Page 147 of Only for Him
Maybe blood from a thorn on one of those roses? Maybe a swab of her own cheek after I kissed her? Skin under her nails?
Does it even fucking matter?
Do I even care about that, or is it the fact that she never told me? After everything—the men I’ve gifted her, the way her bodybucked beneath mine, the promises we made each other—she kept this fucking secret.
No, it’s not a secret.
At this point, it’s a fucking lie.
“And as luck would have it,” Afanasy continues, like I’m not splintering in front of him. That’s good. He doesn’t need to know what this has done to me. “Your little side quests with the policewoman align with something I need. Fortuitous, no?”
“Fortuitous,” I echo. My blood is boiling in my veins, charring my heart as it moves through the chambers. Afanasy glances back to Giselle, then back at me.
“Tell me, Romochka,” he asks, pulling something out of his pocket. “Can we trust her?”
“Of course,” I lie, my voice sharp enough to cut glass.
“Hmm,” Afanasy grunts, seeing through my lie.
It’s the same lie I gave Rosa. The same lie I gave myself.
Christ, I fucking wanted to trust her.
So goddamn bad.
She was supposed to bemine.She was supposed to see how much more we could do together.
I realize, only now, too fucking late, that my desire to trust her was bigger than my desire for her body or her clever little mind.
I wanted her loyalty to come from something other than how hard I make her come.
I wanted her to worship me as the only god she ever believed in, because I believed in her.
I wanted her devotion, and I would have lost everything trying to get it.
Afanasy slides a USB stick across the table. “While you were off on your stupid little detours with your policewoman, I’ve been doingactualwork. And wouldn’t you know it? It paid off.”
Unease prickles up my spine as I glance down at the USB. Nothing he offers comes without a chain. “What is it?”
“The identity of Pasha’s main enabler in New York,” Afanasy says smoothly. “Consider it a gift.”
“And the catch?”
His smile broadens. “Simple, Romochka. It’s a test to see just where your policewoman’s loyalty lies.”
Doubt crawls under my skin like a parasite.
I don’t fuckingdoubtbecause I don’t fuckingbelieve,in anyone or anything.
Until her.
“I wish you two luck,” Afanasy says, finally switching to English so Giselle can understand. His words are honeyed poison. “Pasha will be here in a week. And if I know my brother, he’ll pick the simplest solution to his problems.”
“Which is?” I ask.
His eyes glint.
“Kill us all.”
