Page 115 of Untamed

I married Ember and lied to her. I told her this was temporary, that we’d get my brothers off my back. I appeased the Bratva gods, knowing if I showed up married, my entire family would be cast in a better light.

I knew that.

And yet… and yet…

I can still feel her. I can still hear her.

Somewhere along the line, I fucked up.

This is too much.

I came on too strong, maybe.

Was it the stalking?

The forced marriage?

Or maybe fucking her against the window…

I smirk and shake my head.

I told myself I would do things right, but the more I stand out here I realize… I’m lying to myself.

I take another sip and polish it off.

It does nothing to steady my nerves.

I need more.

Ember thinks I don’t know what she’s doing, that I can’t see the way she’s unraveling beneath the weight of this.

I won’t have her looking over her shoulder the rest of her life forhim.Shawn.

His name is a curse I want to rip out of our lives.

She deserves a life free from worry.

I don’t have many regrets, but at the very top of the list is that I didn’t kill him the second I found out from her exactly what he did.

I look inside. She’s standing near Zoya, her head tilted slightly. Even from here, I can see the way her hands tremble around the flute of champagne she hasn’t touched.

Trying to hold herself together.

But when the person next to Zoya turns to me, I see it isn’t Ember after all.

Where the hell is she?

Go to her.

I walk to her as if she cast a spell on me, and I’m helpless to fight against her incantation.

Fuck. Maybe she did. My little queen, the sorceress.

I push off the railing and head to her, back into the crowd. The faces around us blur—the Romanovs, Bratva leaders, our rivals, and our friends. Polished socialites wrapped in designer clothing, all pretending that an art auction charity event will somehow buy their way into the good graces of all. None of that matters.

I can’t find her.

“Rodion?” A heavy hand falls on my shoulder. Rafail.

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