Page 25 of Scarlet Sins

In the corner, Olga smiles at the boy, then she looks at me and stands.

Erin refuses to turn.

“Olga will play with you while I talk to Mama, Sasha.”

Erin doesn’t turn, and it takes real effort for me to hold on to my temper. Unfair, perhaps, but how the fuck are we going to get anywhere if she goes cold?

Olga flushes like this is the last place she wants to be and she picks Sasha up. “Breakfast?”

He looks at her, at me, then at Erin, and finally at Olga. “Chocklit?”

I almost laugh at his business prowess. Because I can see he’s ready to unleash a tantrum if he doesn’t get his way.

“Eto moy mal’chik,”I say, making Olga bite down on a smile.

And Erin turns angrily to me, getting up as Olga takes that moment to bring the boy toward me.

“We’ll get a hot chocolate,” she says.

His face scrunches in suspicion as they pass. “Pop-tart!”

Erin tries to pass me, too.

I take her arm. “Let me go.”

“No.”

“Speak English when I’m here?—”

“I just said that’s my boy, nothing else. I’ll teach you Russian if you want.”

She tries to shake me off.

“What? While you play husband to someone else?”

I narrow my eyes. “The only reason I found you was because Sergio gave up Niko’s location.”

“So you marry her?”

She pulls free and takes off to the bedroom. I follow and close the door. We stare at each other.

“He asked for this fucking marriage in return, and I agreed. I wasn’t going to risk you being hurt, Erin. Or worse. I promise I’ll fix this, but right now, I have to go along with it. I don’t have any other choice. There are powerful territories and people in play.”

Her lips press together. “I’m not from your world, Demyan. I… I can’t.”

“Can’t what?”

She shakes her head.

“Can’t what, Erin?”

“I can’t do this. I appreciate that you saved me and Sasha. I’ll be forever in your debt for that. But watching you marry someone else is too much. I can’t.”

“You think I want to marry someone else?” I stalk up to her, and she stumbles back until she hits the wall. I don’t stop until I’m almost flush against her. “Do you really fucking think that?”

“I heard you.”

I close that gap. Then I cup her jaw, using my thump to tip her face to me. “Erin.Lyubimaya.”

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