Page 31 of Inked Adonis

I’d recognize those blond locks and bony Pilates ass anywhere. You can’t be married to the she-devil of Chicago without becoming sensitive to her unique scent of sulfur and Chanel.

I’m used to betrayal. Katerina made damn sure of that.

But this one still knocks me sideways.

Nova was supposed to be mine… but she’s standing in a park, laughing at something my ex-wife is saying. And she never breathed a word of it to me.

Not when we met.

Not in any of the hundreds of messages we’ve exchanged since.

Before they spot me, I duck behind a tree just off the path, my entire body cold and rigid despite the blood thrumming in my veins.Why her?I ask myself again and again.Why the fuck did it have to be her?

My fingers are already dialing Myles before my brain catches up.

“You were right.”

“Usually am.” He pauses. “What’s the damage this time?”

“Nova.” I fucking hate those syllables rolling off my tongue. “She’s working with Katerina.”

“Well, I’ll be damned.” Papers rustle in the background. “You sure?”

“I’m watching them play fucking patty-cake in the park right now.” Even Rufus—that traitor—is weaving between them like they’re old pals. Like this is normal. Like my world isn’t cracking apart. “Get the team ready. This ends today.”

I hang up before he can respond, my eyes locked on the scene before me.

Katerina has wandered off, glued to her phone the way she always is. Nova stays behind with Rufus, laughing as he discovers his own tail for the hundredth time.

She’s so soft with him. So careful. So fucking perfect at playing the innocent.

I was an idiot not to see it sooner.

Nothing in this life is random. Not Rufus choosing me to hump that day. Not running into her again at the beach. Not the way she stripped for me in her apartment, all shy and demure, allI never do this.

All fucking bullshit.

The signs were there. I just didn’t want to read them.

I wonder if Katerina knew her little spy would take method acting to the next level. If she approved of Nova riding me in that shower. Probably not—Kat always was possessive of me, even after she fucked my brother.

My hands curl into fists, nails biting into palms as it tears open the cuts from the whiskey tumbler I shattered yesterday. But the pain is good. It grounds me. Reminds me who I am.

What I am.

What I’m capable of doing.

As the women move on, I lurk behind at a safe distance. Katerina rarely looks up from her phone, which makes sense: she’s never had much respect for anyone on her payroll. Nova seems content to bring up the rear with Rufus.

When they reach the park entrance, Kat dismisses Nova with a flick of her manicured fingers. The second she’s gone, Nova’s shoulders drop. She tips her face to the sun and actually smiles.

I can relate. It’s the same lightness I felt when I finally cut Katerina out of my life. When I stopped pretending we were anything but what we were—a mistake wrapped in designer clothes and soaked in blood money.

I send Myles my location, my thumbs steady on the screen despite the rage coursing through my veins. Despite the urge to wrap my hands around Nova’s throat and squeeze until she tells me every fucking detail of their plan.

But I’m not that man anymore. I’m not the kid who solved problems with his fists behind the hockey rink. I’m not the husband who let jealousy cloud his judgment.

I’m something much worse.

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