Page 30 of Wicked Knight 2

“Is that so?”

“Yeah, you don’t want her. I don’t care that you’re married.” Her eyes watered. “We can still be us.”

“There’s no us.” I cocked my head to look her in the eye. “There never was. And you know that. You were fine with it, until Donata came along.”

“Because you only wanted me.”

“Never like that.”

“You’re just like the others. I’m glad she hates you.” She sneered at me then ran back into the house.

Now I had two women who hated me. Just fucking awesome. I headed for the kitchen to check on Alexei. When I got there, he was sitting at the far end of the table, crying on Donata's shoulder.

“What happened, bud?” I sat on my haunches next to him.

Like before, Donata’s gaze zeroed in on me. The pink in her cheeks had returned, but she was still shocked to see me. I ignored her ogling and focused on the kid instead. Donata and I had all night to talk about us, her family, and the reason she was here.

“I didn’t do anything wrong. I finished all my chores even. He’s mad at me because.” He stopped to wipe his nose with the back of his hand. “He thinks I’m a tattletale, but I’m not.”

“A tattletale?” Donata asked. “Alexei, Maxim is back. You can tell him anything.”

My gaze cut to her. Since when had she decided I was trustworthy? I regarded her profile, itching to touch her soft cheek. Suddenly, I had the feeling all my dreams about her could be real. Alexei squeezed my arm and pulled me out of my Donata rabbit hole. Truth was, in the time I was away, my obsession for her had reached new levels of fucked up. I dreamed of her constantly. Vivid dreams that felt like memories of a life I’d never had.

“You said you were going to teach me how to fight. But then you left.” He wiped his wet eyes.

“I’m sorry I had to go away for a while, but you can tell me what happened.” I met his gaze.

Boris was a coward. If all of a sudden, he had found the balls to disrespect me by going after my wife, it had to be because he had something waiting in the winds. After I killed Dominic, I told Papa we had to watch out for Dominic’s crew. Sure, to my face they said I had the right to end the challenge however I saw fit—meaning, Dominic wanted me dead. The only way to stop him was to end him. But what were they saying when I wasn’t around? Was Dominic’s crew still loyal to Papa?

What was Boris up to? Did Alexei figure it out somehow and now Boris was trying to intimidate him into keeping his mouth shut? Whatever it was, the kid was too scared right now to tell me what I needed to know. Not to mention, I had a feeling that what he had to say, couldn’t be said in present company.

Galina might look like she was always busy bent over the stove, but she kept tabs on everything that went on in her kitchen. And Donata, even if her eyes didn’t show contempt anymore, she was still the niece of one of our most powerful enemies.

I turned to Alexei. “How about you finish your cookie and go take a nap? I have something I need to take care of first. But I promise, I’ll come find you later tonight.”

“Okay.” Alexei smiled at me. The color returned to his face as relief washed over him. “Can I take this off now?” He pointed at his bandages around his wrist.

“Leave them on for now. Some rest is actually a good idea. Stay out of the sun. You hit your head pretty hard. We have to watch for a concussion.” She tousled his hair. “Go on.”

“I’ll go with him.” Irina wiped her hands on her apron, beaming at Alexei. “If Boris comes back, I can hit him over the head with my pan.”

Alexei burst out laughing. “Donata did that last week. It was so funny.”

“I’ll have to remember that.” I smiled at her. “No pans in the bedroom.”

Her cheeks turned bright red as she shifted her attention back to Alexei. “I thought you guys were going?”

“We are.” Irina giggled on her way out.

“Santa Donata.” I bowed and tipped my invisible cap.

“What?” She held my gaze long enough to make Galina turn around to busy herself with the pot on the stove.

Donata continued to survey my features, moving slowly down to my mouth then back to my eyes. When Galina let out a small chuckle, Donata snapped out of her trance and finally looked away.

Something had changed with her. The trepidation that oozed out of her before was gone. Maybe spending time with the kids and Belinda helped her realize we were not the monsters she thought we were. We were a family too.

“Belinda says that’s what the kids call you. You’ve been tending to their cuts and scrapes.” I smiled at her. “Helping them with homework.”

---