All Chapters of Máfia's Hated Bride: Chapter 71 - Chapter 80

ANGELINE HARRINGTON I pulled away a little, but Nikolai pulled me close again, speaking into my ear: “Did you think the night was over, princess?” His voice was a deep growl that sent a shiver down my spine. “Now that you’ve shown your lioness claws, I’m going to show you what happens to lionesses when they’re in my territory.” Before I could answer, he turned me with ease, laying me on my back on the bed. In a fluid movement, he took two of the long silk ribbons that were always in the nightstand drawer—the same ones as always, one black, one red. My wrists were captured, not with brutality, but with an undeniable firmness, and tied to the iron frame of the headboard. “Nikolai…” I whispered, a mixture of apprehension and excitement speeding up my blood. “Silence,” he ordered, lowering himself to kiss my collarbone. “Today you only speak to moan. Or to beg.” While his lips and teeth explored my neck, my shoulders, one of his hands disappeared. I heard the soft sound of a drawer b

ANGELINE HARRINGTON The air left my lungs. I knew something was wrong, ever since the dinner, ever since Vetrov’s insinuations. “What did he do?” I asked, my voice a thin thread. “He’s negotiating, Angeline. Not only with the Volchiy. He’s made an alliance with Mikhail Chernov’s brothers, Alexei and Adrian.” The words fell like stones. “His goal is to eliminate me. And, in the absence of an heir, he believes he can appeal to the Council and take, or control, what is mine. It’s a move to free himself from the debt of fear he has with me, and also to try to climb in the world at our expense.” I closed my eyes. The pain wasn’t new—it was the old wound of rejection being rubbed with salt and poison. But now it came accompanied by a burning, overwhelming shame. “So it’s true,” I whispered, my voice trembling. “They are… they are even worse than I imagined. I knew they were greedy, cold… but to betray their own daughter, to try to destroy or even kill their son-in-law, to make pacts wit

ANGELINE HARRINGTON I confess that even with all of Nikolai’s revelations about my father, I still managed to sleep—but sleep flees from us when our mind is full. That was why I woke still in the early hours of the morning. The revelations about my father, about my family, about that filthy pact, echoed inside my head like funeral bells. The three of them had always acted as a single organism: greedy, calculating, and cruel. I was the defective cell, set aside until they discovered they could use me as currency. Now, as Nikolai’s wife, I was a piece on their board. And I knew, with a clarity that hurt, how monstrous the man I had fallen in love with was when betrayed. His revenge would not be a clean cut; it would be a slow and painful dissection. And as much as the pain of family rejection burned in me, a childish and stubborn piece of my heart did not want to see them dead. Asking him to destroy them without killing was contradictory, a mixture of hatred and a clemency I myself did

NIKOLAI VOLKOV I now truly trusted Angeline in a way I had never trusted another person. She showed herself transparent in her feelings in a raw and disarming way, more than anyone who had ever crossed my path. Yet I knew that beneath the justified anger, she still kept a stubborn thread of compassion for her parents. She wanted them to live. Even after everything. Even knowing they desired not only my end, but very possibly an even worse fate for her. That was why she asked for life, not death, for Richard. What she didn’t understand was that in my vocabulary, the kind of payment I planned was often preferable to a quick death. But that would be just one more lesson she would learn. However, I needed to test that fragile conviction of hers, so I called her to the office and showed her everything. But now I needed to reaffirm her loyalty to me, so I said: “Angeline,” my voice sounded drier than I intended. “What you asked of me… I want you, in the future, not to ask me to go back on

ANGELINE HARRINGTON The office was wrapped in a tense silence. Under the light of the lamp, the connection maps and the dossiers of my family seemed to make me shiver. Nikolai stood with his fingers resting on the edge of the desk, the muscles of his back tense under the white silk shirt he had unbuttoned hours earlier. I was sitting in the leather armchair, still wearing the satin robe I had put on after the bath, but my body vibrated with the electricity of the plans we had drawn. “They will take the bait,” Nikolai said, his voice a low growl of satisfaction. His dark eyes shone with a fire I knew well—part predator, part possession. “You are brilliant, little lioness. This idea of yours is perfect for keeping them close to us. Knowing how to appeal to their vanity… it’s a low and perfect blow.” An involuntary smile touched my lips. The praise, coming from him, warmed me inside in a way that still surprised me. “They never manage to resist a stage,” I answered, my voice firmer th