Page 124 of Deviant Need

“The photo. Why keep it?”

She swallows, her gaze shifting to me. “I wanted to remind myself that I did something good. That having you in my life, saving you, was worth all the risk.”

Sweat beads at my forehead, and Mikhail shifts beside me, the bruises on his neck show better in this light. I swallow hard, closing my eyes. She doesn’t even know what happened to him…

Mikhail starts to read another question, but I open my eyes and mouth no. I can’t handle anything more. I got the answers I needed. I just want to move on.

She catches the exchange. “We just have to keep you two a secret for a little while. I’m not doing it for selfish reasons. I promise.”

Mikhail curses under his breath. “We already told you we would, so quit bringing it up.”

She sighs and rubs her jaw. “It’s still weird for me, seeing you two together like this. But I want you both to know that I accept you. I love you both. It’s just going to take me some time to get used to it.”

I don’t blame her. This has to be a mindfuck to process. We’re brothers to them. They watched us grow up side by side, so seeing us like this probably breaks their brain a little. I get it.

My hands come up to pinch the bridge of my nose, my breath coming short and shallow.

“I think that’s enough for today,” Mikhail says.

“Da. I can help you to bed,” Lina says, and I hear her shifting up from the couch, footsteps coming toward me. She helps me stand, and Mikhail takes my other arm, both of them guiding me down the hallway to the bedroom downstairs. My bed from the apartment is already set up and I sigh in relief when I see it.

“You sure you don’t want to know anything else?” she asks softly.

I give Mikhail a look, and he answers for me. “No, he’s tired.”

She reaches over and pats my arm gently. “I’ll be putting the funeral arrangements together. You can come over whenever you want. And Daniil, I’m sorry. I really am.”

Once she leaves, I lower myself onto the bed carefully, a second later, the bed dips as Mikhail climbs in next to me, wrapping his arms around me and pulling me against him.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah.”

“Do the answers help at all?”

“Not really. I was caught off guard.”

He reaches over and grabs my face, forcing me to look at him. “I’ll take care of you. As long as I’m here, you’re safe.”

I don’t know how to process any of it. I knew something bad happened to me when I was little, but hearing the details out loud makes me feel sick. At least Roman’s gone. That’s one good thing in all of this.

“He told me he wanted me to take over,” he says quietly.

“What?”

“He said I was supposed to be his heir, whatever that means. I don’t want to do it. I don’t know why he thought I was a good fit for any of it.”

“You are though. You just don’t see it. You’re strong, and you would have been good at it.”

“Nah. I don’t want it. Let Yulian or Lev have it. They actually care.”

He rubs his thumb along my jaw, those blue eyes staring down at me. My hands come up to trace over the family motto tattooed across his throat.

“Mikhail.”

He gives me that look, the one that says don’t push it, so I think carefully about what I want to say. “Whatever he said to you isn’t true. I want you to know that. Nothing that bastard ever said to you was true, and whenever you want or need to talk to me about it, I’m here. Okay?”

He nods, swallowing hard.