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She lets out a sharp, bitter scoff. “So you say.”

I pull the belt free and toss it onto the chair. The leather lands with a soft thud.

“You didn’t want Dmitri following you on this supposed walk,” I continue, voice low, “because you weren’t actually going for a walk, were you?”

I close the distance between us until I’m standing right in front of her. She still refuses to look at me.

“You were trying to run again, admit it.” My hand slides up to cup the side of her neck, thumb resting against her racing pulse. “You were planning to take Anya away from me. Again.”

Her breath hitches. I tighten my grip just enough to make her feel it and tilt her head up.

“Look at me.”

She resists for half a second, then her eyes finally meet mine, bright with anger, fear, and exhaustion.

I pull her to her feet in one smooth motion, keeping my hand wrapped around her throat. Not hard enough to hurt, but firm enough that she knows she isn’t going anywhere.

“Don’t you realize how much danger you put yourself and our daughter in every time you run off unprotected?” My voice drops, dark and rough. “Do I have to spell it out for you? Do you have a death wish, Rosie? Hmm?”

I lean closer, our faces inches apart. “Or do you simply not care about Anya’s safety?”

That finally gets a reaction. Her eyes flash with defiance. “We wouldn’t be in any danger if you had never come into our lives,” she spits.

I hold her gaze without flinching.

“I’m here now,” I say, voice steady and final. “You deal with it. I’m protecting both of you from every threat that exists because of me. But I can’t do that if you keep running off the second my back is turned and then having me chase after you.”

I slide my thumb along her jaw, feeling the furious flutter of her pulse.

“Or is that what you want?” I murmur, lips brushing the shell of her ear. “Do you enjoy being chased, plamya? Because I’ll chase you as many times as it takes. Every single time. Until you finally understand that there’s nowhere you can run where I won’t find you.”

I pull back just enough to look into her eyes again, letting the silence stretch between us. “So tell me the truth. Were you running this morning?”

I bring my lips to her ear, voice low and rough.

“If you’re into being chased, plamya, I can get into that.”

“You’re sick,” she whispers, but there’s a tremor in her voice that tells me she feels the heat between us.

I release her neck slowly, letting my fingers trail down the delicate column of her throat. “I’ve been called worse.”

My mouth follows the path of my fingers, pressing open-mouthed kisses along her skin as I speak. “Why did you try to run this morning?” I press a kiss to her skin. “Was it because of what you saw last night?” Another slow kiss just below her jaw. “Are you scared?”

She shivers under my touch. “Would you blame me? You came home covered in blood. What if Anya had been awake? What if she’d seen you like that?”

I pause, lips still against her neck. Her words hit harder than I expect. She’s right. The thought of Anya waking up and seeing me like that, all covered in blood, violence still clinging to me, twists something ugly in my chest.

I pull back just enough to look at her.

“It won’t happen again,” I say quietly. “I’ll do everything I can to keep this part of my life away from her. At least until she’s old enough to understand.”

Rosie lets out a bitter laugh. “That doesn’t help.”

I shake my head. “This is my life, Rosie. And now it’s yours. You have to get used to it. You can’t run from it. You can’t run from me.”

My hand slides lower, skimming over her stomach until I cup her pussy through the thin fabric of her nightdress. She’s wet. I press the heel of my palm against her clit and rub slow, firm circles, feeling her hips twitch despite herself.

“It’s best you don’t try to run from me again,” I murmur against her ear. “Because I will always catch you. And when I do… there will be punishment.”