Anton’s face reddens as he hits Maksim’s arm, but the more my guard crushes his trachea, the weaker his struggle gets.
“Maks!” she shrieks, but he’s not hearing her. “Please, let him go.”
Finally, she realizes who she should be talking to and turns to me. “Tell him to stop.”
I stare down at her. “Say you’re sorry first.”
“Sorry for what?”
“For leaving me. For making me believe you were dead. I want you to say you’re fucking sorry.”
“Fuck you,” she grinds out.
I lift a shoulder as Anton’s thrashes mixed with his raw struggles for breath echo in the air.
“Maks, please,” she begs him, but he’s still not hearing her. Judging by the reddening of her brother’s face, he probably has about a minute left before he crosses to the other side. If not less.
Sasha looks at me with tears clinging to her eyes. “I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“For ever loving a monster like you.”
My jaw clenches and I’m tempted to suffocate the fuck out of her, but I’m not sure I won’t kill her if I do that.
“Let him go, Maksim.”
My guard doesn’t seem to be listening, so I push him, destabilizing his elbow from Anton’s neck.
“I said to let him go.”
He stares at me as if he just came out of a trance, which might as well be the case.
Anton coughs, the sound raw in the giant space. Sasha sits beside him and pats his back. Her expression is that of pure horror.
Not the one I was hoping for.
I glare at Maksim. He slowly lowers his head because he knows exactly how much he fucked up.
Maybe I fucked up, too, because I’m not sure my next plan will work as I’d hoped.
15
SASHA
I’m so close to the point of eruption.
Chaotic emotions swirl through me and I want to burst into a spree of violence or release a long scream.
As long as I inflict pain on the asshole who’s gripping me by the arm and leading me through fuck knows what.
Again, I had to wear the blindfold so I don’t find out the location of where he’s keeping my brother.
My mind buzzes with the reminder that Maks could kill him at any second. Hell, if Kirill hadn’t used force earlier, I might be mourning my brother’s death as we speak.
My friend didn’t say a word to me, let alone try to explain why he’s been ignoring all of the texts I’ve been sending over the past week.
Maybe Anton was right and Maksim is blindly loyal to Kirill, and, therefore, he won’t hesitate to kill my brother if my monster of a husband gives the order.
My muscles are tense to the point of pain and I have to put up with touching the bastard despite wanting to throw him down and kick him in the nuts.
All I see is black and it’s a true translation of my current mood. The worst part about having my eyesight taken away is the heightening of my other senses.
I can hear the distant howls of the night creatures and the rustle of the leaves beneath our shoes. Even Kirill’s steady breathing sweeps through me like an irritating highlight of the sounds.
My arms erupt in goosebumps, and I want to blame that on the night chill, but if that were the case, why am I hotter than normal?
In fact, they feel like they’re disconnected from the rest of my body and living in a strange in-between. One that’s filled with Kirill’s overwhelming presence.
His scent clashes with that of the forest—woodsy, deep, and most importantly, bottomless. Like his emotions.
“Aren’t we there yet?” I ask with a brusque tone.
We’ve been going for what I’m sure is longer than half an hour—though it feels like ages.
The walk to Anton’s prison was twenty minutes. I was able to tell by calculating the time between when he put on the blindfold and after he removed it.
“So you do have a voice. And here I thought you’d lost it.”
I glare at him even through the blindfold. “You think I’m in the mood to talk to you after you made me watch my brother’s attempted murder?”
“You know very well that wasn’t my intention.”
“Know very well?” I repeat in an incredulous tone and force him to a halt, then yank away the blindfold. I’m greeted by shadowy trees and Kirill’s stoic face. “You’re the type who gives people a safety net just to pull the rug from beneath their feet, so no, there’s no way of knowing your true intentions.”
He steps forward, invading my space and trapping me with his arctic wolf eyes. “That might apply to everyone else, but never to you.”
I punch him in the shoulder. “Stop saying things like that!”
“Why?” He cradles my fist in his hand and keeps it caged against his chest. “Are you by any chance afraid that if you listen to me without projecting your self-induced hatred, you’ll actually believe me and eventually forgive me?”
“Forgive you? For what, exactly? For keeping me a secret while plotting to marry someone else? For sending your people to get rid of my family and me because you couldn’t finish the job six years ago?”
“If you were my secret, I wouldn’t have introduced you to my family and my organization as my fucking wife. I didn’t send anyone to kill you or your family. Not now, not six years ago.”
“But I saw Makar that day! He was there near the cottage to make sure I was blown up inside it.”
He pauses, eyes narrowing. “Makar?”
“Your father’s senior guard who’s been loyal to you since his death, or are you also going to pretend you don’t know him or didn’t give him the order?”
“I do know him, but he was under no such fucking order. In fact, he’s supposed to be working closely with the Bratva branch in Chicago and has been for months now.”
“So you’re telling me you’re not the one who called him back to eliminate me?”
He grabs my shoulder with his free hand, and shakes me, nearly knocking all my senses out of their confinements. “This is the last fucking time I’ll say this, I’d never hurt you.”
“But you did!” I punch my chest. “You took the stupid feelings I had for you and used them against me in the cruelest way. But it doesn’t matter now. I’m over it and you.”
“Liar.” His huskily spoken word sends a jolt of electricity through my stupid heart that refuses to die already. “If you were over it, you wouldn’t go out of your way to avoid me. You wouldn’t be shaking in my arms like you are now.”
I try to jerk away, but he wraps an arm around my lower back and slams my front against his.
In the dark, our harsh breaths echo in the air, intertwining with the sounds of the night creatures.
“Let me go.” I push at his chest.
“I made that mistake once. I believed you were dead and buried what I thought were your fucking bones with my own hands. I’ll never do that again.”
“You’re only delaying the inevitable.”
“We’ll see about that.”
“What is that supposed to mean? You agreed to divorce me in three months.”
He lowers his head so that his face is nearly level with mine. I almost forgot how beautiful he is up close. His straight nose complements his sharp jawline and his defined lips. He’s one of those people who has model-like features but with the charm of a shrewd businessman.