Page 222 of Gilded Cage (Kovalyov Bratva 1)

I shake my head like I can stop what’s coming.

I know what he’s about to tell me.

But I still can’t bear to hear it.

“No…”

“He killed her in our bed,” Artem rasps. “Strangled the life out of her first, and then he ripped her stomach open and left her there for me to find.”

“No,” I whisper again fiercely, unable to come to terms with the horrific image that’s forming in my head.

I shake my head and stand abruptly, as my head starts to connect the dots, the little crumb trail he has been laying for me this whole time.

“Artem… why… what does this have to do with my… my…”

A sob swallows the rest of my words as I stumble away from him. I had asked for this story.

I had known I would regret knowing, and still I had insisted. I’d brought this upon myself.

He’s as calm as the mountains that stare at us in the distance, but I can see the cacophony of emotion that stirs just under the surface.

“You asked me for the truth,” Artem says. “And I need you to know why I murdered your brother.”

“Artem, please…”

“I wanted revenge,” he continues. “I wanted revenge for my wife… and my unborn child.”

I freeze in place as the last gory detail of her murder coming into focus.

He ripped her stomach open.

I close my eyes. Two cold tears escape down my cheeks.

I want to run, I want to move, but I can’t. I’m rooted to the ground, my feet cemented in place, forcing me to confront the truth I want to flee from.

“None of it is fair,” Artem says coldly. “Your brother took my wife and child from me, and I took your brother from you. There are no villains or heroes, Esme. Just people in impossible situations.”

I open my eyes, blinking away my tears so I can see his face clearly. I see the lines of pain that put his features in high relief.

His dark beauty shines like a beacon in the moonlight.

“Artem, I’m so sorry,” I say, my voice breaking like one of the waves my brother loved so much.

“You have nothing to apologize for.”

“Yes, I do,” I insist as more tears streak down my face. “I have to apologize because… I still love my brother. I can’t stop.”

He’s silent for a long time.

I finally work up the courage to look up at him.

“Do you hate me for that?” I ask.

Something flashes in his eyes for a second and he grips me tighter.

“Never,” he tells me. “The man you knew was different from the man I came across. The man I came across? He was wearing a mask.”

My eyes go wide at that.

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