Page 47 of Hated By the Boss

No. No. No.

She looked up at him. "Why are you here?" she asked painfully. "What else can you possibly want—-"

"You said you loved me," he gritted out.

She stared at him.

And then she was laughing, a tiny hysterical sound that had his jaw clenching at how fragile she sounded.

"It's like what you said," Tahey finally managed to say. "I'm an idiot—-"

"Are you waiting for me to beg?"

"No." She shook her head, so tired that she couldn't even manage to feel dismayed or appalled Dmitry would think that. "I'm waiting—-"

"Because I'd beg if you wanted me to."

Tahey's heart nearly stopped beating.

"Actually..." His throat tightened. "I'm begging right now—-" But when he tried to reach for her, she jumped back, a look of such fear on her pale, lovely face that he froze in shock.

"No." Tahey was white-faced in her terror. "No."

"I wronged you, Tahey." And this time, he heard his own voice turning rough with emotion. "I was blind with grief and bitterness. And I wronged you—-"

"Please s-stop—-"

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry for hurting you—-"

Tahey shook her head wildly. "Stop it—-"

"I know I don't deserve to ask you this," he forced himself to say, "but please come back. Please—-"

"I c-can't."

"I love you, Tahey."

Tahey gripped her chest. Oh God. It hurt so, so much. Once, she'd have done everything to hear those words. But not anymore.

"That's just guilt," she whispered. "But you don't really love me, Dmitry. I don't think you ever can."

The finality of her words ravaged him, and Dmitry could barely breathe at the pain of it. "Tahey, please..." He could feel his own eyes stinging, but he couldn't even feel embarrassed about this, was too terrified of losing her that he couldn't think of anything else. "Please—-"

"Thomas will always be between us—-"

"Listen to me, please."

And to Tahey's shock, Dmitry dropped to his knees in front of her. Her proud Dmitry, kneeling in the middle of a stable, and her heart just couldn't take it. "Don't do this, Dmitry, please—-"

"I went to see your father."

The rest of Tahey's words died.

"And he's the reason why..." Dmitry swallowed hard. "I'm working hard to forgive him, Tahey."

A sob caught in her throat.

"Talking to him, I realized...I was lucky. Because when I started Strakh Inc., it only took a short while before I became desensitized to all the death. It became all too easy to get used to playing judge and executioner. It's a slippery slope, when you think you know what's best, and if I didn't have Sasha and the others...if we didn't have each other..." Dmitry's jaw clenched anew. 'It would've been all too easy to fall into the same trap your father did and start thinking that the ends would justify the means."

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