Page 148 of Ivory Oath

“You knew what you were signing up for when you agreed to marry me, Viviana. This isn’t a surprise to you. You knew who I was.”

“I thought I did,” I admit. “But then our son was kidnapped because you can’t give the Bratva up. You don’t know when to let go.”

He raises a hand like he’s going to grab me, but he tugs it through his hair instead. “I don’t need to give anything up. I’m going to kill Christos and your father and?—”

“And then someone will take their place. There will always be another threat and it’s killing our family. Don’t you see that?” I take a deep breath. “You have to choose, Mikhail: the Bratva or our family. You can’t have both.”

He closes the distance between us. His chest brushes against mine with every ragged breath. “Or what?” he growls.

I swallow down my nerves and the bone-deep instinct to curl against his chest. “Or I’m leaving. We’re leaving—me and Dante.”

“You’ll die out there,” he breathes.

I nod. “We might die in here, too.”

He traces my face. Really looks at me for the first time since he walked in the room, and he knows I’m serious. I can see it dawn on him that I’m going to leave.

He’s going to choose us.

No other man in my life has chosen me, but Mikhail will. He loves me the way I love him. I’m sure of it. I’ve seen it.

Maybe I can fix him.

“You think you’re going to die if you stay here?” he asks softly.

I nod.

He takes one step back and another. He moves with purpose, his eyes never leaving mine. “I say we test that theory.”

By the time I understand what he’s saying, he’s pulling the door closed between us.

The duffel bag slips off my shoulder and I lunge for the narrowing gap, but the chance for escape clicks closed. The bolt slides home.

“You can’t keep me here forever!” I pound on the door, but it’s solid.

I’m sure Mikhail is already gone, but then his muffled voice reaches me through the wood. “I don’t need to keep you here forever, Viviana. I just need to keep you long enough that you don’t go out and get yourself killed.”

“There’s always going to be another threat. It’s never going to end, Mikhail. We can’t keep going like this.” I press my forehead to the wood as my voice wavers and breaks. “I can’t keep going like this. I won’t. I’ve wasted enough years of my life running and hiding. I’m done with that. You have to choose. If you don’t… you’ll lose me either way.”

I wait for a response, but it doesn’t come.

Mikhail has made his choice.

He’s gone.

60

MIKHAIL

You have to choose. If you don’t… you’ll lose me either way.

Viviana’s voice follows me down the stairs and through the mansion. The words play on a loop in the back of my head as I start my car and drive numbly through the dark.

I don’t know if it’s the way I am or the way my father raised me to be, but I don’t doubt myself. Ever. I make a decision based on the information in front of me and I know it’s the right thing to do. Even if everything goes to shit, I know I did the best I could with what I had.

But since the moment I followed Viviana back to her apartment and saw that little boy with my eyes hiding behind her legs, I’ve had doubts.

Should I have stopped her from leaving the bridal suite the night I saved her from Trofim?

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