Page 80 of Twilight Sins

YAKOV

I grab Luna by the arm and haul her out from under my desk. She tries to beeline towards the door, but I spin her back and toss her down in my chair.

“What are you doing?”

“Getting what I was promised.” I grip her chin until her full lips part. “You’re here to suck my cock, right? That’s why you’re wedged under my desk?”

She pulls away. “Stop it.”

“Then answer me. What the fuck are you doing in here, Luna?”

“Nothing.” She crosses her arms. “I was just?—”

“Tell me the truth or I will?—”

“What?” She lifts her chin defiantly to meet my eyes. “What are you going to do to me, Yakov?”

I drop down in front of her and rest my palms on the arms of the chair. Luna cringes back against the headrest, but I follow her. I don’t give her even an inch of space. Her panicked exhales mingle with mine.

“If you were anyone else, you’d already be dead.”

She narrows her blue eyes. “But I’m not ‘anyone else,’ am I?”

I was making a threat, but she’s right. For some reason far beyond what I can comprehend, Luna is different. She stuck herself into me and I don’t want to let go. Even though “letting go” is exactly what I should be doing.

My knuckles are white from gripping the armrest. “Why the fuck can’t you stay out of it, Luna? I asked you to do one goddamn thing!” I shove the chair back. I’m trying to keep you safe, and you’re making it really fucking hard.”

“And I’m trying to trust you, but you’re making that hard.”

I shake my head. “I haven’t given you a single reason not to trust me.”

“Ha! You’re kidding, right? You’ve barely told me anything! I’ve had to beg for bits and scraps of what is going on from you.”

“Count yourself lucky. I could have told you nothing.”

“You probably think I should be grateful you kept this from me, too.” She grabs a folder off of the desk and throws it at my chest.

Benjy’s file. I haven’t looked at it since the night I tracked him down to the bar. I could have shredded it once I was done with him. I’ve seen enough men after a fight to know which ones are going to get back up. Benjy isn’t a fighter. He’ll stay down.

“Make whatever excuses you want, but you should have told me about this, Yakov. This was a lie.”

“That piece of shit isn’t worth lying about,” I growl. “He isn’t even worth talking about.”

“Is that why you didn’t mention that you know him? Because he isn’t worth talking about?” she snaps. “Well, I think it’s worth talking about that the man I’m sleeping with has a file on my abusive ex in his desk. Are the two of you, like, working together? If this is some kind of setup, then… I don’t even know how to make sense of that.”

“Don’t fucking insult me, Luna. I’d never work with Benjy.”

She throws up her hands. “Then what is happening? Is he the person I’m in danger from?”

“If Benjy was the problem, he’d already be dead.”

“I don’t want to do this anymore.” She drags her hands down her face and takes a deep breath. When she looks up at me, there are tears in her eyes. “I can’t do this anymore. I want to trust you. But I need more. Something. You said the other day that you wanted to tell me what is going on. So tell me, Yakov. Not all of it, but… something. Please.”

It would be better this way. If she left before I had to figure out how the fuck I’m going to let her go.

But the broken look on her face doesn’t give me a choice.

I close my eyes and sigh. “The men who killed my father are after me and anyone close to me.”

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