Page 167 of Crave

“I will fight for us, Alexei. I’ll fall with you, I’ll love you every single day. I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure we do lifetogether. Because I live for you, too. And I’m sorry. I’m sorry I lost control, that I hid my battles from you.”

He shakes his head.

“Don’t apologize, baby. We’ve got this. Now get some rest, I’ll get the cabin ready and we can escape for a little while.”

As he stands I grab his wrist.

“No kiss?” I give him an exaggerated pout.

He laughs and runs a hand over his face. My poor man looks broken.

Bending over, he kisses me so softly, like I’m a piece of glass that will crumble.

“You won’t break me, sladkiy.”

He smiles against my lips and kisses me properly.

“I love you,” he whispers.

“I love you, sweets.”

CHAPTER 83

ALEXEI

Closing the door behind me,as soon as it clicks I rest my back against it and rub my hands over my face.

“Fuck.”

I want to punch something, anything. I just want to make this all better for her, snap my fingers and it’s okay again.

Why can’t I save her from the demons in her head?

I know I can’t. But I’ll do everything in my power to help her.

It’s up to me to remind her every day how perfect she is. On the inside and out.

I’ll worship her until the day I die.

Starting with fixing up the cabin. I have no idea how I’m going to break the news about Mikhail. Especially when we have no idea what happened.

I can’t believe he’s dead. But until I see that giant body, I won’t believe it.

Nikolai clears his throat and I look up.

“Go spend some time with her, I have some things to take care of,” I tell him, sliding out my phone.

He nods.

“Don’t mention Mikhail until I get back, okay?”

Niki raises a brow and looks through the glass.

“You saw the plane go down?” Niki asks sternly.

“Yea.”

I clench my fist, a fresh wave of nausea washing over me.

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