Page 45 of Kidnapped By the Bratva

“You will?”

“Are you going to kill me now?”

My hand travels up to the side of her face. I brush my thumb over her cheek, looking for a sign. Something to let me know that I’m not alone in the way I feel about her. Her face softens slightly, her eyelids shutting as I drag my thumb across her lips.

“I won’t. And you know that.” I keep tracing her lips with my thumb as she opens her eyes. She puts her hand on my arm, her thumb moving in lazy circles.

“Let’s make a deal.” Her voice is broken, her bottom lip quivering. She blinks rapidly, trying to hold back her tears.

“I won’t say anything to the police, and you won’t kill me. We go our separate ways and then we never have to see each other again.”

She should have just stabbed me. It would have been easier than this.

“It doesn’t work that way. You’re mine, malyshka.”

Hazel takes a shuddering breath. “Nik, I can’t be with someone like you. It’s pointless. I’m always going to be torn between two worlds.”

I don’t think she knows what she is saying. If she didn’t care about me, she wouldn’t be on the verge of tears at the thought of never seeing each other again. She wouldn’t be holding onto my arm like it’s her lifeline in a hurricane.

“The cops are never going to leave you alone.” My hand returns to her jaw, cupping her face. “The FBI are going to sniff around too. You’re never going to know a moment’s peace if you don’t tell them everything you know.”

“I don’t care.”

“Don’t be naive.” I lean forward to kiss her cheek, catching a salty tear as it tracks down her cheek. “They will arrest you for obstructing justice. You know that. I know that.”

She rolls her bottom lip into her mouth before giving me that slow exhale again. “I don’t care about that. I just want to keep what’s happened between you and me.”

“I don’t think that you’re going to be okay with this, a few weeks from now.”

“Well, that’s on me.” She nestles closer to me, notes of honey and vanilla wafting around me. “We make the deal. We go our separate ways. We never see each other again.”

Over my dead body, but for a little while longer I will let her believe in her crazy idea.

Chapter 17 - Hazel

Two weeks. It took two weeks for Internal Affairs to review the night of the car chase and decide that I was fit to return to work. Though they’ve chained me to desk duty pending a more thorough investigation, at least I don’t have to sit at home anymore.

There is no more staring at the wall and thinking about the night I spent with Nik. I don’t have to think about the way his entire face seemed to crumple when I told him that it’s better if we never see each other again.

I’m practically buzzing with energy as I walk into the police station and shove all thoughts of Nik from my mind. I’m going to uphold my end of the deal, just like he is upholding his.

The scent of burned coffee and donuts wafts through the building. Officers in uniform bustle around, and detectives bring people into the interrogation room, just another day at the station.

Finally. I am back home.

“Morning.” Tom looks up from where he stands beside the front desk as I enter the building. “It must feel weird to come waltzing back into here after two weeks away.”

I pull him into a hug with a grin. “I know. You were right though. I needed the rest. Desk duty is going to suck, but at least it’s something to do. The break was nice but by the end, I was slowly starting to go stir-crazy.”

“That’s great.” Tom pulls back from me, his bushy eyebrows knitting together. There seem to be a few more gray strands in his hair and the lines around his mouth are deeper.

“What’s wrong?” I keep my voice soft as I pull him aside. “What’s going on?”

Tom runs his hand along his jaw. “What did you get up to on your leave?”

“Nothing.” I raise an eyebrow, trying to figure out what he is implying.

There is no way that he knows about Nik in my house. He couldn’t know. It was only once and almost a week ago.

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