Page 268 of Gilded Cage (Kovalyov Bratva 1)

Once we’ve finished eating, Artem stands. “I’m going to go check my perimeter again, make sure it’s secure.”

“Paranoid much?” Cillian teases.

“Can never be too careful,” Artem shoots back. “Are you coming with me?”

I expect Cillian to tag along, but he doesn’t. “Actually, I’ve had a long journey. I’ll leave the grunt work to you.”

Artem smiles and nods before grabbing his rifle and heading out. “I won’t be more than an hour or so,” he says. “You two play nice.”

Once he’s gone, I turn to Cillian, who’s watching me unabashedly. I shift in my seat self-consciously, but he doesn’t lower his gaze.

“How are you?” he asks.

It’s a more intimate question that I’d been expecting. The way he holds my gaze just makes it more so.

“I’m good,” I reply immediately, without giving my answer any real thought.

“You wanna try that again?” he asks with a roguish grin.

I sigh. “It’s been bliss up here,” I admit. “We’ve been living in a little bubble and… and…”

“I just broke your bubble,” he guesses.

“No,” I say, shaking my head. “The bubble broke before you got here.”

He cocks his head to the side curiously.

I instantly regret letting that slip. I realize that that’s Cillian’s superpower. He makes you feel comfortable, he makes you feel like you’re friends—and then you find yourself opening up about things that you really should be keeping to yourself.

“How so?”

I shake my head. “No, I… that’s not what I mean… I…”

“Esme,” Cillian says gently.

I stop my awkward stammering.

I avoid his eyes and play with the hem of my dress. “It’s nothing,” I try again.

“Is that why you won’t look me in the eye?”

I raise my gaze to his and stare directly at him in defiance. “I know you and Artem are close,” I say. “But you’re not my friend.”

“I’d like to be,” he says instantly.

“I… you would?” I say, genuinely surprised by that.

“Of course,” Cillian says. I don’t hear a lick of insincerity in his tone. “You’re Artem’s wife, and Artem’s as good as a brother to me. So yes, I would like us to be friends.”

“You don’t honestly expect me to believe that you’d keep my secrets from Artem, do you?”

He raises his eyebrows. “I guess I wasn’t aware you had secrets from Artem.”

Damn it.

I smile and shake my head at him. “You’re good.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he says innocently.

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