Page 111 of Silenced

I don’t think I fucked up. I mean, I sold Savannah a bunch of lies that she appeared to buy…

“He won’t get within ten miles of you.” His fingers practically bite out the words. “Never mind a mile.”

My lips curve into a soft smile. “Unless he’s being eaten by the alligators.”

That has him blinking. “Yes.”

I nestle deeper into his lap, well aware that what I’m about to ask is heinous, but it doesn’t stop me. “Would you feed him to them when he’s alive?”

His brows lift. “You’d deny me the right to make him suffer?”

I blink back at him. “Do you know that he had me committed?”

He doesn’t reply, but I can see that he knows. I’m starting to read the minute movements of his mouth, brows, and eyes. They speak a language that can only be learned with experience.

“He gaslit me. He had me believing that left was right. He’s tried to rape me. Hehasforced me to do things that no woman should ever be forced to do.

“He’s made me throw up meals so that I could lose weight. He’s had me sobbing with shame over what he’s done to me—”

Despite my anger, my fingers tremble as the memories flare to life like they’re happeningnow,not in the past. The wounds to my psyche have clearly yet to scar over. Maybe they never will.

His hands gently clasp my quivering ones before he lets go so he can cup my chin. As his eyes lock on mine, he dips forward and presses a kiss to my lips.

I shudder as he does, not in revulsion, just relief.

That’s, I assume, a yes.

27

CASSIE

Sweet Disposition - The Temper Trap

I can tellhe doesn’t want to, but Nikolai spells, “This is Dmitri.”

The younger man beams a grin at me as he holds out a hand. When he doesn’t shake mine, just raises it to his lips to kiss my knuckles, I get the feeling he knows he’s playing a game of Russian roulette—ha, I’m so fucking funny—from the twinkle in his eye.

Beneath me, Nikolai is like stone. Every second within Dmitri’s proximity has him growing tenser and tenser until the other man lets go of me and flops back in the seat opposite us.

We’re sitting in the courtyard beyond the pool with a parasol shading us.

Though I’m wearing yet another sundress that was laid out for me by the housekeeping fairies, the only concession to the unseasonably warm weather from these two is a pair of shades.

Their three-piece suits—they’re even wearing vests—have to be miserably hot but they don’t look flushed or overheated.

Maybe it’s the Russian in them? Ice-cold to their souls…

Still, they might be frigid in nature, but in appearance, I’m the one who needs to be chilled. They do a lot of things wrong over in the motherland, but breeding beautiful men is something they do very, very right.

Dmitri’s bright blue eyes dance as, without asking, he pours himself some lemonade from the glass jug that’s perspiring on the table, confirming what I already know—they’re close.

Most of the people around the estate don’t dare make eye contact with Nikolai, never mind pour themselves a drink without invitation.

Is he one of the brothers Nikolai saved from that orphanage fire?

I’ve seen a few men approach Nikolai and when they do, I imagine it’d be my response to coming face-to-face with one of the alligators that he insists aren’t pets.

But, in my opinion, if you name an animal ‘Vasily,’ they’re a pet, no?

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