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He flinches like I’ve slapped him, and I regret being so cold. “The way I explained myself, what I want from you—it came out all wrong. It’s not a lie that your presence will help my position in the Bratva, but putting this on you without more … courtesy … was wrong. I made it sound like you have no choice in the matter.”
“Probably because I don’t have one.” My laugh is dry and brittle. It goes on too long, echoing around the garden.
Arsen reaches for me, his pained frown and warm eyes promising comfort. I’m tempted to allow him to touch me. More than a small part of me longs for his warmth. But our conversation from before has reignited another fear that has never gone away.
He killed Pyotr. He murdered a child.
My foot slips back, pulling me away from him. Arsen lowers his arm, wilting like a flower deprived of water. That’s what I am to him. He’s dying without me.
Again, I fight the urge to throw myself against his chest. It would feel so good to work my hands into his hair, to place my ear on his ribs and listen to him breathe until I calm down. But I can’t. Not until I know the truth and understand just where I stand in everything. All the niceties in the world can’t fix that he’s asked me to be a banner to rally more men to his side in this war.
He’ll do anything to win. That’s what it comes down to. He’s motivated by conquest.
Is that why he killed Pyotr?
I should just ask him ... No. It’s not possible. He’d want to know how I learned about Pyotr, which would lead to more questions. And if he starts asking questions, then I may reveal Ruslan’s existence.
I can’t do that if he’s already murdered one child. What’s to say he won’t kill another?
Especially when that child came from my mother.
I can’t have that on my conscience.
“Galina,” he says, agonized, “you do have a choice.”
“In what? I can’t leave here.” I gesture around wildly. “I can’t call the cops to chase down Yevgeniy. I can’t help search for my own mother. I can’t even be who I want to be!” Mila calling me Galina Yevgeniyevna swims up in my memory bitterly, and I force my teeth together to stop my lips from trembling. “I’ll be trapped in the Bratva until the day I die; it’s just a matter of if that’s sooner or later.”
“No!” he insists, stepping toward me. “That’s not true!”
The purple sky has darkened behind him like a bruised fruit. It casts new shadows on his twisted scowl. “As much as I wish I could keep you beside me forever … if I knew you were safe, and … if you were to ask …” He pauses like this is something he doesn’t want to admit. “I would let you leave my world. I love you, Galina. I would do anything for you. I’ve done it once, and you know I would do it again.”
My eyes widen as my heart thuds violently. I can’t sense a hint of a lie. After how hard it was for him to let me leave last time and how close I came to danger once we were split up, I was sure he’d cling harder than ever now that I’m back in his grasp.
He means it. He loves me enough that he would willingly let me go.
Looking away, I shake my head sadly. “You might be willing to set me free, but the men around you … on both sides … won’t be so understanding.”
“Which is why Yevgeniy must be destroyed.” Arsen approaches me, erasing the small gap between us. He reaches for my hands, not hesitating when he takes them. His skin is warm, comforting, and sets mine alive with a sense of thrill.
“Once he’s gone, no one will threaten you. And if that’s when you want to walk away from me?” His eyes dart to my belly, then back to my face. The determination battles with new pain. “Then I promise not to stop you.”
He’s saying he’d let me leave with our baby. Knowing how I could never, ever be separated from my child, I’m stunned. For him to suffer a fate like that is an act of sacrifice bigger than any I can imagine.
Holding onto his hands, I rub my thumb along his defined forearms. I trace his knuckles, where the bruises have mostly healed. The prayer beads rattle on my wrist.
“I don’t have a choice.” He starts to argue, but I cut him off. “Not until Yevgeniy is gone.” I allow a slight smile to pass on my lips. “But once he is, give me some good reasons to stay around and I’ll consider them for both of us.”
He’s shocked, but responds with a relieved smile of his own. “Of course.”
“First, promise me one thing,” I state flatly.
“Anything.”
“Free the women forced to work for him.” They’re more trapped than I am.
“I will.” His smile keeps growing. “In return, I need something from you.”
“What’s that?”
