Page 188 of Sinful Games

"There’s something we need to do—something that can’t wait. It’s the only way we can move forward, start fresh. But before we do that, there’s something we need to face."

"What is it?" she whispered, her thumb gently brushing against my hand.

"We need to forgive each other, baby," I muttered, my voice raw with everything we had buried for so long—the pain, the anger, the fucking exhaustion of pretending we were fine.

After two years of hell apart, every day dragging like some twisted eternity, and these past weeks where I nearly lost her for good, the realization slammed into me. Hard. We'd been tiptoeing around our past, letting it rot between us like a ticking time bomb, festering.

Those years apart? They were supposed to heal us, give us a chance to figure out who the hell we were without each other. But all they did was stretch the distance wider. We never fucking dealt with the wounds we carved into each other, never acknowledged the scars that still throbbed.

But these last few weeks, watching her fade in that hospital bed, made me see it clearly. We’ve been kidding ourselves, letting resentment fester, guilt worm its way intoeverything. It’s like we’ve been tiptoeing around the edge, afraid to stare down into the abyss because we didn’t want to see how deep it really went.

But if we’re going to make this work, if there’s any shot at a fresh start, we’ve got to dig into the mess we’ve been too fucking scared to face.

We’ve got to forgive each other.

And I don’t mean some surface-level crap. I’m talking about the kind of forgiveness that wrecks you, strips you down until there’s nothing left but the truth.

"What do you mean?" she whispered, her voice shaking like she already knew where this was going, but terrified to hear it out loud.

I swallowed, my throat burning. "I forgive you,moya solnyshka. For leaving me when everything crumbled. For running away. I forgive you for keeping quiet when you knew—when you had even the slightest inkling who might’ve taken our son from us." My chest tightened, the pain of those words nearly suffocating me. Our eyes met, and I could see it—the guilt, the regret. "I forgive you for breaking my heart, Caia."

Her breath hitched, and I could feel her start to crumble right there in front of me. But I kept going because this wasn’t about making her feel guilty. This was about tearing down the walls we’d both built, brick by fucking brick.

It had to end. All of it. Or we would.

In that instant, I saw something shift—relief, understanding, a glimmer of hope sparking to life in her eyes. She took a deep, shaky breath, and with a fragile smile, found the strength to respond.

"I forgive you, Alexsei," she said, her voice so soft it nearly faded into the night. "I forgive you for forcing me to marry you when I wasn’t ready, for not being able to protect Lukyan and me. I know now it wasn’t something you could control. Iforgive you for letting me go, for not holding on when I ran. And I forgive you, Alexsei, for breaking my heart, too."

The wounds we’d inflicted on each other were still there, but in that moment, we began to heal—not through grand gestures or empty promises, but through the raw honesty of our forgiveness.

"I love you, Caia. I always have, and I always fucking will," I whispered.

She brought my hand to her lips, kissing it gently. "I love you too, Alexsei. I always have, and I always will."

I couldn’t hold back any longer. With a desperate, primal need, I grabbed her face, pulling her toward me like she was the only thing that could save me.

Our lips crashed together, hard and frantic, nothing soft about it. This kiss was raw, wild, infused with all the shit we’d been bottling up for years. My hands tangled in her hair, pulling her closer, fingers gripping like I never wanted to let go.

Every bit of hunger, every ounce of need poured out of me, and I didn’t care if it was messy or rough—I just needed her. She clutched at my shoulders, her nails biting into my skin, as if afraid I’d disappear too.

I pulled back just a fraction, our lips barely brushing, feeling the heat of her breath mingling with mine. Our eyes locked—my blue against her green.

“Let’s go,” I said, my voice rough.

Reluctantly, I let her go and stepped out, holding the door open for her before taking her hand in mine. We made our way to the elevator, the silence thick with tension. I could hear her breath hitching and see the way her cheeks flushed, glistening under the dim lights.

As soon as we stepped inside, I lost my restraint. I slammed the button to close the doors and spun her around, pinning her against the wall with enough force to rattle the metal. Mymouth crashed against hers, hungry and desperate, hands gripping her ass, pulling her closer. She responded with equal fervor, fingers tangling in my hair, yanking hard as she bit down on my lip.

Just as I was losing myself in her, the elevator dinged, announcing our arrival. The doors slid open, but I didn’t move, still holding her against the wall, breathing hard, eyes locked on hers.

“Alexsei—”

“Just give me a sec,” I whispered, pressing my forehead against hers.

I kissed her lips one last time before letting her go, taking her hand and leading us out.

At the end of the hallway, a man in a suit smiled warmly.

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