I notice her cheeks still dimple when she offers her cousin Nikolai a tight smile.
“What?” Nikolai's voice is barely a whisper as he articulates my thoughts. I knew her cousins would cause trouble when I made my proposal, but I expected the most pushback to come from Lilibeth herself. To see her standing here, agreeing to marry me, is an unexpected turn of events.
“I said I'll do it.” She keeps her eyes on me. “I'll marry…him.”
She pauses before she says him, as though my name was on the cusp of her lips. But of course, she’s going to pretend she doesn’t know me. Smart move.
“Beth, for God's sake.” Fedor moves to her side, takes her arm. “You don't have to do this. We can handle Letvin.”
The entire room is now in panic. “You don’t know what you’re agreeing to,” Denis roars at her from the corner where he stands.
“Over my dead body,” Artyom insists, walking right up to her.
“You caused this mess!” Dima points right at me with anger in his eyes.
“Calm down, will you?” Lilibeth raises her voice, and everyone goes quiet.
“Stay out of this and go back to your room, Beth.” Nikolai glares at her. “This doesn’t concern you.”
“Of course it concerns me.” Her voice rises an octave as she walks up to her cousin’s face and plants her hands on his desk. “He’s talking about marrying me, isn’t he?”
“Nobody's marrying you off,” Nikolai growls. “Agafon Letvin is leaving. Now.”
She turns to face me with a cocked eyebrow, with what I dare say is a challenge in her eyes, a defiance of sorts. She holds my gaze longer than most people can. She remembers who I am, yet there's no fear in her eyes from what had happened.
“Why me?” she asks, without breaking eye contact. Courageous is what this girl—no, woman—has grown into.
From how worried Nikolai looks, I can tell just how precious she is to this family. Something stirs in my chest. Not attraction. God, no, it couldn’t be. But interest. She’s not cowering as I expected.
“Why me?” she asks directly.
“Because you're valuable to them,” I answer honestly. “And I need something valuable for our alliance to stand true.”
“And this alliance? Does it benefit my family?”
I choose not to answer, and when her eyes travel across the room, noticing that none of her brothers refute that question with a vehement no, she understands. She knows they need me.
She turns back to me with a nod. “I’ll do it. I’ll marry you.”
I don't let my surprise show on my face. This was supposed to be harder. I expected to have to threaten, to call in debts, to remind them of all the ways they need me. I didn't expect her to agree so quickly.
But by doing so, she makes my life easier.
“Beth, please.” Nikolai stands up from his chair, ready to argue, but she turns to face him.
“Please, Cousin, I’m doing this for the family to make us stronger. This is my choice, and you can’t take it away from me.”
A flash of surprise crosses Nikolai’s face, and I see him freeze; the room freezes too. Heck, even I’m shocked by how easily this all went down.
She looks back at me. “When were you thinking?”
“One month,” I say, recovering quickly. “That should give us time to prepare properly.”
She nods. “Fine. One month.”
Mark Zolotov steps between us. “This is moving too quickly. We need to discuss terms, arrangements, and protections for Lilibeth's interests.”
“Of course,” I agree smoothly. “We’ll be in touch regarding all this.”
