Page 63 of Chained Fate
Because she doesn’t want to leave.
This wasn’t her initiative.
She… actually loves me.
That wasn’t a lie or a ploy.
Valery must realize it too because he stops, all emotion leaving his face.His voice is toneless.“So you truly wish to stay?To be married to him?”
“Yes!”Alina all but spits the word at him.“Like I’ve told you a million times before.Yes, yes, yes!Take your drones and fuckinggo.Both of you.Now!”
Valery looks at Konstantin, and some wordless communication passes between them.Then they turn and leave, disappearing through a hole in the fence some ten meters away.The red dots disappear from my men’s chests as the drones soundlessly lift higher and vanish into the blue sky.
Releasing a breath I was holding, I signal to my men, and they disperse to do damage control and salvage what remains of the burning building.Then and only then do I press the button in my pocket, informing Ruslan that plan D—the final contingency—won’t be needed.
That he and his men, who were to follow Alina in case her brothers succeeded in taking her from me, can stand down as well.
Breathing shakily, Alina moves to separate from me, but I don’t let her.Instead, I turn her to face me.For a beat, we just stare at each other, and then, in a single instant, we come together, our mouths fusing violently, our hands ripping at each other’s clothes as we sink to the ground, heedless of the crackle of flames in the distance and the icy snow melting under our bodies.
Oblivious to anything except each other.
Chapter32
Alina
Iknow we need to get up and deal with the fallout of my brothers’ rescue attempt, or at least get ourselves out of the cold, but after three soul-shattering orgasms, I can’t move.All I can do is lie on top of Alexei, feeling his powerful chest rise and fall beneath me as I try to still the residual trembling in my body and stop reliving those terrible moments when I thought Alexei was dead, or hurt and trapped in a burning building.
Except he wasn’t, I remind myself.Somehow, he was prepared for this.He knew this was coming.But how?And if he knew, why didn’t he stop it?
My head feels like it weighs a ton, but I force myself to lift it so I can meet his gaze.“How?”I ask, and I know I don’t need to elaborate.
He understands.It’s there in the dark intensity of his eyes, in the way his jaw flexes as he says quietly, “I didn’t believe you.”
I stare at him, confused, then push up higher, sitting up despite how shaky I’m still feeling.“What do you mean, you didn’t believe me?”
He sits up as well and picks up his shirt from the ground.“Put that on.We should go get warmed up.It’s freezing out here.”
My face heats as I realize that what remains of my dress is hanging halfway off my hips.Swiftly, I put on the proffered shirt, but I don’t move.
I want him to answer before we go anywhere.
He shoves his hand through his hair, further disheveling his dark locks.His face is taut, his eyes black with some bleak emotion.“I didn’t believe you when you said you loved me.I thought you said it to lure me into complacency so your brothers could come and take you away.”
I gape at him.“What?How could you….I mean—” I stop because I don’t know what I’m saying.My thoughts spin like clothes in a dryer.He didn’t believe me?All this time, as I willingly embraced him and bared my soul to him, he thought I was just playing him so my brothers could steal me away unimpeded?
I gasp as it dawns on me why he was looking at me with grim resignation when his guards put down their weapons and stepped aside, clearing the way to my brothers.
It’s because he expected me to run to them.
Away from him.
He thought I was in on today’s attack.That I wanted it.
Fuck.
I should be mad.Furious with him for mistrusting me all this time.But I can’t be.
For a decade, I pushed him away, not caring how it made him feel.I let my fears drive us apart.I ran from him, time and time again.Why would he trust me after that?And yet… there’s something more there, something he’s not telling me.
