Page 128 of Immaculate Deception (Romanoff Bratva)

I stare at him, mouth open, too shocked to speak. I hear Ernestine whispering to June behind me, but I can’t hear what they’re saying. I don’t even know if Dima knows they are here.

“Do you really believe Lukas isn’t yours?” It’s not the most important thing happening in this moment, but it’s the only question I can think to ask. It’s the only one running through my mind.

Everything that happened over the last few months—hell, over the last year—seemed like fate drawing Dima and me together. The one-night-stand at the clinic… when he found me giving birth in the car… when he discovered the truth of who I was at my apartment…

I never tried to trick him. I never even tried to reach out to him.

Hefoundus.

And I thought it was destiny.

But maybe it was just more confirmation of what the universe has been screaming at me for my entire life: you can never outrun your sins.

“Let me go,” I beg, my voice cracking. “Please.”

Dima stares at me silently. His hands don’t budge. I have mere seconds of oxygen left. Maybe not even that.

“He’s your son, Dima. And I’m his mother.”

The world has narrowed down to just Dima’s eyes. Smoldering in the twilight.

And then he releases me.

I collapse into the dirt, coughing and crying. My throat is raw and bruised. Each shuddering inhale hurts my aching lungs, butGod,it feels so fucking good to breathe. To live.

Until my senses come back to me and I realize that I’m a long, long way away from saved.

I look up at Dima. From his scuffed boots, up his athletic legs, to the trim waist, the washboard abs, the broad shoulders.

Right into the barrel of the gun he now has pointed at my face.

“I should kill you right now for lying to me,” he rasps. His finger on the trigger looks ready to pull.

“Lying aboutwhat, Dima?”

I glance over to the trailer, wondering if Tommy will come bursting out. I hit him hard, but was it hard enough?

I don’t want to stay and find out. I want to get June and Ernestine and run for the hills. To get them away from here, away from danger, away from the nightmares that follow people like Rose and me around and stick to our loved ones like stains.

“You know damn well what you lied about.”

Oh, Dima,I want to say.If only you knew. I’ve been lying for so long that I don’t even remember where the truth starts anymore.

Out loud, I snap, “Can we stop playing these mind games? Better yet, can we do this later? I don’t know how long we have and—”

“Ten months ago, a man came to your apartment. We have the recording, Arya.”

My blood runs cold. I try to swallow, but the muscles of my throat scream in protest. “Wha—what man? What are you saying?”

“A man connected with the Albanian mafia. Who was it, Arya? What did he want with you? I want to hear the truth from your lips.”

“Dima, I’m begging you, please put the gun away. I don’t know what you’re talking about and—”

“Tell me about the Albanian who fucked you!” he bellows in a voice I’ve never heard from him before. “Tell me about Lukas’srealfather!”

I freeze. I make sure to keep my face composed.

But on the inside, I could cry with relief.

---