Page 54 of Unveiled

“Excuse me?” He exhales. When I look at him, his knuckles are white on the steering wheel. “You’re drunk, Anya. We won’t have this conversation now.”

“Oh?” I ask, with a mirthless laugh. I want to break through his relentless control so fucking badly. “So what? I can’t say the truth. You don’t even look at me half the time. I’m…I’m no one, remember?”

He stiffens beside me. “Sothat’swhat thisis about.”

No, Semyon. That’s not what this is about. This is about you ruining my life. This is about you pretending like I’m nothing to you when our past says something different. This is about you sleeping in another bed like I’ll taint yours, taking care of me in all the ways you want to and none of the ways that matter.

This is about you breaking my heart.

But I don’t say anything to him.

“You don’t know who she was, Anya. She would’ve destroyed you.”

I look out the window and shake my head. I don’t trust myself to speak.

The car jerks slightly as he pulls over without warning, tires grinding against the pavement. In an instant, he’s turned toward me, his blue eyes blazing. He blinks slowly. I swallow, but it feels like a gulp. The slow blink behind the glasses…

“You think I don’t want you?” His voice is quiet. Dangerous. “You think I don’t feel it every second you’re near me?”

My breath catches. The air between us is thick. Charged.

“I’m no one,” I whisper.

I don’t know how I get there, but I’m in his lap, straddling him. His hands are tangled in my hair. He pulls it back. I’m instantly sober.

“I stay away from you because if I don’t, I won’t be able to stop.” His breath is warm against my skin.

My heart beats so fast I’m dizzy. He’s never looked at me like this before… like he’s unraveling. Like for once in his life, he can’t control me.

I whisper, “You broke my heart, Semyon. Did you know that? Ilovedyou.” My voice trembles, raw and aching. “And you looked at a stranger, someone prettier, older, more powerful than I was, someone who was everything I wasn’t, and you told her I wasnothingto you.”

A hot tear slips down my cheek, then another. I blink, but they keep falling, thick and unstoppable. My breath shudders. “And you…you were my world.”

“Anya.” His voice cracks, rough with something I can’t name.

“And when my mother begged you to stop Eli, to get him out of the danger he was in, you didn’t. You didn’t help her that day, Semyon, and you could have.”

I drop my head to his shoulder. I try to hold it in, but I can’t. A sob rips from my throat, and I can’t stop it. I wail, gasping against the weight of everything I lost, everything I’ve carried. I weep for my mother. I weep for the girl I once was. I cry like my heart is shattering all over again. Maybe it is. Maybe a part of me will always be that girl, the one who loved too deeply and only ever wanted someone to love her back.

He grips my shoulders, forcing me to look at him. “Listen to me. I’m done covering for everyone else. Your brother made terrible decisions, and I fucking covered for him. I intervened, over and over, until I couldn’t stop the tidal wave. Eli was in too deep. I tried, Anya, even at my own expense.When you saw me running away…Fuck, Anya. Please just trust me. Please trust that I did what I could.”

I stare at him. Semyon is not a good man, but he doesn’t lie. I let myself believe he could’ve prevented her dying, that he could’ve stopped Eli from his demise. What if all this time I’ve been wrong?

“And that day at the bar?Anya.That was not some random woman but Carolina Korchev. A predator. In Bratva circles, she was a shark swimming in blood, raised in violence, trained to manipulate. She wanted control. She wantedme.She would’ve made you suffer, Anya. She would’ve hurt you, and I feared I couldn’t stop it.She’sno one, Anya. But I’m sorry. I’m so sorry that hurt you.”

His lips meet mine as he holds me to him. I taste the salt of my tears before he releases me and holds me to his chest. I cry until the quiet after the storm rolls in. My eyes are swollen, my face puffy. It hurts to blink.

“Then why don’t you want me?”

"Bozhe, Anya.”He exhales, his voice rough, almost broken."Chyort voz’mi, ty menya svedesh’ s uma."

I’m driving him…insane?Me?

“Then why do you keep pushing me away?” I whisper.

Taking my chin in his hand, he brings my gaze to his. “Listen to me, Anya. I’ve done everything I can to protect you. I want you. I want you more than I’ve ever wanted anything in my life. When I found out the Irish were moving in, I?—”

The Irish?

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