Page 130 of Inked Adonis

“So are you.”

His knuckles whiten on the steering wheel. In another life, in another car, that comment would have earned me a backhand. But he’s exercising restraint today. How generous of him.

“I’m saving you in the long run. Once Litvinov was tired of you, he would’ve dumped your ass by the wayside, and you would’ve been crawling back to me. But if you do as I say, the Andropovs will take care of you.” He nods like he’s trying to convince both me and himself. “They’ll take care of both of us.”

Sam’s building comes into view, and I fist my good hand in the material of my sweatpants. My heart is racing and every muscle aches. “What do you want me to do? There’s security everywhere.”

“But he trusts you, yeah? He lets you live in his house even when he’s away. According to Katerina, that isn’t normal for him.”

“Almost like he loves me,” I mumble. A child’s wishful thinking wrapped in barbed wire.

He shifts into park, the engine idling like a held breath. “Then use it. Get into his office. Find the server. Deliver it to the Andropovs yourself.” His voice drops to a growl. “And if you try to alert anyone, our deal is dead.”

I cough out a humorless laugh. “This isn’t a deal; it’s blackmail. Are you so far gone that you really don’t know the difference?”

He looks towards the building and across the sidewalk. For a fraction of a second, something flickers across his face—fear? Maybe there’s another gun pressed to another back. Maybe the Andropovs have pieces of him, too.

The thought dies as quickly as it forms. He killed any sympathy I had for him years ago, buried it under bruises and broken promises.

He’s not my father anymore. He’s just another man who thinks he owns me.

And I’m so fucking tired of being owned.

“Are you clear on what you have to do?” he asks flatly.

“Crystal.” I push open the door. “Betray everyone I love to help the people I hate. Should be a breeze.”

It’s hard work to limp my way toward the building. Not just because of the pain in my body, but because everything on the inside hurts even worse.

Samuil is gone. My father is a lost cause, a leech, a bad person who sees me only as a means to an end. I used to think I didn’t care anymore—but maybe daughters never truly stop wanting their fathers to love them. Call me soft or stupid, but a piece of me just wants to be more than an object in his eyes.

In Sam’s eyes, too. I want to believe he loves me. Or at least, that hecanlove me.

I’ve seen it in him. The flashes. The possibility. The little glimmers of gold.

But am I soft or stupid if I hold out for more? Dad is ruined. Sam might not be, but I can’t keep waiting for him to share his heart with me.

I have only my own heart left. I may not know how Sam feels, but I have that much. And after years of denying myself, years of playing by the rules of someone else’s game, I finally know exactly what I want.

I want to protect the people I care about.

And I want to bring my father and Katerina and the Andropovs to their fucking knees.

The elevator doorsopen to chaos—two dogs and Frederik’s calculating stare.

Rufus and Ruby assault me with concerned sniffs, investigating my bandages like furry little medics. Rufus skitters away from my crutch.

“Ms. Pierce!” Frederik makes a show of concern, all wide eyes and placating murmur. “What— How?—?”

But it’s like I can see all the puppet strings now. I can follow where they lead. And the ones wrapped around Frederik’s neck like a noose have a clear path back to where my father is waiting downstairs.

I’d been wondering where my security went during the “accident.” And why they weren’t there to look over me at the hospital.

I guess I have Frederik to thank. Leonid said he signed Frederik’s paychecks, but something tells me my personal guard is pulling from several honey pots. He kept the guards away, kept them from calling Sam.

I hope the price he got was worth it.

“Such concern.” I force a laugh. “Really touching.”

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