Sasha: Prologue

“Are you out of your goddamned mind?”

Vasili slammed his office door. To say my brother was pissed was the understatement of the century. The fucking glass of the building rattled from the slamming door or quite possibly from the force of his voice.

No matter. What’s done is done; it was time to move on.

“Do you realize the whole goddamned world watched you kidnap that woman?” he bellowed. “It was fucking televised.”

“Hmm, was it?” I snickered. “I would have never guessed from all the news vans out front.”

“What in the fucking hell were you thinking, Sasha?” he roared. “Do you know how many fucking assholes I’ll have to bribe for this shit?”

I shrugged my shoulders. He didn’t have to bribe anyone. I was capable of settling my own scores.

Sitting behind the desk of Vasili’s office, I leaned back into the chair and propped up my legs on the table. I picked up the People magazine Vasili had on his desk. My fucking brother always had that fucking magazine on his desk, but I had yet to see him read it.

“Put the fucking magazine down,” he said through gritted teeth.

“Relax, Brother,” I told him. “The bride in distress is safe and sound.”

For the most part, I added silently, snickering to myself.

I left her tied to my bed – gloriously naked and sexually frustrated.

Unfortunately, my plan backfired a bit because I’d been going around with a hard dick that refused to get the message that we weren’t fucking anyone today.

“For fuck’s sake, Sasha,” Vasili hissed, barely keeping a rein on his temper. I could see it in the vein throbbing in his neck. The one that his wife couldn’t seem to get enough of because I caught her licking it on more than one occasion. Fucking horny rabbits. Only Isabella found my brother attractive. “Are you trying to start a war? First, the whole goddamned thing with Wynter and keeping her away from Liam Brennan. Now this fucking shit!”

And there it was. I was waiting for the moment when he’d bring that up. He and everyone else could go fuck themselves. Wynter, the ice skating princess, needed me, and I would never leave her hanging.

I opened the drawer of Vasili’s desk that I’d taken over and found a piece of bubblegum. The crinkle of the wrapper filled the space, probably grating on Vasili’s nerves, egging him on.

“You said you wanted to see me married,” I drawled lazily, ignoring his jab about Wynter. “So I had to find a bride.”

“I said find a bride, not kidnap one,” he roared.

“Semantics.”

I swore Vasili’s blond hair, so much like mine, almost turned red with rage. And I fucking relished in it.

I threw the gum into my mouth and started chewing. I popped the gum, watching with delight as Vasili’s jaw ticked. He was fucking pissed. No surprise there. I didn’t particularly care for chewing gum, but it was such a goddamned thrill to see the pissed off expressions on people’s faces when I popped it.

So just for good measure, I blew a bubble, waited for it to get a decent size, and popped it again.

Our eyes locked in a battle of wills. The freaky blue eyes we shared stared back at me, probably contemplating my murder. I bet my brother fought the urge to reach across his desk and choke the life out of me. He wanted to so fucking badly, but he’d never hear the end of it from his wife.

It was good to have friends in high places.

The door to his office opened and my sister, Tatiana, strode in wearing a black dress. It had been a year and she still insisted on mourning.

“So I hear you’re starting a war,” she announced. “Can I join in?”

Our family was definitely a different shade of crazy.