Page 104 of The Agreement

So, he listened to Maxim’s offer. And considered it.

“You’re just going to let me walk away?” Roman asked. “Why do I find that hard to believe?”

“Not alone. You take her with you.”

Roman’s pulse picked up speed, but he kept that calm exterior.

There was no way ...

What was happening?

“I don’t want to hear about her ever again,” Maxim continued, “and especially not about Katina.”

Roman’s brows crossed—something still wasn’t right. “You need to tell me everything you know about your daughter and her condition.”

A bitter smirk formed on Maxim’s face. In a blink, he seemed a whole lot older. Maybe it was the way he pressed the tips of his fingers into his forehead as he shook his head.

“I don’t have to tell you anything,” Maxim replied in a sigh, long and tired. “I’m giving you a gift by sparing your life. You fucked her—you can have her. She’s yours. Just get her away from me. And when—if—you think you’ve figured it all out, know that it’s already too late. The agreement is final. There’s no going back. Not fucking ever. If you want to leave alive, then you take her with you, and stay gone.”

Just like that.

Karine was his.

This was what he wanted, right?

Had he really asked for this?

The weight of the choice came to rest so heavy on Roman’s shoulders that his feet felt cemented to the ground from the pressure. And yet, it didn’t really matter about the questions people would have, or the work it would take to keep her safe. She was his responsibility now.

Roman’s choice was made.

His life to save hers.

The two men stood staring at each other in silence for a minute longer. It was all they could afford. Roman didn’t care to know what raced through Maxim’s mind. All he really wanted to do was get out of that basement, find Karine, and get her as far away from the city as he could before dawn broke.

Her father didn’t love her, never cared for her, couldn’t wait to be rid of her. So, fine. She meant something to Roman—she wasn’t worthless to him.

He’d make sure she knew it, too.

TWENTY-TWO

Tonight, there would be no dreams. It was so close, though—the day that would change everything. Katina knew the others wouldn’t be able to handle it, so she shuttered them away.

Karine wanted to sleep.

Katee had to play.

Katina was the only one between the three who wouldn’t disintegrate into a puddle of useless tears knowing they were going to be forced to marry Dima in two days. But not before Maxim paid for it—answered for all of it.

Wide awake and stretched out almost naked under the sheets of her bed, Katina enjoyed the moonlight pouring in on her. A cool stream of light against the backdrop of black shadows. She felt like that, too.

Cold.

Dark.

She didn’t know where Karine was. As the day of the wedding drew near, Karine grew more and more out of it. Lately, she rarely knew what was going on around her. The medications she had tried to stop taking had returned full-force back into her life. She begged and threatened Masha for them—manipulated to get them, even. That wasn’t Karine at all. She needed them again, just to make it through the day.

Katina stepped in to help more than she usually would, or the girl was going to kill herself.