Page 47 of Inked Athena

“He kept her locked away, too,” I mutter. The rain intensifies, drowning out the city noise below.

“He didn’t love your mother the way you love Nova,” Myles says quietly. “He isn’t capable of it.”

That word again.Love. It settles like a steel trap on my shoulders. Am I capable of it? Is that what this burning in my chest means? Is that truly in the cards for someone like me?

“I don’t think Nova would call this ‘love.’“

“Maybe you should tell her then. Might make her go easier on you.”

“I’ve already given her more than I thought possible,” I snap. “I’ve compromised more than I ever planned to. I’ve bent until I nearly broke. I’m not sure I have anything left to give.”

He eyes me sideways. “What if that’s not enough for her?”

The question I’ve been avoiding. Because I already know the answer.

It’s not enough. Nova wants all of me—even the parts I keep locked away in this office. The parts that attend meetings where men die and dirty deals are struck. She deserves the whole truth.

But that truth would destroy her.

With Katerina, everything had been simpler. Her demands were easier to meet: designer clothes, diamond tennis bracelets, luxury vacations where my presence was optional at best. Dangle something shiny and off she went, satisfied long enough for me to be both CEO and Bratvapakhanwithout giving her a second thought.

Of course, she was also fucking my brother behind my back.

So maybe things weren’t as simple as I remember.

Either way, everything’s become infinitely more complicated. I have so much more to lose.

“I need to end this soon,” I rasp, pulling out my phone to check for updates. “For my family’s sake.”

“Show your father the evidence against Ilya and be done with it,” Myles suggests, not for the first time. He’s been pushing me to pull that trigger for months.

I shake my head. “Leonid won’t believe it. Not now that he has footage of Nova walking into Andropov headquarters with that server?—”

“That proved to be fake!” Myles interjects.

“Doesn’t matter.” I press my palm against the cold glass, letting it ground me. “Leonid’s convinced himself that Nova didn’t know the server was false. He believes what she did wascalculated, premeditated. He’ll never accept Ilya had anything to do with it.”

“So you’ve already spoken to him.”

“Multiple times.” The admission tastes bitter. “He wants her head on a spike.”

“I take it he doesn’t know she’s with you.”

“I don’t know what he thinks,” I say, watching a black car pull up to the curb below. “But he doesn’t have proof of her location. I intend to keep it that way until I have a solid plan.”

Myles exhales heavily. “That’s why you wouldn’t bring her to London.”

I nod. “The entire Bratva thinks she’s an Andropov spy thanks to Leonid and Ilya. The number of men still loyal to me shrinks by the day. Who can blame them? I already have one black mark courtesy of my cheating ex-wife. I can’t be seen with another woman whose loyalties are questioned.”

“Christ.” Myles runs both hands through his hair. “What about telling Leonid about the baby?”

A bitter laugh is my only response.

“Surely he wouldn’t order the death of a woman carrying his grandchild?”

The horror in Myles’s voice would be touching if it weren’t so naive.

“You severely underestimate my father’s capacity for cruelty.” I turn from the window, needing to move. “I won’t risk it. I have no idea how he’d react, and I refuse to gamble with her life.”

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