands, but I couldn't. I tried desperately to think of a way out, and my mind was blank. There was only one way out in situations like this. “But I to
“No! It’s my fault, Illyra, and I can fix it. Listen. On Christmas Eve, I met a man who told me how...”But I didn’t wait to hear whatever cockamamy sob story someone might have fed my softhearted sister this time. No one was coming to save her, and I had to do it. I grabbed my black leather motorcycle jacket and headed for the door.“Illyra, wait! Don't do it! You don't have to do this for me. I could get you into trouble.” She cried but I ignored her. I didn’t look back. I walked out of our tiny apartment and went down the open-air hallway to the moss-covered, crumbling concrete steps of the aging building where all the Hale Ka’nani Resort’s staff lived."It’s just like riding a bike. It will be easier than you think." I told myself fiercely as I raced down the steps. It was just as easy as dozing off after a long workday. Even after ten years away from the game, I could win at poker. I could. I didn't have a choice, or my sister would be indebted. And I knew just the way Aldric w
“This is my outfit for the night.” My voice was cool as I stared him down. “For poker.”"Are you going in to play?" He asked me, looking shocked. "Yes, my sister started a game and I am here to end it." I replied. “Oh.” His round, friendly face looked confused. “Well. Okay. Go in, then.”“Thanks.” Forcing the ice in my voice to fully infuse my heart, I pushed open the door. There was no going back, and I knew it. I walked into the room and exhaled. The private room for the villa residents had a cavernous ceiling and no windows. Everything was built with security and privacy in mind. The walls were soundproofed with thick red fabric that swooped from a center point on the ceiling. The effect made the room glamorous and cozy, and claustrophobic all at once. It felt all too dark and unhealthy for me. I wondered how Lyra was brought to a place like this and didn't freak out. To me, it felt like entering the tent of a sheik’s harem. But as I approached the wealthy men who were playing