Page 23 of Cruel Promise

Working up my courage, I let my hands fall to my sides, and my dress falls with them, landing around my feet, leaving me in nothing but my white bra and panty set.

“Turn around.” His voice is deep and commanding.

A flash of … something hits me between the legs. It can’t be arousal. It just can’t be.

Slowly, I turn to face him. Nikolai is sitting on the bed, his forearms resting on his knees. His eyes darken as he takes me in.

I resist the urge to fidget.

“You are beautiful,” he says. “What do you think of me?”

“Do you want the truth?”

His lips quirk. “Yes, I want the truth.”

“You terrify me.”

“I know. What else?”

“I think you’re a monster. A beast who preys on innocent people.”

He stands up tall, towering over me. “Trust me, Ava. No one in this world is truly innocent. Not even you.”

“I am,” I whisper.

He brushes the back of his hand over my cheek. “Then why is your face flushed? Is it fear?” He leans down to speak into my ear. “Or is it something else?”

I gasp and pull away from him. He doesn’t touch me again.

“Goodnight, wife,” he says before leaving the room. I don’t know why he didn’t stay when he wanted to spend the night together before.

But I don’t question it. All I can think about is his question and whether he’s right.

Chapter

Four

NIKOLAI

The club is hazy and dark and seductive.

It’s not the loud partying kind. It’s the top shelf drinks only with a live pianist playing jazz music kind.

I spot him in the back booth, leaning back with a smug smile on his face. I shake my head with a sigh. I’m only doing this because he’s a power player in the Bratva, and I want to expand.

And now that Maxim and the rest of The Knights want to come for me, I need all the allies I can get.

I stand next to the table.

He glances up at me. “Ah! Nikolai.”

“Dimitri,” I say gruffly and sit down.

Dimitri Ivanov is rich, well-connected, and thinks he’s god’s gift to women. A dangerous kind of man, and one I need on my side.

“Still got that scar I see,” he says, taking a sip of his drink. Scotch, if I had to guess.

I frown.

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