AllFreeNovel
Share Us
NATASHA
“You could have killed him, Luka. Is that really what you wanted everyone at the wake to see, how reckless you could be?” I say, struggling to pull myself out of his car later that night.
My body is exhausted from hours of standing and sitting in between viewing rooms at the funeral home to pay respects to two men I couldn’t have given less of a damn about, and who probably deserved to die, anyway.
Luka wordlessly takes my hand and helps me to the curb. I follow him to the front door in silence since he hasn’t responded. The balls of my feet burn as I wait for what feels like hours of him unarming all of his security systems and checking camera feeds.
Nothing could possibly breach the gates of this fortress now, especially after what happened with the intrusion.
Luka, on the other hand?
He’s wrapped tight in so much barbed wire, I don’t feel like I will ever be able to get close to what lies beneath the surface without being slashed, pricked, and stabbed in the process. He lets me in the slightest bit and then slams the door right in my face.
And I’m clearly insane because I keep hoping it will change…that he’ll change and finally open himself up to me.
I thought things would be different after the other night when we connected at the most intimate, physical level. I gave him all of me. He took my virginity, for fuck’s sake. But afterward, he was just as shut down, never giving me the slightest glimpse into what he’s thinking and feeling.
Tonight, he let some of his emotions out, unleashing them all over Dmitri. I know there’s a hell of a lot more brewing beneath the surface, too.
Once we’re inside, I slide my feet out of the high-heeled shoes he had sent over in my size from a local boutique, and take a few cautious steps toward where he stands in the middle of the foyer.
His spine is stiff, his shoulders squared. A glimpse at his profile confirms his jaw is locked.
“Maybe I should have just done it. Then they would have all seen how dangerous it is to fuck with my family.” He stalks into the kitchen and grabs the bottle of vodka from the counter. No glass, though. After tossing the cap aside, he takes a long gulp.
“Look, I know you’re angry–”
He slams the bottle on the counter, rooting me to the spot with a menacing glare. “Don’t you dare tell me what you think I’m feeling, because you have no idea.”
“I just want to help. Please don’t shut me out.”
“Every time I look at you now, I wonder if I brought all of this shit onto my family because of my obsession with making your father pay for what he did to me all those years ago. If I’d have just stayed away from you and not gotten onto Dima’s radar, maybe none of this would be happening right now. Dima wouldn’t have decided to go after you to spite me. He and my father would still be alive, and I’d be the fuck out of Miami.”
He pauses, his eyes spitting fire. “Maybe the whole fucking underworld wouldn’t be conspiring against us to take down my family.”
“What are you talking about?” I rasp, my chest tightening. “What does that even mean?”
“Taras thinks your father may have aligned himself with Dmitri and his family in an attempt to break us. An elaborate revenge plot.” Luka’s lips twist with disdain. “And that’s why you’re here with me, why I can’t let you leave now. You’re leverage, in case that really is their grand plan.”
“Is that really all I am to you? Insurance?” A golf ball-sized lump forms in the back of my throat, making it nearly impossible to breathe or speak. “Even after the other night?”
I know I should be more focused on the other things he just spouted, like the fact that he thinks my father is in cahoots with Dmitri and tied to some massive takedown plan which, disturbingly enough, does seem plausible and could explain why he let Luka take me away from my home without a fight.
A shiver ripples through me.
Holy shit.
My father knew he’d be getting me back, if that was the case.
Could it really be?
No, no, no!
He sacrificed me as part of a revenge scheme?
I grab onto the edge of a nearby table, my stomach clenching from the waves of nausea crashing over me.
I can’t accept that.
