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“How so? I’m a cold-blooded killer.”
“You were forced to be and if she ever found out how much pain you had to go through, her heart would break so much she wouldn’t be able to rest in her grave, Adrienne.”
Adrienne sobbed silently. She was usually so tough that it felt surreal to hear her sob. And for some reason, her cries pierced my heart like thorns.
“I’m sorry I had to tell you all of this.”
She shook her head. “It’s okay. I wanted to hear it anyway.”
I grabbed her and pulled her close, allowing her to sob into my chest. “Trust me, malysh. I will never hurt you on purpose, and I would never let anyone else hurt you either for as long as I’m alive.”
“But you hurt me more than anyone else, Andrei,” she muttered from my chest. “I don’t want to be a bait anymore. I don’t want to be morte or slut used to seduce men to their graves. I want to live my own life now and on my terms. I’ll only kill when I want to and only do things I want to.”
I nodded, understanding her perfectly. “I know. I shouldn’t have done what I did, and you won’t ever have to go through something like that again.”
“Promise me.”
“I promise.”
No one would ever get to Adrienne unless they went through me, not even Dante Paolo, and not even me.
I knew Adrienne could take care of herself. She could handle herself in a way that even the men in our world couldn’t handle themselves. Still, I wanted to protect her.
I wanted her to feel safe whenever she was with me, and I’d lay the world at her feet if that was what I needed to do to make that happen.
Chapter 19 - Adrienne
I woke up with my face to the sunset and the splashing of beach water on the ocean bank. I’d fallen asleep outside on the beach sand last night, leaning on Andrei’s chest and listening to his heartbeat while we talked about my mother and watched the stars.
He must’ve carried me inside because I woke up on the bed this morning inside the glass house, wearing his T-shirt.
After the stunt he pulled, trying to use me as bait, I was certain I would never be able to forgive or trust him.
But something about the way he spoke to me, the sincerity in his voice, and how much he seemed to genuinely care about my mother made my heart flutter.
Andrei was not the monster my papa had made him out to be. He was dark, cruel, and twisted, but definitely not a monster.
His dark eyes brightened whenever he was around his brothers, and they sparkled when he spoke of my mother. My mother, it felt so unreal to say.
Before now, I’d never included her whenever I talked or even in my thoughts, but now that Andrei had told me about her—what color she loved to wear, how much she love to smile, and how sunshiny she was—it was really as if I’d known her all along.
I could’ve even been able to picture her face if I were blind.
I smiled to myself and rolled over to Andrei’s part of the bed knowing he would wake up the moment my body hit his. I ended up disappointed because Andrei wasn’t beside me. I shot up from the bed, stretched, and ambled out of the room.
Andrei could’ve been in the kitchen, but it didn’t smell like omelets, French toast, or coffee so he definitely wasn’t.
The hallway was tinted gold and it was majestic. Andrei had good taste in his interiors. The walls were a sparking mix of gold and white. It looked like heaven here and the view of the beach water outside was serene.
I understood why Andrei would choose to come out here whenever he wanted to clear his head.
It was so quiet that the only thing I could hear was the chirping birds outside and the waves when they slapped the banks.
“Good morning,” Andrei said as I stepped into the living area. He was seated on a plain white cushion, his legs propped on a golden granite coffee table at the center of the room. The newspaper in his hands had a strong grip on him.
I sat on the cushion across from him. “Where did you get that?” I hadn’t noticed a newspaper in the car yesterday and Andrei wouldn’t be reading old news either.
“Mikhail delivered it to me this morning.”
