Page 107 of Vendetta Vows

I turn to face him fully, our bodies close under the covers. My fingers find his face in the darkness, tracing the strong line of his jaw.

"What happened, Ruslan?" I whisper.

He closes his eyes at my touch, as if drawing strength from it. When he opens them again, they hold a pain that makes my chest ache.

"Her name was Leslie Garza," he begins softly. "She lived in a small town not far from here. An ordinary girl whose parents owned a small bakery."

He looks away briefly. "I was sixteen when I asked her out. She didn't know what I was, or what my family did."

I stroke his cheek, encouraging him to continue.

"By eighteen, I knew I wanted to marry her. She was a light of kindness in a world tainted by darkness." A small, sad smile touches his lips. "We'd sneak away whenever we could. Plan our future together. I thought, I truly believed that I could ignore the reality of my father's world."

The smile fades. "But Vitaly was at war with the Mikonov Bratva. A war he was winning. And Tamara..."

His jaw tightens under my fingers.

"Tamara knew that she would be the price of peace. She thought she could negotiate so she might not marry Lev. So, she went behind his back directly to my father with an offer. If she could free me from my delusions, then he might free her from her obligations."

My blood chills at his tone.

"She kidnapped Leslie. Brought her to Vitaly as proof that she could do whatever was needed. Then she had my father make me watch as..."

His voice breaks, and I pull him closer.

"As he killed her. Right in front of me."

Every word he speaks shatters something inside me. My hand trembles against his cheek, my throat so tight I can barely swallow.

"My God, Ruslan," I whisper, unable to contain the horror. "That's horrible."

His golden eyes glitter with unshed tears in the darkness. I've never seen him look so vulnerable, so human. The mighty pakhan stripped bare of his armor.

"I've carried that with me every day since." His voice cracks, just slightly. "All of it. The guilt. The failure. The knowledge that it was all my fault."

I slide my fingers into his hair, cradling his head. "How was it your fault?"

"I was the one who brought Leslie into my world. I was the one who thought I could protect her." He closes his eyes, pain etched into every line of his face. "I couldn't save her. I was tied down in my chair and could only beg as father..."

He doesn't finish the sentence. Doesn't need to.

"Lev went behind father's back. He negotiated directly with Tamara's father Denis for her hand and ended the war." Ruslan's jaw tightens. "Denis knew Lev would be pakhan. He knew Lev was a better match than me."

The tears in his eyes refuse to fall, but I feel the trembling in his powerful body.

"Father was furious at both of us. At Lev for undermining him. At me for not stepping up when Tamara presented her offer." His laugh is bitter, hollow. "So he disowned me from succession. Cut me out of the future of the bratva."

"But you still stayed?"

"He wasn't going to let me leave just because he disowned my inheritance. He forced me to stay in the business, but only to move guns. Nothing else."

I press my forehead to his, my heart breaking for the boy he was, for the weight he's carried.

"From that day forward, I knew the truth," he whispers. "I can't protect the people I care about. Not from this life. Not from monsters like Vitaly, or from Tamara."

His arm tightens around me, and I feel his unspoken fear.

"And now you're here," he says. "And I'm terrified I'll fail you too."

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