I STOLE MY SISTERS FIANCÉ: A CEO!

SUMMER'S POINT OF VIEW.

Sophia didn't waste a moment.

I'd woken up that morning after a long night of tossing and turning before I'd finally fallen asleep. But before I could let the information I'd gotten yesterday dwell in my mind, my phone practically blew up with different notifications. For a moment, I'd forgotten what happened until I saw him.

Kirill Volkov.

Sitting in the armchair beside the window, dressed in a dark suit without the jacket, his top buttons popped open to reveal his broad chest, the white shirt rolled to his elbows, so his veins lining his forearms were on display. I'd swallowed hard, as my pussy tingled with desire. He looked like the object of any straight woman's desire.

My husband.

God help me.

He didn't glance my way, even as my bare legs brushed against the silk sheets. All he stared at was the tablet, which glowed in his hand as he scrolled away at it. I could tell something was wrong before he even spoke.

"Don't check your phone," he said, voice low, cold, too calm. He didn't even bother looking up at me as he commanded. My mouth hung open in shock as I looked at the phone, which still vibrated with notifications on the side table, instinctively.

My heart tightened as I clutched the silk sheets to myself. I wasn't naked, but the silk robes he had me dress in might as well render me naked before him. "What-"

"Summer." His tone sharpened like a blade, cutting me off before I could utter another word; his tone left no room for objections as he narrowed his eyes at me. "Don't."

I rolled my eyes hard and grabbed my phone. With a glare, I stared at the notification, interest and curiosity gnawing at me with each second that ticked by.

My eyes widened at the headline on the front page news, and I wished to god i'd done as he commanded me- not touch my fucking phone.

Three headlines were blaring against my vision even as I tried to look away;

MURDERESS MARRIES TRILLIONAIRE HEIR - EX-CONVICT BRIDE OF KIRILL VOLKOV EXPOSED.

SUMMER RODRIGUEZ: THE WOMAN WHO KILLED A HOMELESS MAN.

SOCIAL ELITE OUTRAGE: MONSTER IN A WEDDING DRESS.

'What the hell?" Those were the only words I could muster for a while as I scrolled. It felt like five years ago all over again, as the comments and hashtags calling for me to kill myself glared back at me. Tears welled in my eyes as the truth of one matter stung me. I knew exactly who would do such a thing.

My twin sister, Sophia. With the aid of the woman who gave me life.

My pulse roared in my ears as I looked through every feed, every headline, every account flooded with my name, my face, my mugshot. A video popped up, and even though my mind screamed at me not to play it, I did.

And to add insult to injury, it was the video Sophia had sworn she'd deleted on the day she and my mother visited me in jail, just before my sentencing; the last time I ever saw them offer me a shred of dignity; the one of me being dragged into the police car years ago while I screamed and begged that it wasn't me had been plastered across every news site in the city.

"No," I whispered. "No, no, no-she wouldn't-" I shook my head in denial, wishing desperately that the video would disappear from the internet with a wave of my hand, but if wishes were fucking horses, right?

"She did."

Kirill's voice was hit like a fucking sledgehammer, confirming that this wasn't a nightmare I could simply awake from. "Your sister leaked everything."

The room spun. "She-she can't. That video was sealed-" or rather, it was supposed to be. The only people with a copy of it were the police, and from what I knew, it wouldn't be released unless I approved it; that was my legal right, for fucks sake.

He approached the bed slowly and dropped the tablet on the chair before slipping his hands into his pockets. All of a sudden, he stopped in front of me, his hand darting out to brush against my cheek softly. He stared at me as though I were something he longed to unravel, his eyes shining with dark interest, but all I could think of was the sound I heard coming from outside the gates of the mansion. "Your sister didn't just out you. She declared war." He swore, and I turned to stare out the window, but before I could move to actually check, he held me back.

"I want to see what the noise is," I whispered, tears streaming down my cheeks as I tried not to bawl at the pain of my mother choosing my sister yet again over me.

I buried my face in my hands, choking on the weight of humiliation before my husband. He lifted my chin suddenly, and for a moment, not a word passed between us. All I felt was his fingers gently, yet calmly wiping my tears away, even as the muscles in his jaw ticked.

"I'll take care of it." He whispered, and I stared at him in shock.

Why....from what he revealed yesterday, his brother was the homeless man Sophia ran over.

Why..." My voice cracked as I sniffled. "Why are you helping me?"

He looked at me for what felt like aeons, but it wasn't out of pity. It wasn't kindness either; rather, it was something darker. Something torn between hate and hunger as his eyes shone with something predatory.

"I haven't decided if I am," he said.

My breath caught in my throat, but I swallowed and asked, secretly hoping he would help. Because I had no way of helping myself. "Then why are you still here holding me?" All of a sudden, his hold on my chin dropped fast, as if it burned him

His jaw flexed for the fourth time today, his blue eyes flashing with unreadable, but to me, it looked like conflict "Because the world wants blood. And I'd rather it not be yours... not yet."

"What does that mean?"

"Stay here." He commanded, dropping his hands from my chin, rendering me cold instantly, so I pulled the sheets closer as I shivered. "The reporters have gathered outside the gates, along with the mob. They might get violent."

"I can't hide forever."

"You can and you will, but not forever, just until I clear the way." He said, sounding ominous even as he commanded. "Do you know what happens to women like you when the public wants a throat to slit?"

My lip trembled, but I didn't answer, because I knew what had happened. I'd faced it as an ordinary woman; I couldn't imagine how hard it would be as the wife of a trillionaire like Kirill when I could barely stomach it as a common prisoner.

He took a step closer. "They ruin you. They strip you. They make sure you can never breathe without feeling some ounce of shame again. You might think you know what it feels like, but as my wife, I can guarantee it would be much harder than five years ago." His voice lowered all of a sudden, his tone much darker now....as were his eyes. "And I don't like sharing what's mine with the world."

"Yours?" I laughed and scoffed bitterly. "This marriage isn't real."

His eyes narrowed slightly, his head tilting to the side as he smirked at me. "It's real enough to make them want to burn you for it."

Something in his tone.... that cold, possessive edge made my pulse skip. I hated it. I hated that a part of me felt safer under his danger than I ever did in my sister's shadow.

The phone buzzed again, drawing our attention to it. It was another headline flashing across the screen.

'Summer Rodriguez: The Woman Who Fooled the World.'

Sophia's voice filled the speakers, and even though I didn't want to, I flinched before I could control myself. "I pity my sister," she said in a live interview. "Prison changes a person. You can take the girl out of the cell, but you can't take the criminal out of her. She killed a man, and now she thinks she can be the wife of such an innocent trillionaire. I truly hope Kirill comes to his senses and abandons such a dangerous woman.'

I went still immediately.

Kirill turned the volume down and flipped the phone on its front, but it was too late. The words already sank deep; each one felt like a knife twisted slowly as she uttered the words I'd tried to outrun every day in prison.

Criminal.

Murderer.

Killer... everything made me want to scream.

My chest ached, and I whispered, "She'll destroy me."

He didn't deny it.

Instead, he stepped closer, his tall form towering over my small one. "Then destroy her first."

I blinked up at him. "What?"

He reached out, his fingers grazing my jaw, forcing me to look at him. "You've spent years running, hiding, apologising for things you said you didn't do.

Stop."

His voice lowered again, "You want to survive this? Learn to fight like a Volkov. That's who you are now"

"Where are you going?" I squeaked.

"My sister-in-law thinks she can wage a war against my wife on our honeymoon, darling." I flinched at the words 'wife' and 'honeymoon' "I think I should go to battle as well."

And with that, he was out of the room without looking back, leaving me all alone in the large mansion.