Page 151 of Cruel Promise

“Ask anything you want.”

“You know my life. Who my parents are. But I don’t even know anything about yours. I want to fill in those gaps so I can keep falling in love with you every day. This is the only way this marriage works.”

“My parents …” He puts his arm behind his head, making his bicep flex. “They were pretty shitty, honestly. Dad was a deadbeat. Mom worked as a prostitute. She tried to provide for me, but she always brought men home with her that I didn’t know.”

“What happened to them?”

“My mom caught some sort of virus and died. I was just a kid. Placed in the foster care because my dad wasn’t around. I worked odd jobs as a kid for dangerous men. Bratva men. I worked my way up the ranks to get where I am now.”

“A real rags to riches story.” I shake my head. “I knew none of this about you. I want to know more.”

“How much more?”

“All of it.”

“I have a lot of stories I could tell you. Not all of them good,” he admits.

“I want to learn it all. The good and the bad. I don’t want there to be any barriers between us, Nik. No more pulling away. I want you to be completely and utterly honest with me, and I’ll do the same with you.”

“Are there secrets you’re keeping?”

“Maybe.”

He grabs my waist and rolls me onto my back. “Then tell me.”

“Only if you kiss me first.”

He obliges by kissing me so deeply and tenderly, I feel it all the way into my bones.

“Ok,” I say. “I’ll tell you about the secret I’ve been keeping my entire life.” I let out a long exhale. “I killed my childhood goldfish and flushed it down the toilet without my parents knowing. When they asked where he went, I just told them he somehow escaped.”

Nikolai stares at me for a long moment before laughing. Soon, I join in, too.

We laugh together for a long time after that.

There’s so much we still have to learn about each other, but we have the rest of our lives to do that.

For right now, I just want to remain in Nikolai’s arms and laugh the day away with him. His laugh is the best sound I’ve ever heard.

We were always meant to be together, but this time, I got to make the choice to return to him.

And it was the best choice I have ever made.

The End

---