Page 12 of Inked Athena

She blinks hard, gaze darting around the small room like a trapped animal. But this isn’t that. This cabin isn’t a dank basement. And I’m not her father.

I’m something far more dangerous.

I gingerly place my hand back on her hip, letting my thumb trace the jut of bone there. “Are you still in pain?”

“It’s better. The pills are helping.”

“Try to sleep, then.”

“I can’t.”

“Are you cold?” It’s a pathetic excuse to seal my body to hers, but it’s late and I stopped pretending I could resist touching her weeks ago.

She’s seen exactly how much I want her. Felt it. Tasted it.

Which is why the next words out of her mouth make no sense at all.

“Why are you here, Samuil?” She turns her head to face me fully, the gold flecks in her eyes catching the moonlight. “You didn’t come here with a gun just to nurse me back to health. Why are youreallyhere?”

She’s right—I came here to kill anyone responsible for her pain. That was my first goal.

But the second?

“I knew you were injured and alone and scared. I knew my brother was hunting you. How could I not come?”

She studies my face with an intensity that makes my skin prickle, searching for lies in the shadows. But I’ve already given her the truth, as ugly and inconvenient as it is.

Despite everything I saw about her moves against me, I was tearing across Wisconsin backroads to reach her. My empire was under siege in Chicago, but I was moving in the opposite direction to help a woman who’d betrayed me. All because the thought of her being in danger made something primitive rear up in my chest.

Her throat bobs with a swallow. “I know Ilya sent you that video of me. I know what you’ve seen, Sam… and I know what it looks like. B-but—” She squeezes her eyes closed like she’s concentrating. “I didn’t do what it looks like. Or, I did, but not in the way they wanted.”

I know. Of course I fucking know.

As soon as I clicked “play” on that video, my question was how Nova got into this mess and why she didn’t ask for my help.

I never had to wonder if she wanted to move against me. I knew she didn’t.

But again, she stops, nervously scanning my face like she’s waiting for me to snap.

She chews on her bottom lip. “They wanted your server, so I gave them the one I knew you weren’t using.”

The second Myles told me which server was missing, I knew what she’d done—how she’d managed to both comply and protect me. My clever, dangerous girl.

“Why take it at all?”

“Because my father gave me no choice.” She wraps her arms around her middle, holding herself the way I wish I could. “I woke up after the attack in his house, and he threatened to hurt my grandmother. He said he’d throw her out on the street if I didn’t do what he asked.”

It’s exactly what I expected, but it’s so much worse to hear than I thought it would be.

After everything, Nova didn’t trust me to take care of her. She walked past my guards and stole from me and put herself within arm’s reach of the Andropovs without ever stopping to wonder if she should just pick up the phone and call me.

I could’ve protected her grandmother and dismantled the Andropovs piece by bloody piece. I could’ve handled all of it from Moscow and then come home to her safe in our bed.

Instead, we’re here.

“Did you really think I would let that happen?” I grit out angrily. “Did you really think I wouldn’t step in and protect her? Protect you?”

“I didn’t know what to think, Sam.” Her voice is hoarse and hollow, matching the emptiness in her eyes. “You weren’t there.”

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