Page 131 of 10 Days to Ruin

We hit the icy curb where three black SUVs idle. Sasha bundles my mom into the middle car. When I move to follow, he stops me.

“With me,” he barks, steering me toward the lead vehicle.

I wrench free. “I’d rather ride with my mom.”

“Ari—”

“That was…” I struggle to find the words. Notscary—I’ve seen too much of his world by now to be scared of him. But something about the whole scene has left me shaken, off-balance. “A lot.”

His expression softens fractionally. He steps into me, all heat and cologne, and cups my face in his hands. His fingertips come away wet. I hadn’t even realized I was crying.

“This is the world you’re marrying into, Ariel. We don’t apologize. We don’t back down. Not when it comes to protecting what’s ours.”

“I know that. I do. It’s just…” I gesture helplessly at the aftermath of chaos around us, my brain scrambling to make sense of what just happened. “I wasn’t… I mean, I didn’t think…”

“Stop. Breathe.” I listen and he nods. “Good. Now, tell me what’s going on in that head of yours.”

“They wereeverywhere.” The words tumble out of me in a torrent. “Like—likevultures, all those cameras—and they knew my name, Sasha. They knew who I was. How did they—?” My voice cracks. “I’m nobody. I’m just a reporter. But now, they’re going to—” I break off as the full implications overwhelm me. I feel nauseous.

His eyes narrow. “Going to what?”

“Start digging.” It comes out as barely more than a whisper. “About me. About… everything.”

Understanding darkens his expression. He knows what I mean—about Leander, about my past, about all the secrets I’ve spent years burying.

“Let them try.” His voice drops to that dangerous register that makes my spine tingle. “If anyone so much as whispers your name wrong, they answer to me.”

I search his face, finding nothing but steel in those winter-blue eyes. “You make it sound so simple.”

“Because it is.” His fingers thread through my hair. “Your past is yours to tell or keep. Nobody gets to take that choice from you.” He presses his forehead to mine, his next words barely a whisper. “I’ve buried worse secrets than yours, Ariel. Let me carry this weight for you.”

Something in my chest cracks open at that—at the fierce tenderness in his voice, at the way he’s offering not just protection, but partnership. My fingers curl into his shirt and cling there. He’s the only solid thing left in a world gone sideways.

The car ride from the executive airport is silent. Sasha spends it glued to his phone, firing off curses while I stare out at the blur of the passing city. Everything feels sticky and wrong—like Paris was a dream and this is the noose dragging me back to reality.

Eventually, the SUV slows to a halt outside my apartment. Sasha hasn’t stopped typing furiously on his phone, jaw clenched tight enough to crack molars. When I don’t move, he glances up—impatient, harried, drenched in that bitter, smoky smell that clings to him after violence.

“Go inside,” he orders. “I’m assigning a man to stay with you now. Feliks is sending extra security.”

My fingers curl around the door handle. “That’s it? Just ‘go inside’?”

He doesn’t answer for a moment. His thumb swipes across the screen. Orders go flying out somewhere in the cyber-ether: to kill someone, to hunt someone, every bit as violent and icily controlled as he was the first time I ever heard his voice. Finally, he looks up. “What? I’ll see you later.”

“Right. Yeah. Later.”

Icy December wind slaps me across the face as I stumble onto the curb. Tires squeal before my door even slams shut. I watch the caravan peel away through a haze of exhaust, the hulking black vehicles shrinking to cockroach specks in the distance.

The security guy Sasha assigned—Yuri? Yakov? He tells me his name, but I don’t catch it—falls into step beside me without a word. Somehow, his presence makes Sasha’s absence feel all that much more palpable.

I’m two feet from the lobby doors when brakes shriek behind us. Heavy footsteps pound pavement.

I look up just in time to see a blue-eyed blur before Sasha crashes into me again. His arms band around my ribs, lifting me clear off my feet as he crushes his mouth to mine. The kiss tastes like regret, his teeth scraping my bottom lip hard enough to hurt.

“Little bird,” he rasps against my cheek. His breath steams in the cold. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t paying you enough attention.”

My eyes are burning, so I look away. “I don’t need it,” I lie. “I can follow orders. Isn’t that what a good mob wife does?”

But Sasha doesn’t allow that. His gloved hand caresses my chin. “Look at me.” When I still don’t, he gives me a gentle shake. “Ari. Eyes here.”

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