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“You’re forgetting how well you taught me,” I remind him.
He does a strange thing; he reaches toward my face, and I flinch momentarily as he brushes a tear away with a knuckle. Then he grips my chin. “Did Marco or any of the Medicis hurt you, Katiya?”
I stare back at him. “No.”
“Did Vlad?”
I know already that Dimitri has told him.
I can’t lie, and I won’t. “Yes.”
He swallows hard, his eyes seeming murderously black. “What did he do?”
This is my one chance to clarify my feelings, and I’m taking it.
No more lies.
“He hit me.”
His pupils dilate ever so slightly and his nostrils flare.
“When was this?”
“The other day, when I was at my apartment, he wanted to see me. I have evidence on my phone. He slapped me and told me I’d learn how to heel, one way or the other.”
His eyes drift away for a second. When he’s silent like this, he’s deadly.
I don’t want him to harm Vlad, but he brought this on himself and needs to pay for what he did. If he gets his kicks abusing women, he needs to be taught a lesson of his own.
“I’ll deal with him.” I go to open my mouth, and his gaze snaps back to me. “And I’ll deal with Medici.”
I grip his shirt sleeve, he looks down at my hand and I don’t let go. “Please show some mercy. I didn’t know who else to go to. My own Father hates me, and I can’t tell you the truth. Vlad isn’t a man to be trusted, and my friends can’t even know the whole truth because it puts them in danger. Marco lives in this mafia life, Uncle, he…he understands me. That’s why I went to him. I feel…safe when he’s around.”
He frowns. “Do I not make you feel safe? My men will always protect you…”
“It’s not the same,” I whisper. “He’s a good man, you don’t want to hear it, but he is. He cares for me too.”
“Has he told you he loves you?” The way he says it, it’s like he doesn’t truly want to know the answer.
I shake my head. “No. He’s a very guarded man who doesn’t wear his heart on his sleeve, but he’s good to me. He isn’t like…Russian men.”
His eyes narrow. “Any man who touches you will deal with me,” he spits. “And don’t think this doesn’t include Marco Medici. He doesn’t just get to take you into his bed and then discard you just to prove he can do whatever he wants, with who he wants. Have you ever considered this is why he could be so fixated on you? To get to me.”
I want to laugh. That is so far from the truth that it hasn’t even come up as a question in my mind. Not once.
“It’s not like that.Heisn’t like that,” I say. My grip loosens on his arm, and I hold his hand in both of mine. “I don’t expect you to understand, but if I have to stay away from him, I will. Please don’t start a war over this. Enough blood has been spilled.”
I have no right ever to question him or tell him what he should or shouldn’t do with his empire, but my uncle has proved time and time again that what I say means something to him.
He doesn’t just discard me like I’m a piece of rubbish like everyone else does. Even now.
“I was so angry with you,” he says after a long moment of silence. “I saw red. Since your Father is so bad at it, it's my job to keep you safe and out of harm’s way. I’ve fought very long and hard over the years to ensure that you are kept out of the spotlight and in the shadows so nobody could use you against us, against me. That choice had to be made when you were born…”
He trails off as I frown. I’ve never heard him speak this way.
“...Yuri had a hard time becoming a Father, but that does not mean that he doesn’t want what’s best for you, even if he doesn’t always show it. He thinks Vlad is the right man to be your husband, but now I do not share that same sentiment.”
I almost sag with relief.
