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Alessio Ivanshov was mocking me.
“You are married,” I sneered, forcing my fists to unclench.
Alessio nodded. “I am. I am also very much in love with my wife. But that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate a beauty.”
Jealousy was a dangerous thing. And in this moment, right here, it was deadly. You see, men like Alessio, they fed on your insecurities, fear, and bad feelings. They use them against you. They wait until you have no shield. And when the right moment arrives, they strike so sharply you will be left bleeding and empty.
The King was a mastermind. I never thought, not even for a moment, that I would ever fall into that trap.
I was possessive of Valerie. And I felt territorial in a way I’d never felt before.
I knew he was playing me, testing my limits and pushing me. The fucking asshole. But that didn’t stop the way I felt.
When I didn’t reply, Alessio tsked again. His eyes hardened, turning a shade darker. He looked vicious. Dangerous. He was lethal.
“She’s a distraction,” he stated, his cold eyes watching me. His gaze was focused on the ticks in my tightened jaw. He watched me with closely, unfazed.
He knew. He fucking knew.
Bile swirled in my stomach, threatening to force its way up my throat.
Would this change things?
The devil on my shoulder made his appearance, laughing and mocking me, like always. He had the perfect fucking timing. Of course, it would change things. Your feelings for Valerie makes you a liability.
That was true. Alessio needed someone focused. No distractions. No weakness. Someone with only one aim in mind.
But now the lines had been blurred. I didn’t have only one goal. My destination and my target have now changed. My loyalty has been divided. That meant—I was no longer an asset for Alessio.
I was…weak.
“I have no fucking idea what you’re talking about,” I said carefully.
Alessio chuckled, shaking his head in what appeared to be amusement. “Don’t play dumb, Viktor. It doesn’t suit you.”
Blood pounded in my ears, and my body started to feel numb.
“You’re fucking Solonik’s wife, aren’t you?”
His question was the deadly blow. I imagined Alessio was saying checkmate in his head right now.
He raised an eyebrow, his lips quirking to the side as if he knew…he won.
Alessio waited. Silence hung between us. When I didn’t answer, he threw his head back and laughed. The room suddenly felt suffocating to me.
For the first time, I couldn’t understand Alessio.
“You sure have a thing for other men’s wives,” he said through his chuckles. “I guess like the saying goes, forbidden fruits taste better.”
Fuck you.
He made it sound like it was just that…sex. Like I used her. An emotionless affair.
I silently huffed back a laugh. Maybe that was true before, but Valerie had clawed her way through my skin. It wasn’t just sex anymore. I could have that anywhere. Pay a whore, have her spread her legs for me, and I could have been a happy man.
But Valerie wasn’t someone who just satisfied my needs.
She was so much of everything that I couldn’t possibly put to words.
Valerie was all of the sky. My myshka was silent poetry. She was all the lyrics, music, and words. I didn’t believe in anything supernatural, but fuck, when she danced, she made me think of magic.
Her heart was full of dreams and wishes, and I wanted to be the man to make them all come true.
Valerie was not just an affair to be forgotten; she was so much more.
“It’s not what you think,” I finally muttered.
“You are not fucking her?”
“Stop,” I snarled through gritted teeth.
At my tone, Alessio sat straighter and his eyes narrowed on me. The mirth in his expression was gone. The laughter had disappeared.
“I saw the way you looked at her. And I also saw the way she returned that look. At the party, she had all your attention. Fuck, if someone had driven a knife into your back, you probably wouldn’t have noticed until it was too late,” Alessio said, his voice hard.
I opened my mouth to reply, to fight my case, but he waved away my chance. “Do you realize how dangerous that is when you’re living in the enemy’s home?”
I swallowed past the lump in my throat. “I know,” I hissed.
“I sent you there on a mission, with one goal in mind, Viktor. I can’t afford to have you distracted.”
I stood up straighter and unclenched my fists, releasing the tension in my arms. “I know what I’m doing. I have never failed you before, and I won’t this time either,” I tried to assure him.
“She is your weakness now.”
My heart slowed and the blood rushed back through my body. The numbness faded away, but the warmth wasn’t any better. I felt…suffocated.
Alessio’s eyes skimmed over my face, watching my expression. He saw it. He saw everything.
You are a fucking failure, the devil whispered into my ears.
