Page 16 of Vitaly

Her head swivels to the kitchen then quickly back to me as if she thinks I plan on lunging at her. I back up until my heel hits the brick of the fireplace, keeping my hands raised.

She’s hunched over like a mountain lion ready to strike, but she doesn’t make a move. I can see her mind working behind her brown eyes as she tries to figure me out.

“I apologize for putting you to sleep last night,” I offer to put her mind at ease. “I only wanted to get you out of there and taken care of before any more soldiers came… I wrapped your ribs in case anything is broken, but I think you’re just bruised.” I gesture to her strong posture. “You seem to be doing fine.”

She doesn’t respond for several seconds. “What did you do with the soldiers?”

I lower my hands and point to the window overlooking the front lawn. “They’re in the SUV.”

“Are any alive?” her brow raises.

I shake my head.

“Hm.” She stands up straight and slowly lowers her fists, arching her chin like she’s challenging me. Or maybe that’s just how she carries herself when she isn’t afraid.

Mila turns and walks a few steps to the kitchen before looking over her shoulder like she’s going to catch me with my hand in a cookie jar.

She finds the envelope I set out for her on the counter and looks through it, her back shielding the contents. She takes her time looking it over, probably inspecting the passport for any errors. I admire the need for precision, but when another minute passes, it seems excessive.

Glancing down at the poker leaned against the brick, I pick it up and move around a log before putting it in its place.

“So I’m free, then,” Mila says, wandering back toward me with the passport held up in her hand. “I can just … run away, like you did.”

My brows pull together at the comment. The way she’s walking toward me—her hips swaying like a snake—poison swirling in her irises... If she showed her teeth, they’d be dripping venom.

“Is that what you think I want, Vitaly? To be a cowardly traitor like you?”

My gaze moves from the passport she holds up to the hand she conceals behind her back. When I find her eyes, they’re pinched in a concentrated scowl. She winds her arm to fling the paring knife she stole from the kitchen at my chest, but she’s too obvious, too slow. I slide my body out of the way and let it clatter against the fireplace.

“Ahh!” she screams, running at me with her fist raised. I catch her wrist just before it can connect with my jaw and lift my knee to block her leg from swinging into my crotch.

All her moves are predictable. Every hit is written on her face before she even swings.

She’s brave.Fierce.

But I wasn’t sent away to Candy Land nine years ago. I’ve been in prison, and not the American kind. She’s going to have to do so much better than this to catch me off guard.

“Enough,” I growl, swinging her around and pinning her to the wall. Her breaths come out labored, her cheeks an angry pink, and though I have her wrists in my grasp above her head, she still uselessly tries to kick until I shove my knee between her legs. “Enough.”

“Fuck you!” She spits onto my nose, making my eyes snap shut as I turn my head away. “You fucking coward. You’re supposed to be dead!”

Wiping my nose on my shoulder, I glower at her with my grip on her wrists tightening. “Well, I’m not.”

“Then you better kill me,” she rasps out, her voice lowering as her lip curls. Pure hatred swims in her eyes. “Because if you don’t, you’re dead. I’m not going to stop until you’re in the ground,traitor.”

Her words bite into old wounds reopened by her sharp teeth. My chest constricts, but I don’t let it show on my face.

Traitor.

That’s what I am to these people.

I’m the man who got their families killed. Who got their leader killed. Myfatherkilled.

I knew that. I knew that’s what I was to them. I just didn’t realize that’s what I was to her.

“I don’t know what you’ve been told, but none of my past matters,” I say, my voice firm. “I’m very sorry for the things the Bratva has put you through. I only mean to?—”

“Thatthey’veput me through?” She laughs, her eyes incredulously wide. “You made a mockery of my whole family, destroyed my value, killed your father, and abandoned your people. But you thinktheyare the monsters? ThatNikitais?” She shakes her head. “Don’t you dare mistake yourself for a white knight. You cannot save me,pig.” When her cheeks cave in like she’s gathering saliva, I slap my hand over her mouth.

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