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This will end today.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Aurora
“You manipulative bitch!” Lev snarls as he shoves open the door to my room. I gasp at his sudden appearance, dropping my phone. It’s been at least two hours since he left and it’s taken me that long to pull myself together. After what he did...
I’m shattered.
I’ve just stepped out of the shower, where I’d spent an eternity scrubbing the memory of his fury from my flesh.
“Who the hell do you think you are, barging in like this?” I snap. The sight of him sets my heart pounding. It’s fear, for sure. But beyond that, a dozen conflicting emotions feel like they’re crushing my chest.
“Who the hell do I think I am?” he scoffs. “You dare to get self-righteous with me?” He stops as he glances down at the phone in my hand. “Oh, let me guess, you’re making a call to your fuckingaunt.” He shakes his head. “Don’t bother spitting that old line of bullshit again.”
I suck in a breath, feeling the blood drain from my face. Whatever has gone on between us before, Lev’s never been so openly hostile to me before. Even that episode against the door still gave me a sense that he was reaching out to me somehow. As fucked up as it is, sex has always been our common ground.
“You can’t speak to me like that!” I hiss, adrenalin spiking as he prowls up toward me.
“I can speak to you however I fucking want.” His voice is laced with so much venom it makes my heart lurch. “When were you going to stop lying?” he continues, then shakes his head, as if he can’t believe he bothered asking me the question.
“Lev, I—”
“Shut the fuck up!” he says, his voice like ice, and I freeze. Staring into his eyes is like looking down the barrel of a gun. “You know, the ridiculous part is, even though I knew you were doing it, a part of me still kept hoping I was wrong… I told myself you were being forced into this thing. But then you took it even further.”
Oh God, he must be talking about my mom.
But why is he goading me about it? It’s not like I did anything wrong.
Aside from lying to him.
“When were you planning to come clean?” he snaps.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” I exclaim in exasperation.
“Cut the shit!” He rounds on me and I flinch. “I know about all of it. You think I don’t know you drugged my men that night of the attack?”
My mouth drops open.
“What?!” I exclaim.
“Don’t play dumb with me, Aurora.” He shakes his head. “I have an intel folder on you that’s an inch thick. Calls, meetings, the people you’ve been in contact with! Is your name even Aurora?”
“Lev!” My voice feels strangled. “I don’t understand!”
“Stop acting like you’re fucking innocent,” Lev fires back. “Why do you think I told you the plan about the MeshMare?” I shake my head, not knowing how to respond. “It was a fucking trap and you fell for it,” he rages. “The MeshMare was never supposed to go to any safehouse. But guess what? Someone targeted the decoy courier I sent there. You were the only one I told about that, Aurora. It was a fucking test. And you failed!”
I don’t know what scares me more; what he’s saying, or the cold hardness of his voice as he says it.
“Oh God, Lev… I swear,” I stammer. “I swear I never told anyone!” But even as I say it, I’m remembering the conversation with my mother, when I’d let slip those details.
Holy shit!
She’s the only one I told!
My guilt must be written on my face because his own flickers with a dark triumph. It’s an expression that’s underscored by something else. Something that my instincts tell me is pain. But I know he’ll never admit it. If anything, the hurt is what will drive him further from me.
“You’re seeing that there’s no way out, aren’t you, Aurora?” he says softly. I swallow hard. “And you’re right. You’re going to face the music. Though first, I have other matters to deal with… Like getting information out of your accomplice.”
