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“They sent her ‘body’ in pieces. We had a burial. And all this time—” He runs his fingers along the stubble on his chin and sighs. “I said goodbye to her sixteen years ago. But if I knew, even a rumor, I would have broken down their fucking front door.”
“I never saw her,” I confess. And that’s the terrifying thing. For sixteen years, Anna-Natalia was alive, presumably on Winthrop property, and I never saw her. I never heard any of the servants speak of her. Robert never so much as hinted…
And if a man could keep one such secret, only God knows what else he has in store.
“How could I have never seen her?” I’m shaking my head, and more tears threaten to fall. “I never saw her. I never saw—”
“Enough.” He steps forward and I marvel at the sensation of being in his arms again. Of all the places in the world to seek refuge, his shoulder shouldn’t be my chosen place to find it. I’m a parasite, leeching off his heat—and he lets me feed for as long as I need to.
At least until he wants something from me in return.
“I need to ask it.” His fingers fan out down my back, running over the ridges of my spine. “Did he touch you?”
I know what he means. “And if he did?”
“Then he did.” His grip tightens the moment I try to pull away. “I’d still want to know.”
“Why?” I snarl. “Would that injure your pride? If I had to sleep with him? Would that make you feel like a pathetic, fucking—”
“I’d want to know,” he growls into my ear so fiercely that I fall silent. “If he hurt you. If he touched you. I want to know.”
“No…” I sigh, too tired to resist him any longer. “He didn’t have to.”
I felt violated anyway. In his presence, I was old Ellen again, and I know now more than ever that I can never be her. Not anymore.
“Is this the part where you vow to fuck me now?” I wonder, copying his gruff tone. “Erase him? Soothe your own ego?”
“No.” His voice is so deep that it resonates in my bones. He isn’t taunting me. “This is the part where you listen. To how we were somehow ambushed despite Sergei’s protection. How I watched you get taken, and I knew then and there, even if you were a cunning little bitch who went back willingly. Even if it was all a game… Then you would have done your job too well, Rose, because I was going after you.”
Only he could make such a heated confession sound more twisted than romantic.
“What happened?” I ask. “Robert’s man said I was drugged.”
From my hazy memories, I can’t recall how something like that would occur. One moment, I was watching him from the doorway, and the next…
“All I know is you were gone and we were being shot at from the woods,” Mischa says. “Luckily, Vanya had already moved out with the rest of the men, and I could catch up well enough. Sergei suggested he mount a rescue, but I went out on my own.”
Which may explain why the leader looked more irritated than relieved when he arrived, his prize in tow.
“I didn’t know where he kept you, though Sergei had a vague idea of the direction they went in,” he admits. “Still, I expected to spend days tracking you down. But then…” He chuckles deep in his throat. “I find that you’re already ten steps ahead.”
“So what happens now?”
“Now?” He eases away from me, but his fingers slide along my hips, dragging out the contact until the last possible second.
When our gazes reconnect, I see a hint of that raw openness from before. But where, when Anna was mentioned, he looked softer—now, his bared teeth portray only ruthlessness.
“I’m going to destroy the Winthorps from the inside out.”
“But why not just…” I trail off and let myself envision a fantasy world. One in which I could run away and no evil men would ever follow. I could live my life in peace, doing the things I’ve only ever dreamt of.
Find a home.
Make it my own.
Start a family…
But even in that beautiful fantasy, one fact cuts through everything like a thorn.
