Page 125 of Gilded Cage (Kovalyov Bratva 1)

He glances at me and I know immediately that I’m right.

“Who did you lose, Artem?” I ask gently.

He takes a deep breath and shakes his head. “I’m not going there.”

“Why?” I demand. “What are you afraid of?”

“Because I established a rule, remember?” he growls. “No talking about our pasts.”

“Seriously?” I say. “That’s a ridiculous rule, especially given the situation we’re in.”

“It stands.”

I cross my arms and stare Artem right in the eye. “Then we have a problem,” I tell him.

“Oh, yeah? And why’s that.”

“Because I refuse to accept that rule.”

The sunlight hits his face at just the right angle, illuminating one dark eye and turning it into shining obsidian. He looks magnificent, ferocious—and haunted.

In a way, it breaks my heart. But he’s just so damn infuriating that I can’t show him that sympathy just yet. We’re so close to… to something. A breakthrough, maybe. So I just stare at him angrily, arms crossed over my chest.

This whole morning has been strangely revelatory.

I’ve realized that I can talk to Artem.

When we’re not fighting, it’s easy and natural between us. I’m pretty sure he feels the same way. Why else would he be finally showing signs of opening up to me?

Still, talking about his past seems damn near impossible. He doesn’t share that part of him. Not even with me.

Until—maybe—now.

Or maybe not.

I sense him closing up under my scrutiny. His expression turns stony, though I swear I see the flicker of emotions raging deep inside him.

“Too fucking bad,” he tells me.

I narrow my eyes and shake my head. “You were the one who forced me to marry you,” I say. “I deserve to know who you are.”

“You might not like what you hear.”

“Maybe I won’t,” I agree. “That’s a distinct possibility. But I might understand more than you think.”

“How could you possibly?” he asks. “When you have so much disdain for my world?”

“Because like you said, it’s my world, too. I was born in it. I grew up in it,” I say. “Because, despite wanting something different, your world is the only one I’ve ever known. I may have been a bystander, but my brother wasn’t. I knew what he went through to feel like he could be don one day.”

His face twitches strangely the moment I mention my brother. I don’t know what to make of that.

Like he’s hiding something from me.

Something I don’t know.

“Who did you lose, Artem?” I ask again.

The answer rises to his lips. I can see it right there. Right on the verge of being spoken.

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