Page 164 of Silenced

“Why?”

“I was going to settle you in one of the apartments I own here, but we’re running out of time.”

“We only just arrived.”

“We might already be too late,” I sign.

She flinches. “You think Maxim’s dead?”

“I think we’re running out of time,” I repeat.

“What’s the plan?”

“Stay on board with Igor. I trust him with my life,solnyshko. That means I trust him with yours.”

“You think you’ll be that fast?”

“I intend to be in and out.”

“Okay.” She sounds brave, but with how she tightens her fingers around mine, I know she’s nervous. “Don’t get killed.”

Ican’tget killed.

If I do, someone else will take her and make her theirs. She’ll be a gift from the Krestniy Otets to whoever kills me.

A prize.

God knows what they’d do to her when they know I’ve made her mine.

I can’t regret the New Year’s gala, or staking a claim, but if I die today, then…

Fuck.

I cannotdie.

I raise our entwined hands to my mouth and kiss her knuckles. “It might be a while until I return. Don’t worry.” Yet.

She glances around the luxuriously appointed jet. “I’ve waited in worse places.”

Though my lips twitch, I get to my feet and release my hold on her fingers. She tugs me back at the last moment and surges to a standing position. When she hurls herself against my chest, I hold her tight.

“Why does it feel like you’re saying goodbye?” she mumbles.

“There’ll never be a world where I don’t come for you,solnyshko. Whether it’s this one or the next.”

“Don’t say that,” she snaps. “Jesus. That’s even worse!”

“It’s the truth.” And now, she’s angry, not worried. “This is just the beginning of our story.”

She peers at me but her eyes aren’t watery like they could have been. Instead, they’re fierce as she stands on her tiptoes and kisses me.

I don’t dive into it like I want to, but I savor her, making sure she knows that I don’t intend for this to be goodbye.

It takes a lot to kill me, and that was before I had a reason to live.

When she lets go of me, her eyes are still fierce. Once again, I have to reconcile this woman with the one married to that piece of shit who found pleasure in breaking her, and I can only be proud of her strength.

Some people are better together than apart.

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