Chapter two | Ekaterina
"Ekaterina." His voice startles my thoughts and my eyes meet his empty ones.
"Hi?" I say to ease the awkwardness which is stupid, but am I surprised? I'd be lying if I said yes.
He raises a brow and amusement flashes across his face for a second before it disappears, "hi."
"So I thought we'd need to discuss a few things." He says and I clear my throat, wanting to run the fuck away.
"Sit." He says, or more like demands me motioning at the chair in front of us.
I suppress the urge to roll my eyes and take a seat, "okaaay... so since we're making things clear, that means that I can say anything I want?" I ask cautiously.
He gives me a curt nod while running his fingers through his thick hair, "sure." His raspy voice startles me and my eyes meet his again.
I shift awkwardly, and try to focus on not doing anything stupid, "I don't want to marry you." I say boldly and the glare he gives me is enough to bring me to my knees.
His jaw ticks and I clear my throat, "um...I thought you said we should be totally honest to each other?" I ask raising a brow even as my heartbeats go erratic in my chest.
"What makes you think I want this marriage either?" He asks in a lower tone, a scarier one, but for some reason, his reply sparks happiness inside my stomach
"wait so you can break this off right?" I ask hopefully, a small smile spread on my lips, as I wait for his reply.
That earns me a smirk, my brows furrow as he leans back in his chair, spreading his legs a little, "well here's the thing, sweetheart, I promised your father to marry you, and I keep my promises." He says.
"Well, this is such a lame excuse for a man in the mafia, you can't say no to my father, hmm?" I'm playing with fire, I know that I'm, provoking a man like him.
His eyes turn to slits and I lick my lips to stop the nerves rising in my throat, "you're smarter than I thought, I'll give you that." He says curtly before standing up and buttoning his shirt.
"What? Is that it? That's the talk?" I mock his voice and he grabs me by my waist and pulls me to him.
His fingers raising my chin up so I can look at him, "I don't know how you used to act in that house of yours, but when you become mine, Ekaterina, things will change, starting with the fact that my wife can't talk to me like that." He says just for us to hear and if anyone saw us they would think that we're in love.
I pull away from him, my body filled with disgust and my eyes probably shooting glares at him, as he remains unbothered,
"what the fuck is wrong with how I'm speaking? You don't get to talk to me that way either." I murmur and stare at him, he takes a step closer, and his tall frame hovers over me as I take a wobbly step back, the height difference is actually comedic if you overthink it.
"And I'm not your wife." I spit the words out narrowing my eyes, and his expression remains blank but I don't miss the tick in his jaw.
"Yet." Those are the last words he says to me, and even though it does feel like a promise, I can't help the ideas of how to ruin this marriage that are roaming around my mind.
*:･ﾟ✧*:･
"Katrina." My sister's voice sobers me up, and I blink a couple of times as I focus on her.
"What were you saying?" I ask, she sighs but I know that she's used to this by now, me zoning out and her having to repeat her sentence.
It's annoying to her I know it and I'm trying to change it cause it annoys me as well.
"I was talking about...um your said husband." She says and I narrow my eyes at her, "why does everyone keep saying that? He's not my husband goddamn it." I say, anger catching up in my tone.
She motions with her hands as she talks "I mean, it's been a couple of days and...well." She says and I roll my eyes.
"Well what?" I ask as my brows furrow, "dad seems very satisfied every time your marriage comes up in any conversation we have." She says and I clear my throat.
I crack my knuckles and try to stop the thousand thoughts running laps through my mind right now, it feels like I'm stuck with no way out,
Nope nope, I'm not giving up now.
"I still have one last chance tonight," I mutter to myself and she raises a brow as she gives me what I would call a glare, but I'm used to this so if she's trying to intimidate me, then she's failing.
She sighs when I don't give her the reaction she wants and I smile wickedly as I wink at her, "okay look...so here's the plan, I'm going to do every single thing that would make him hate me okay? I'll do everything in my power to end this, Kiara I promise." I whisper proudly as I stare at my sister.
Who in fact, doesn't look convinced at all, "this is pure stupidity." She says so seriously I can't help laughing, "does this seem laughable?" She asks raising a brow and her expression stays blank.
"No." I reply before failing to suppress another laugh, as I stand up and walk out of her room but not before I call out to her "you'll see! It'll work this time." I say.
And I wish I believed the words as they came out of my mouth.
I search for my phone and desperately try to block the thoughts that are lingering at the back of my mind for a damn moment as I dial the number I see in front of me.
Completely ignoring the thumbing of my heart against my chest, and the fear that's crawling its way through my mind somehow.
It takes about three rings before he picks up.
"Hello, future husband."
*:･ﾟ✧*:･
"So you weren't drunk when you called me, I suppose." The asshole says dryly when I notice him.
However, I try to ignore the anger that's surging through my veins and give him a bright smile, "nope, completely sane." I say and give him a thumbs up.
His face stays blank as his eyes roam over my outfit, but when they meet my eyes again there's a spark in them, not sure if it's from annoyance or curiosity.
Wait so he liked it? Great so he doesn't mind the pink 'childish' clothes,
First try to make him hate me failed, okay.
I glance at my side and take in my appearance in the mirror, I always wear makeup when I'm outside, even though I hate it, but it does its job at covering the scar that's eating up my whole face.
No idea why the hell my mind wandered there right now.
"What, you like it?" I ask just to simply annoy him, he raises a brow and grabs a chair for me as I drop down.
Wow, so the asshole actually has a gentleman buried deep in his bones, color me surprised.
He eyes me and sits down, "it's....something." He says raising a brow but this time I don't miss the amusement flashing across his face.
A small smile uncontrollably spreads on my face, "well I don't want you to get out of your comfort zone for me and try to be nice, it doesn't suit you." I say raising my brows and he glares at me.
"I don't think you want the truth though." He says with certainty and I contemplate whether or not I should be stubborn with him, "I do." I reply so confidently as I take a sip of water.
"This is the most atrocious disgusting piece of cloth I've ever witnessed in my whole life." He says and takes a sip of his water just as I choke on mine.
I glare at him as I wipe my mouth and he just smiles back, and nothing about the smile is genuine if we're being honest.
"Fuck you." I curse under my breath and my eyes meet his gray ones, it's the first time I notice the specks of black inside them.
I don't even know why the hell I'm focusing on that.
"So I thought we'd discuss why you wanted to meet me today considering the last time I saw you, you said that you didn't want to marry me." He says and I sigh deeply.
"Trust me, you don't want to, I'm a bad influence," I say and he tilts his head, a bad influence? From all the shit I could've said I chose this sentence.
So convincing.
"Great thing people's actions don't affect me." He says and raises a brow, motioning for me to go on.
"I love pink, adore my pink clothes, can't live without them, in fact, all my closet is that color," I say sweetly and flash him a smile.
"Well I have to admit they're absolutely revolting and hideous, and I'd prefer dealing with you without them at all." He says and I choke before narrowing my eyes,
"but dealing with your pink clothes is definitely easier than dealing with you."
"No offense, of course." He adds and the urge to punch him grows.
"You're one of those people hmm, the ones who say no offense before saying the most offensive shit ever," I say rolling my eyes before I hold up a finger.
"But you're absolutely right about what you said, my personality is insufferable and just annoying, I think I'm going to be very distracting and unhelpful for you, what do you think?" I say, desperately to call this off in any goddamn way.
He leans in and puts both his elbows on the table, "I won't break the marriage, sweetheart, sooner or later, you'll become my wife." He says and I snarl.
Over my dead body.