Chapter 3

Eliana:

I walked into the room which Maria, Vladimir’s mum had showed me to.

The flight was a long one, and I couldn’t help but want to fall asleep the second I entered the house. Thankfully, Maria had prepared the room for me knowing that Vladimir and I wouldn’t be sharing a room. We had both made it clear enough that we didn’t want anything from one another. Well, that of course didn’t mean that my own family knew of this.

Father would be having my head if he finds out that I wasn’t ‘pleasing’ my husband, and his own term of pleasing wasn’t a mutual agreement between the couple. He had sent me as a wife to a man who he knew could easily break every bone in my body, he believed that he was ruthless, and he wanted me to suffer for simply being born.

“Is there anything that you need, Eliana?” Maria asked softly. I smiled and shook my head not wanting to trouble her, she had done enough for me by preparing this room, the maids had already fixed my things inside the closet for me before I even arrived to the house.

“Thank you, Maria” I said smiling. She nodded and nodded at my dresser where my jewelry boxes were set.

“I had the maids put them there, they are still locked. I didn’t know where or how you wanted to fix them, and you may have a special or expensive jewel here or there. I didn’t want to risk it getting lost” I nodded and smiled at her kind gesture. Had it been the other way around, and that I was heading to my father’s house, the man would have taken and sold the jewels before I even tried them on. But being sent as gifts from other mafia families, and some were even gifts from the Romanov family, the man knew that he couldn’t do so. Therefore, he had them sent to the Romanov Estate the second I got them.

Maria walked out of the room without saying another word, and it was at that moment when I felt alone. My family had abandoned me, literally.

I knew that Ian wouldn’t call me as he wouldn’t want to risk me getting in trouble, and mum didn’t even have a phone to begin with. The woman wasn’t allowed to communicate with anyone outside the family Estate, and despite her being loyal to dad throughout all the years she’s been with him; I was always an issue that reminded him of a past he wanted to forget. A past that my mum had lived before she was sold to him.

I ran my fingers through my blonde hair as I wondered how I was going to make this work when I already drew lights to myself with what Vladimir had seen occur between me and my father, not that it mattered. Seeing as our marriage was simply on paper, the two of us would only need to be seen together at public gatherings, and knowing how our family was, those only happened once or twice a year.

I took a deep breath and looked at my reflection in the mirror, giving myself an encouraging smile “you will make it through this, Eliana”

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“Good morning” I said entering the living room. I didn’t know where else to go in the house, I hadn’t had the time to roam around or familiarize myself with my surrounding, but I had seen the living room when I entered the house. Thankfully, Ivan was in the living room, sitting on the couch when I had entered, his best friend, Dimitri, stood by the bar holding a glass of whiskey.

“Drink?”

“This early in the morning?” I asked before I could stop myself. Dimitri smirked and handed Ivan his glass before going to sit on the single couch beside Ivan’s.

“How’d you sleep?” Ivan asked.

“Well, thank you” I said politely.

“You do realize that I am not your father and you do not need to speak as if you were plugged into a programmed machine, right?” Ivan asked patting the couch beside him. I hesitated for a second before forcing my feet to move and going to sit by his side “we did not bring you here to hurt you”

“I know” I said quietly. I didn’t lie when saying that, if they wanted to hurt me, they would have last night. Their son didn’t even take advantage of me despite knowing that I was his wife, he could have easily entered my room to take me the way he pleased. It was known in the house that this was how it went for mum, her and dad didn’t even share a room, he would take different maids every night if he pleased, or he would walk into mum’s room and take her until he knew that she couldn’t handle it anymore.

It sickened me that he wanted me to live the same fate. He had tried building such a life for me, however, that didn’t seem to work with Ian around. Therefore, I knew that he was hoping for HIS own benefit from this family, no matter what turned of me.

“Have you eaten anything since last night?” Ivan asked and I shook my head.

“I went to bed after showering and getting changed, my body wouldn’t help me out of the room if I tried” I said shyly. Ivan nodded at me and got up motioning for me to follow him.

“This is the kitchen” he said opening the door “from here on out, you are a family member in this house, you needn’t be shy. If you want to eat or drink anything, you can simply ask one of the girls to make something for you, if you prefer making something for yourself; the fridge is there, oven, all the utensils…”

I couldn’t help but smile at his words, I wasn’t allowed in the kitchen at my own house. I wasn’t allowed to gain an extra pound, and was forced to remain on the meals that the family had for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Any snacks in between weren’t allowed for me.

“And this is my daughter” Ivan introduced me to the half asleep woman who just entered the kitchen. Her hair was sticking everywhere and she was still in her pajamas, which consisted of shorts and a long sleeved shirt “Audrey”

“Hi” she said smiling at me. Her blue eyes similar to her dad’s despite her mum and brother having brown eyes “you must be our unlucky bride”

“Hi” I laughed.

“Audrey, shouldn’t you freshen up before going down for coffee?” Ivan asked his daughter.

“That would require energy, and I need coffee for energy” Audrey said answering her father who shook his head at her. She shrugged and turned her attention to me, her eyes showing a mischievous demeanor “I am your savior and your one and only escape in this house”

She extended her hand to me and I laughed shaking it “I take it that you two will get along fine”

“Judging by the number of men that are in this house, yes, I needed reinforcements to put you all down”

“Audrey, are you drunk?”

“No, I may or may have not had glass or two with Uncle Dimitri…”

“When? We were literally there three minutes ago”

“I can drink a few glasses in three minutes!”

“We will talk of this later, have you seen your brother?” Ivan asked and Audrey shook her head in no.

“He went out last night, he still hasn’t come back, and I have a feeling that I know where he is” Audrey said pumping the air. The idea of it made me look down at my feet in embarrassment, the maids who were in the kitchen tried stifling their laughs. However, the glare on Ivan’s face told us all that he saw them, and that he didn’t like it.

“Let him come to my office when he’s back home, and you go sober up before breakfast” Ivan said looking at his daughter who nodded suddenly tensing up “get something to eat, Eliana, then after Audrey has sobered up, she will give you a tour around the house”

“Wait, what?”