Page 64 of Sinful Embers

“Remember,” he continues, “they thought Carlos was your father. That he’d gone rogue and joined the Golden Hydra.”

My blood runs cold.

I open my mouth, but no words come out.

Dmitri tilts his head slightly. “And now you’re wondering,” he murmurs, “why the fuck I stayed with Carlos and the Golden Hydra, aren’t you?”

I nod stiffly, my throat too tight to speak.

Dmitri exhales, his expression unreadable.

“I had no choice,” he says finally. “By then, I’d been exiled. My father had disowned me. My brother wanted me dead. And Carlos had already set Wanda’s company up to help ship product for crime families. If I took him out he’d release all the evidence he had against Wanda and my family to the FBI.” His lips press into a thin line. “Then two years ago I approached Oleksi. Ineeded help and I didn’t know where else to turn to. Wanda and I have been married ten years and… I love her.”

My breath hitches.

“I think you mean that!”

“I do.” Dmitri sighs. “Dmitri realized what I was doing so he took something I loved away to keep as leverage. Leverage that I’d honor our plan of getting you married to Radomir, and hopefully pregnant on or around your twenty-second birthday when you could get your inheritance.”

“Then you led me into a fucking trap.” Anger boils inside me.

“No. I went to my sister and your father,” Dmitri admits. “I told them that Carlos was coming for them—for you. I couldn’t do anything about it because he had Wanda.”

“So it was Galina and my father that led me into the trap with the compliments of myUncleMark.”

It is not a nice feeling having other people dictate my life, which if Radomir finds out what I did. I fear it is not going to last much longer. So what little time I may have left? I’m fucked if I’m letting anyone dictate the terms to me.

My eyes scan the grounds, and I frown when I see movement to the side of near a mermaid fountain. I watch for a few seconds more, but nothing moves. It must’ve been the wind. I turn back to Dmitri. I now have conflicting emotions for the guy. He’s bad as all hell but I feel he’s being genuine when he says all he wanted to do was protect me, although I don’t know how protecting it is that I’m locking in a dungeon unless he’s expecting a nuclear fallout.

Chapter 16

RADOMIR

“Shit.” Sabrina hisses. “I told you these sneakers were too big. I just tripped over them, and I was nearly seen.”

“You tripped over the shoe lace you’re refusing to tie properly,” I point out softly, gripping my gun so tightly my fingers ache. My heart slams in my chest, a violent, pounding rhythm that makes it hard to think.

Never have I been so happy to see anyone as I was Leigh. She’s right there.

Sitting in the gardens, the sunlight casting a glow over her auburn hair, her head tilted slightly as she listens to the man beside her.

Dmitri fucking Mirochin.

My uncle my cousins and I once thought was the coolest man alive until he turned out to a psycho fuck nut.

And now he’s casually sitting on a bench withmywife They look like they’re on a fucking morning picnic.

My blood surges, rage making my vision tunnel. I’m moving before I realize it, my body operating on pure, unfiltered fury.

Sabrina yanks me back, her nails digging into my wrist. “Are you goddamn crazy?” she hisses, her voice low but sharp as a blade. “There are guards everywhere.”

“They are right there,” I growl, trying to pull free, but she holds tight and she’s freakishly strong for a tiny person. “I could just shoot the bastard right now and we could grab Leigh and get the hell out of here.”

Sabrina stares at me like I’ve lost my mind. “Oh, sure, because it’s that simple.” She gestures around us, her voice a furious whisper. “Look around, Radomir. You’ll be taken out before you get two steps.”

I grind my teeth, my breath coming hard and fast. She’s right.

I hate that she’s right.

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