Page 54 of Last Hand

My breath seizes in my throat. Ice floods my veins.

“Jesus,” he breathes. “You were stupid enough to let him knock you up.”

I twist in his grip, and he slams me harder against him, locking me in place.

He chuckles low and slow, right against my ear. “Guess we can’t kill you after all.”

I freeze.

“What…?”

“You didn’t think Mikhail would really allow you to go back to him? That’s not how this works, princess. The only way you get out of our world is a shallow grave or concrete boots,” he sneers, his fingers dragging upward, grazing the underside of my breast before settling again on my stomach. “Mikhail’s enjoying watching him suffer. So he was planning to send you back in pieces.”

My pulse roars in my ears. I can’t move. I can’t breathe.

“This?” He gives my bump another squeeze. “This is leverage. A dead lover, sure, that hurts.”

He leans in, lips brushing my ear.

“But a son? A daughter? Leone’s fucking blood growing inside you?” He clicks his tongue. “Now that… that’s war.”

I laugh. “Mikhail is a fool if he thinks he didn’t start a war the moment he set his eyes on me,” I spit, twisting my face toward him. “That line was crossed the second your boss took a Pressutti woman.”

Igor’s smirk falters.

“No woman is worth dying for,” he mutters, like it’s some sacred truth.

I smile, there’s nothing sweet about it.

“Then that just means no woman has ever loved you.”

His jaw ticks.

“Or maybe,” I add, cocking my head, “no woman ever could.”

He shoves me forward and the blow comes fast.

His hand cracks across my cheek, snapping my head sideways. The sting is white-hot, my lip splitting against my teeth.

I laugh again.

Louder this time. Blood on my tongue.

“You think you scare me?” I breathe, turning back to face him. “Leone made me watch Milo cut Marcel in half with a chainsaw.”

Igor blinks. The smirk is gone now. Replaced with something colder.

“He made me watch,” I whisper. “Sat me down, chained me to a fucking chair, and didn’t let me look away. That was how he punished me before leaving me to rot in a cell with his corpse for weeks.”

Igor’s hand flexes at his side. He doesn’t speak.

“He locked me in a basement for weeks. Tortured me. All because he thought I betrayed him.”

I step forward now, my voice dropping to a whisper.

“And he fucking loves me.”

I let that settle.

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