Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 93463 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 467(@200wpm)___ 374(@250wpm)___ 312(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93463 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 467(@200wpm)___ 374(@250wpm)___ 312(@300wpm)
He was never supposed to touch me.
I was never supposed to love him.
But some lines don’t stay drawn.
I live in a world of rules and expectations, where obedience is survival and love is a liability. I was the innocent one. The youngest sister. Sheltered by my brothers and kept far away from the family’s darker affairs.
Until him.
He’s dangerous. Nameless. Obsessive.
Mine for one stolen hour a week, and every time he leaves me, he takes a piece of me with him.
But when I find out his true identity, my world implodes.
They call him the Undertaker.
The man who buries problems no one else can solve.
Loving him means betraying my family.
Choosing him means choosing war.
But he’s already chosen...me
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
Prologue
Present day
ZOYA
It all feels like a dream.
A strange, hot, fevered dream I can’t wake up from.
“I’m ready.”
Any second now, I’ll open my eyes and realize none of this happened. That my brother never offered me up in marriage. That I’m not marrying someone who despises me.
No.
Any second now, I’ll wake up and just be little Zoya. Homemaker. The girl who makes meals for her family, who takes care of her nieces and nephews, who lives month to month, year to year, without even questioning her own needs. Zoya. Just… little Zoya.
But now, it’s time.
My brothers’ wives are all here. Every one of them is so beautiful. So poised. So infuriatingly supportive. So kind.
Ember wears emerald green, and her eyes glint like gems under the overhead lighting. Hard, fierce… alive. Anya offers me a soft, solemn smile, a touch of sorrow just behind it. And Polina, Rafail’s wife, the only one who dares to touch me, squeezes my hand gently.
“Come, Zoya,” she says with a smile that doesn’t reach her eyes. “We’re ready for you downstairs.”
I’d asked for no procession. No standard fanfare.
I wanted it quiet. Small. Nothing traditional or ceremonial.
Because this isn’t a marriage I ever dreamed of. It isn’t a love story but a sentence. So why dress it up?
When the massive double doors open into our living room, something immediately feels wrong.
I can’t place it. Not at first. It’s in the air. Something about the stillness. A pallor. A hush.
Rafail smiles at me, and even Semyon, cold, removed, practically carved from stone, seems alert, aware, and alive.
Rodion comes straight to me and presses a kiss to my cheek. “If he ever treats you bad, sister,” he murmurs low, “you know who to call.”
And I know he means it, every word, but it seems like too little, too late. Shouldn’t his protection come before we made it this far?
And where are the Morozovs? Weren’t they supposed to bring witnesses? I’m marrying into their family, and they’re not here.
It’s strange. Wrong.
“Where are they?” I ask Rafail, my voice small, trembling in the space between us.
“He’s here,” Rafail says, frowning. “I saw him ten minutes ago. He’s all we need.”
I nod. “Okay.”
Music plays. It echoes off the walls and into the hollow of my chest.
Even now, a part of me still expects Seamus to come and rescue me.
From what? From this? He’s not the knight in shining armor. He’s The Undertaker.
And now I understand why.
The one who’s done unspeakable things. The one even my brothers fear.
Untouchable.
Unquestioned.
The one they all obey.
And he’s not coming to rescue me.
I sigh and stifle the need to cry.
My life isn’t a fairy tale. It never was. It never will be.
I turn my face away when the music begins to play.
It’s time.
Chapter 1
One year prior
ZOYA
I stare at the narrow space in the hedges, hardly able to believe my luck.
Is this really happening?
I’ve been lonely. Restless. Half-wild from being overprotected by my family. I know I’m the baby, but how long does that title last? Will I still be the baby when I’m twenty-five? Thirty? Forty?
I’m tired of being told what to do. Tired of being the good girl.
I don’t want to be the good girl anymore.
I’ve watched my brothers get married, one after the other. All three of them. And my older sister has been married for years now.
It's like everyone’s next season of life has started… except mine.
So tonight, it’s time. Something has to change.
If nothing else, I need to prove to myself that I can carve out a private pocket of freedom, one that nobody else knows about.
I wait until everyone is distracted. I made a beautiful dinner tonight and served it with a smile, like I always do.
They call me Little Zoya. The caretaker. The one who likes to cook and clean, and take care of everyone.
And I do love taking care of all of them.
My oldest brother, Rafail, and his wife, Polina. My nieces and nephews. Rodion and his fierce, brilliant wife, Ember. And now Semyon, who’s clearly falling hard for Anya. They’re not married yet, but it won’t be long.
A sliver of moonlight catches the path ahead of me. It’s early summer just outside Moscow, and the crickets chirp a quiet chorus.
It’s beautiful. Desolate. And the rising heat adds to the thrill of doing something I shouldn’t.
No one will find me tonight.
I’ve planned this too well. In my bedroom, there’s a fluffy tan teddy bear, age-worn and well-loved, propped on my bed. And hidden inside is the small monitor my brothers use to track me. I’ve tested my little decoy three times now.
Once during a quick trip into the city.
The second time, I stayed inside but crept around the house to see if they’d notice.
The third? I snuck out for ice cream at a local street fair.
No one ever noticed.
We have guards at every exit and entrance, of course. My brothers monitor everything. They’re not just overbearing but militant.