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CHAPTERTHREE
“Kroshka, why must you be so difficult?”
Dimitri cocks his head as he perches beside me, almost as if he actually doesn’t understand my logic. “This could all be so much easier if you just agree.”
I stone my features and stare off into the distance. We aren’t having this conversation again. What Dimitri wants me to dowillhurt The Reapers. I don’t care how I left things between them, no amount of “convincing” will ever make me agree to that.
Like the manipulative asshole he is, Dimitri whips out a silk napkin from his pocket and starts dabbing at the fresh blood seeping from my cheek.
He’s showing me kindness and a week ago, I would’ve eaten that shit up. I would’ve searched his eyes for some sign of remorse and when I saw some intangible sign he cared, I would’ve excused his behavior. Brushed it off as a weird miscommunication. But the veil over my eyes has been lifted, and now I can see Dimitri for who he truly is. A fucking monster.
Dimitri places his hand over mine and looks up at me with pleading eyes. “All I’m asking for is your hand in marriage.”
He drops to one knee beside my chair, and I have to physically restrain myself from showing the repulsion that surges through me.
“I want to give you a beautiful life. Is that so wrong?”
It’s a lie.
“You will want for nothing,” he continues, squeezing my hand tighter, “and I will protect you and yours better than The Reapers ever could. I know the situation is not ideal…” He pauses, mostly for dramatic effect.“But what beginning ever is?”
He looks deeply into my eyes and the fact that all I see is emptiness staring back at me makes my skin crawl.He’s such a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
“Think of your sister…” He continues, moving his hand down to my thigh before squeezing my knee. “Don’t you think after everything you’ve been through, she’d want you to be happy?”
Happy.I think, shaking my head with a bitter smile.God, does he really think I’m going to buy this?
He always does this, acts as if he’s done nothing wrong. As if he has my best intentions in mind and his altruistic approach is simply being misunderstood.
I watched him brutally murder Melanie and Charles with my own eyes. That doesn’t just go away. When I can sleep, the image of blood pooling around their lifeless bodies still creeps into my nightmares.
He can try to disguise his intentions all he wants, but it’s clear that this proposal has nothing to do with me. It’s abouthimand his incessant need to one-up The Reapers.
I haven’t spoken a single word since arriving here, but I’m so sick of his manipulations. Of his lies. And just hearing him talk about my sister so freely like that pushes me over the edge.
“Fuck you.” I snap, narrowing my eyes at him. My voice is rough and scratchy from the days of misuse, but the message is clear enough. “You don’t get to speak of my sister. Not now. Not ever.”
My words waver from all the pent up rage, but I don’t stop. He needs to get this through his thick fucking skull and if I have to spell it out for him, so be it. “I will never agree to be your wife.” I add, looking him up and down in disgust. “You could offer me the world and I’d still say no. You and I both know where my loyalty lies.”
Dimitri’s nostrils flare as he takes in my venomous words. It’s obvious he wasn’t expecting such a harsh refusal, but that just goes to show how little he knows me.
“Your loyalty.” He scoffs, flinging his soiled napkin to the ground. “How could I possibly forget about that? All they’ve ever done is cause you pain, and yet there you are, clinging to their sides like a pathetic puppy.”
Dimitri paces, glaring over at me as his anger intensifies. “There’s a fine line between loyalty and stupidity, Kroshka. Tell me, what has all of your loyalty given to you? Hmm? You have no friends. No family. No one left that gives a single fuck about you.”
His words hurt more than I expect and, as numb as I want to appear, I can’t help but avoid his gaze.I don’t want to think about that.
“Where are your men, Kroshka?” He taunts, looming over me like he’s seconds away from biting my head off. “By now, they know of Melanie’s death. My people had time to discard the footage of our unfortunate encounter, but once they found the bodies, it would only take a quick surveillance search to see you were there with her. They know you’re missing, yet they haven’t bothered to look for you. Why do you think that is?”
I feel my throat bob and the sudden urge to run barrels into me. I don’t need to hear this. He’s just trying to manipulate me.
“You don’t actually believe they still care about you, do you?”
The silence that falls between us is deafening, and I can almost feel the heat of his stare as he scrutinizes my expression. Trying my best to remain perfectly unaffected, I continue staring off into the distance. I know him. If he sees any signs of my pain, he’ll pounce.
“You do.” He says flatly, glaring at me like the mere sight of me makes him sick. “Don’t you understand? You were nothing to them. A toy. Nothing else. Those men are incapable of loving anyone but themselves. Their absence alone proves that. I am the only choice you have left.”
Dimitri could be right. In fact, a big part of me fears he is. But that doesn’t change how I feel about them.How I’ll always feel about them.
