Page 186 of Cashmere Cruelty

“Revenge isn’t a dream. It’s a goal.”

It’s still my goal, I think but don’t say, because it feels wrong to stain this moment with that. The blood I still thirst for. Where April’s concerned, I don’t want anything to taint her.

“But you still want that,” she says for me.

“Yes,” I admit. “I want that. And I want everything else, too.”

That’s always been at my core—this insatiable fucking greed. Aspakhan, I want the world at my feet. As a son, I want revenge.

And as a man…

“I wantyou.”

April’s hazel eyes fill with tears. I watch them cling to her eyelashes, a thousand tiny pearls. “Matvey…”

“I want you,” I repeat, cupping her cheek, “and no one else. Not even if it’s fake.”

Then I kiss her.

I kiss her softly. Sweetly. Like I’ve never kissed her before. There is hunger inside me, but for once, it isn’t looking to consume.

For once, it’s content withthis.

Her.

Us.

“You mean it?” April breathes against my lips when we pull apart. “You really mean it? This isn’t a dream?”

“I can pinch you, if you like.”

She laughs. “Why do I have a feeling you’ll do it anyway?”

I grab the tender skin of her hips between my index and thumb. “Because, April Flowers, you’re mine. And I get to do whatever I want with you.”

Her eyes go dark and hooded. “Is that so?”

“That is so.”

“And what does Matvey Groza want to do with me now?”

“I want to move in with you. Permanently.”

April blinks in surprise. No doubt, she’d been expecting something else.

It’s not that I don’twantthat something else. It’s like I said: I want everything.But first, I want April to know I’m not going anywhere.

“I mean…” she stammers, flushed from head to toe. “Thisistechnically your place…”

“Mm. And everything in it, too,” I whisper against her ear. “All mine.”

Before I can be tempted, I rise. I don’t have many things—I’ll just grab the essentials from my loft. The files I keep there, too. This week, I want to work from home as much as possible.

Home.That word still tastes foreign on my tongue.

So I take April’s hand and replace that taste with hers.

I kiss it like so many times before. But this isn’t like those other times; those were goodbyes. Endings.

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