Page 88 of Thorns of Love
“Okay,” I accepted.
THIRTY-TWO
TATIANA
The Adrian I had known growing up was gone. Truly dead.
In his place was this damaged, bitter, hateful man.
We were on a plane. A fucking cargo plane at that, and I swear to God, I could hear a dog barking on the opposite side of it. The below deck of this plane was illuminated, leaving us in semi-darkness.
I couldn’t keep my eyes from flickering Adrian’s way, afraid my brain and eyes were playing tricks on me. My gaze darted up to his face, then back to the gun he held pointed at me. His face was familiar, yet the expression was one I had never seen on him. I could see scarring on part of his cheek, but he kept that side of his face hidden from me.
I swallowed, that ache in my chest I felt since his death slowly returning.
“How are you alive? I saw you! You were dead. I tried to revive you.” My brain was having a hard time making sense of this.
For a minute I didn’t think he’d answer me. He wouldn’t look at me, staring off as if his mind was somewhere else. “Nikita knew I was still alive even if you were too stupid to realize it. You actually did me a favor with all of your theatrics that night. You managed to convince them that they’d succeeded. You also distracted them enough that you gave Nikita the chance to pull me out of the way when the car was about to blow. He just didn’t pull me far enough,” he said bitterly.
Who was this man? Did I ever really know him? Did my brothers? I couldn’t comprehend him hating us - me - so much that he’d leave me believing him dead. Mourning him. That he’d use me.
“I loved you,” I murmured softly and at that moment I knew those words were true. Ilovedhim. Maybe the illusion of him, but I did. However, it was all past tense. Loved, not love. Obviously, he didn’t love me because nobody sane would ever do something like that to someone they loved.
An emotion flickered across his expression but he quickly masked it. I couldn’t reconcile this man to the smiling and teasing Adrian I had known all my life. They were like two different men with the same face.
“What happened, Adrian?” I rasped with a lump in my throat. “How could you hate us so much?”
“What do you mean?” he snickered. “You were a way to get to him, that’s all.”
“Really? That’s so comforting to know,” I said, keeping the emotion out of my voice. “If I was your way to get to Illias, why target my brothers?” Surprise flashed across his expression, but he didn’t answer. “I saw those videos.” He kept staring away from me, ignoring me. Two decades of friendship. Two decades of love. All thrown away. “Don’t you think I deserve to know?” His lips thinned, but I believed I was getting through to him. “My brothers are your friends.”
“Were,” he snapped.
“Are,” I corrected him.
He spun around and crossed his arms over his chest, glaring at me. “Were, Tatiana. They were my friends as long as I was in line with their goals. As soon as I chased my own justice, they ganged up on me.”
I sighed. I didn’t know if it was the truth but it sounded like my brothers. “They always choose their baby sister,” he scoffed.
I shook my head. “You must hate me so much to use me like that,” I whispered.
Something shattered in his gaze and my chest clenched. I couldn’t hate him. Even knowing all that had happened, I couldn’t hate him. But I couldn’t love him either.
“I didn’t hate you,” he finally said. “Not until that night at the gazebo.”
“Gazebo,” I murmured.
“Of all the men on this planet, you pick Illias Konstantin,” he spat out.
“I didn’t pick him that night!” I exclaimed. “That note was meant for you. I thought it was you that night. Youknowthat!” His jaw clenched, but he refused to admit nor deny. But we both knew there was no way of denying it. I even told him I thought it was him back at The Den of Sin so many years ago. “You knew it wasn’t you and yet, you proceeded with the farce, making a fool out of me.”
“I used it to my advantage,” he continued as if he hadn’t heard a word I’d said. “It was an opportunity I couldn’t miss. So I started my plan.”
I shook my head in disappointment. “What plan?” I asked tiredly. I might as well learn it all before my untimely death.
Adrian leaned back in his chair and stretched his legs. The move was so simple, yet it was his signature move I’d watched for years.
“I made sure Illias couldn’t learn your identity,” he answered. “I erased all surveillance of that night in the entire D.C. area so he couldn’t find you. I bought you a few years of freedom.” I stared at him in shock. “You’re welcome,” he retorted and I feared he actually believed he did me a favor. “It gave me time to line it all up.”
