Page 182 of Sinful Games

“But being Sadiek’s whore worked for you?”

She shrugged, completely unfazed. “It did. He was my provider, my confidant. He took care of me financially, sexually, emotionally—without ever asking for anything more than fidelity. And even when he found out about us, he cried and begged me not to leave.”

I smirked.

That bastard cried? What an asshole.

“Oh, and for the record, I’m sorry I killed your son, but I had to make you pay for taking Sadiek from me.”

My fists clenched at my sides, rage surging through me.

“But you should thank me,” she continued, her voice disturbingly calm. “I could’ve taken Caia too, but I spared her. That was my mercy. I didn’t have to leave your precious little wife alive, but I did.”

I stepped forward. “Mercy? You tore my world apart, and now you expect gratitude?”

She shrugged again, her apathy fanning theflames of my fury. “Sadiek mattered to me. You took him, so I took something from you. Fair’s fair.”

Her twisted sense of "justice" was almost laughable. I used that same logic when I killed Sadiek for what he did to Caia. But my son? He was innocent. If she truly believed in “an eye for an eye,” she would’ve come after me. But she knew the deeper pain lay in leaving me alive, with my son gone.

This wasn’t revenge. It was cruelty for the sake of it.

“You’re fucking deranged,” I spat, my voice thick with rage. “Sadiek was a piece of shit. He got what he deserved.”

“And you think you’re any better?” she shot back, her eyes narrowing. “You think you’re some kind of saint?”

“At least I’m not a lying, manipulative rapist like he was.”

She laughed, a cold, hollow sound. “Oh, Alexsei, you’re so deluded. Sadiek had his flaws, but he wasn’t as bad as you think.”

“You murdered my son!” I roared, my voice cracking under the weight of my grief. “A baby—he wasn’t even two! How the fuck do you justify that?”

“I’d do it again,” she said, matter-of-factly, like it was nothing, “if it meant getting back what’s mine.”

The air around us was freezing, the New York night biting at my skin, but all I felt was the burn of my hatred for her. Tonight would be her last. I’d make sure of it.

“What the fuck do you want now, Leila?” I growled. “You’ve already gotten your revenge. So why are you still stalking us?”

A slow, unsettling grin spread across her face. “Your ex-wife, Alexsei. She’s beautiful. I honestly thought losing your son would’ve brought you two closer, maybe even forged an unbreakable bond.” She laughed, the sound ice-cold. “But then I realized—no, my revenge isn’t finished. You’ve moved on. Caia’s next. It’s onlyfitting.”

As she spoke, she revealed her hands. In one, a gun gleamed under the streetlights. In the other, her phone’s screen glowed, casting an eerie light on her twisted smile.

“I’ve been watching both of you,” she continued, her voice disturbingly calm. “I know everything—every move, every weakness.” She raised the gun slightly, her gaze locking onto me. “Now, it’s time to finish what I started.”

I laughed. “Is that all you’ve got, Leila?” I said, walking toward her. “You think waving a gun around is going to intimidate me?”

As I approached, her grip on the gun tightened, the cold metal now pressing against my chest. I could feel the chill of the barrel through my shirt.

“You have no idea what you’ve just walked into, Leila,” I said, my voice dropping to a low, sinister whisper as a chilling smile spread across my face.

She leaned in closer, her breath warm against my cheek. “You neither, Romaniev.”

Suddenly, the cell phone in her hand began to ring, an unknown number flashing on the screen. She answered it with deliberate slowness, her gaze never leaving mine. With a cold, calculated movement, she put the call on speaker.

The phone crackled to life.

“Ma’am?”

Leila’s expression remained impassive as she responded. “You can go through with it,” she said before ending the call with a sharp swipe.

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