Page 34 of Fallen Roses

“James, please, let me explain.”

“Oh, you’ll explain alright because I’m not untying you until I have the whole story.”

“Fine.”

Her eyes flash as she hisses, “Yes, I am workingwiththem, not for them. I took on a different identity to gain access to The Rose Foundation. That had nothing to do with you, by the way.”

“Then why?”

I stare at her incredulously and she spits, “Because my family needs answers.”

“Your family?”

“Yes, James. Mikhail and Titus are my brothers and our father was Andrei Romanov.”

“Fuck!”

It’s as if everything explodes at once as I realize the full extent of the shit I’m in and I shake my head and whisper, “So, you used me.”

“No.” Her voice breaks. “I didn’t even know who you were that night in the bar. My instructions were to discover the secrets the foundation is hiding and report them back to my brother. We arenotthe enemy here, James. Please, you must believe me.”

“Believe you?” I stare at her in shock. “Why should Ibelieve anything you say to me, Ana, if that is your real name?”

“It is.” She sighs. “But not Annabelle Starling. It’s Anastasia Romanov. I’m pleased to meet you.”

The pain in her eyes disarms me a little and for some reason, it makes me look at her a little differently. Is she also being used? Is this what her family does? After meeting her brother, I can guess the kind of upbringing she had and I sit on the edge of the bed and exhale sharply.

“I’ll untie you on the condition you tell me everything from the beginning. Then I’ll work out where we go from here.”

“Okay.”

As I remove her ties and unfasten the handcuffs, I am already questioning everything she has told me until now.

As she rubs her wrists, followed by her ankles, I toss one of my t-shirts in her direction and nod toward the living area.

“Come. I don’t know about you, but I need a drink.”

She follows me silently and I try desperately not to react to how desirable she looks dressed in my shirt. Her hair is messy and wild and the flush on her face resembling a freshly bloomed rose. She is bearing my mark on her neck that won’t be going away anytime soon and the red marks from the ties will fade but are now a reminder of my possession. I can’t shake how good it was to fill the inside of her mouth with my cock and knowing Iwas extremely close to fucking her all night doesn’t help my mood at all.

I splash whiskey into two glasses and hand her one, nodding to the couch.

She sits without question and I take the one opposite and glare at her with disappointment.

“Tell me.”

She nods miserably and as she gulps the liquor back in one, she sets the glass on the table and exhales sharply.

“It all began when my father was murdered.”

She winces, but I remain impassive, too angry to care right now.

“We are a powerful family in Russia, James, and have the latest security in place, but somehow he was poisoned at the dinner table in front of our mother.”

She stops and plays with her fingers and then gulps, “It was inconceivable that anyone could have carried it out. My brothers were mystified and hell bent on revenge, so we began to delve into my father’s past for answers.”

She lifts her eyes to mine and says softly, “We discovered a connection to a company called Burning Roses, but that wasn’t all we found. He was also living a double life and had a mistress.”

I shake my head and say in a low voice. “That must have sucked.”

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