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I pulled my dress over my hips and smoothed it down to the floor.

Rolling my shoulders back, I held my head high and stormed toward the exit.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know why… I’m so sorry, Keira.” Severin’s words followed me out of the room.

But it wasn’t the name that scared me.

Well, it was.

But it was the kiss. The fucking.

The fear that curled around my rib cage like a snake.

I was no longer objective. I could no longer do what needed to be done.

End the Order.

And kill Severin Volkov.

I gulped. This wasn’t okay.

I swallowed hard. I needed to get rid of the temptation and do what I should have done from the beginning.

Kidnap him and end his fucking existence.

It was time to get rid of him because if I didn’t do it now, I never would.

I would finally get rid of him the way he got rid of me.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Xeniya Morozova

Age 22

Thirteen Years Ago

Viktor Volkov had entrusted me with a secret mission—so secret he’d made me promise not to tell Severin.

Which was nearly impossible.

I told Severin everything. He was my rock and had been for two years. We didn’t keep anything from each other.

But this task was vitally important, so I agreed to keep it from my boyfriend this one time.

Fifteen years ago, Viktor and his father—the former Pakhan—had outlawed human trafficking within the Russian mafia. For years, it seemed like all the members of the Bratva abided by this law.

Until now.

Viktor was convinced a high-ranking Bratva boss was trafficking women, and he needed someone with my skill set to hack into the man in question’s systems and monitor his men.

So I did.

Unfortunately, for me, the man in question was the Pakhan himself, Aleksandr—Viktor’s brother and Severin’s father.

So what I was doing wasn’t just dangerous; it was treason.

If he found out, I would be killed.