I Don't: Marrying the Wrong Groom

Chapter 4

Venelope POV

"Look at this garbage," I muttered, slamming my hand down on the sleek dining table.

It was day two, and Stefan was already starting his pathetic psychological warfare. I sat in the massive, cold dining room of Nikolai’s estate, staring at a laptop screen that displayed the morning news. Every single major tabloid and news outlet was blowing up with the exact same headline. The media was literally screaming that I had been brainwashed, coerced, and violently kidn*pped by the ruthless Russian mob right from the altar. Stefan was playing the part of the devastated, heartbroken fiancé perfectly on television, using the scandal to gain public sympathy while trying to hide his panic.

The heavy double doors of the dining room swung open, and Nikolai walked inside. He had already ditched his formal suit for a simple black tactical shirt that clung tightly to his broad shoulders. He didn't say a single word at first. He just marched straight toward me, reached into his pocket, and threw a loudly buzzing, ringing smartphone right onto my silk-covered lap.

The caller ID displayed a number I knew by heart. It was Stefan.

Nikolai walked back over to the entrance, leaning casually against the wooden doorframe with his massive arms crossed over his chest. He nodded at the phone, his dark eyes watching me closely, waiting to see if I would c***k under the pressure of hearing my abuser's voice.

I picked up the phone, slid the green icon across the screen, and immediately put it on speaker. I wasn't going to hide anything from my new partner.

"Venelope? Venelope, sweetie, is that really you?" Stefan’s voice blasted through the speaker, sounding like a chaotic mix of fake, desperate worry and deeply hidden, toxic malice. "Thank God you alive. Listen to me very carefully right now. Volkov is a monster. He will kill you the moment he gets what he wants. You need to come home to me immediately. If you do not return the family shipping deeds to my lawyers by the end of the day, I am freezing every single one of your bank accounts. You will be completely broke by midnight."

He thought he could threaten me. He thought I was still that fragile little girl who depended on his mercy and his financial approval to survive. He had no idea that I had already seen how this story ended, and I was completely done playing defense.

I didn't just defend myself against his empty threats. I went straight for his throat.

"Touch a single penny in my accounts, Stefan, and I will personally leak the entire database of offshore manifests from your Panama shipping routes straight to the authorities," I said, my voice completely deadpan, cold, and dripping with venom.

The line went completely dead on Stefan's end. I could hear his ragged, uneven breathing through the speaker, but he didn't interrupt me.

"Oh, did you think I was stupid?" I continued, letting out a sharp, mocking laugh. "I know everything, Stefan. I know about Rivera. I know about the secret apartment downtown. And I know exactly where the missing twenty million dollars from your last expansion went. Try me, Stefan. See what happens to your precious little reputation if you touch my money."

On the other end of the line, Stefan literally choked on his breath, letting out an ugly, panicked coughing sound. He was utterly terrified. He had never heard this tone from me in his entire life. Before he could even form a coherent sentence to lie his way out of it, I lifted my hand and slammed the red end-call button down with immense force, cutting him off completely.

I sat there panting heavily, my chest rising and falling as the raw anger rolled through my body. I looked up from the phone and caught Nikolai’s expression.

For the first time since I met him, the dangerous, composed mafia don looked genuinely, completely shocked. His dark eyes were wide, staring at me like I had just grown a second head. I didn't blame him. Those specific Panama routes were top-secret, highly classified targets that his entire federal undercover team had been desperately trying to c***k for months without success. To him, there was no logical way a high-society heiress should know about those illegal routes or the missing millions.

"He is weak right now, Nikolai," I said, pushing the phone away and leaning forward on the table. "His mask is slipping, and his merger is completely failing because I walked out. We need to strike his main docks tonight before he can move his inventory."

Nikolai slowly pushed off the doorframe, walking toward me with slow, heavy, deliberate steps. The casual amusement was entirely gone from his face, replaced by a deep, intense curiosity that made the air in the room feel incredibly heavy. He stopped right beside my chair, leaning down until his shadow completely covered me.

He reached out his large hand, his rough fingers gripping my chin firmly but gently, forcing me to look directly up into his burning, dark eyes.

"You are a massive box of dangerous secrets, aren't you, printsessa?" Nikolai whispered, his deep baritone voice vibrating right against my skin. His thumb brushed lightly against my jawline, sending a sharp, unexpected jolt of electricity straight down my spine. "How exactly do you know about the Panama manifests? Who gave you that specific data?"

"That is my little secret," I snapped back, refusing to let his intense proximity break my focus. "All you need to know is that the information is completely real, and it can destroy him."

Nikolai stared deep into my eyes, searching for any sign of a lie. The physical and intellectual chemistry between us spiked instantly, the tension in the room becoming thick, hot, and impossible to ignore. We were two dangerous people holding loaded weapons, completely fascinated by each other's minds.

"Tell me exactly where that manifest database is located," Nikolai murmured, his grip on my chin tightening just a fraction as his eyes dropped to my lips for a brief second before snapping back up. "Give me the coordinates, and I will personally make sure Stefan Aston bleeds financially by midnight tonight."

"Deal," I whispered back, my heart hammering against my ribs.

We didn't waste another single second. Nikolai pulled up a chair right next to mine, his muscular shoulder brushing firmly against my arm as he opened a secure laptop on the table. For the next three hours, we sat side by side in the dim room, mapping out a high-stakes, ruthless raid on Stefan's main dock assets, completely united in our desire to watch my ex-fiancé's empire crumble into dust.