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“Rome would be beautiful at this time of year, or Paris. Or why not go the other direction and see the Sakura blossom in Japan?”
“Kirill!”
I took her other foot and continued to rub. “Things with my father aren’t going well. He’s too old to lead the bratva anymore, and he knows it. It’s time to change bosses.” I didn’t want to tell her she’d almost been shot under my father’s orders, not Antonio de Sanctis’. I knew how afraid she’d be with that knowledge, and I never wanted her to feel afraid. I wanted to protect from all of that, always.
“And that’s so dangerous you need to send me away?” she asked, clearly seeing the situation for what it was. “Is it Viktor or Nikolai that’s the danger?”
Both.
“I have it in hand, Princess. You don’t need to worry. I don’t want you to. It’s not good for the baby. Just know that everything I’m doing now is for our future. That’s all that matters.”
“Our future?”
“Yes, the future we always planned. You, me, and our own family. Safety, freedom . . . all of it.”
“Why can’t I be with you? I can’t help?”
“Help?” the word nearly strangled me. “Molly, if you’re hurt, none of it matters, don’t you see? There’s no point to any of this if you’re at risk. So, no, you can’t help, and don’t ask me again,” I warned her.
She pulled a face at my authoritative tone. “You can’t tell me what to do anymore, Kirill. I’m your wife, not your prisoner.”
“Princess, I won’t tell you what to do,” I murmured as I abandoned her foot and slid my hands up her leg instead. “I’ll simply have you bound, gagged, and taken away in the night. You’ll wake up on the private jet, halfway to Paris, all without being told what to do.”
“Don’t be an asshole,” she muttered.
I shifted on the sofa, turning toward her, and pushed her unresisting legs apart to move between them.“You love when I’m an asshole. Don’t push me on this, Molly. You won’t win, and I don’t want to quarrel about silly things.”
“You call having me kidnapped and taken out of the country without my consent a silly quarrel?”
“What else should I call it? There are no choices to be made here. I wasn’t asking you, Princess. I was telling you. When it comes to your safety, I won’t compromise.”
“And your safety?” she pushed as I lowered my face to her inner thigh and kissed along it. “Who is going to worry about that?”
25
MOLLY
The next morning, I lay in bed until Kirill left before jumping out. If he thought he could tell me what to do and send me away, while he set himself on fire to protect us, he had another think coming.
I dressed quickly and went to the kitchen to find Max there with Olga. They sipped black tea while Olga passed me a peppermint herbal tea. My morning sickness had finally calmed down enough to manage food and drink first thing again.
“Where’s Kirill?” I asked Max, sitting opposite him. It was a sunny day, and the park looked startlingly green, a huge verdant rectangle outlined in gray, sitting squarely in the middle of the city.
“Working. Why?”
“He asked me to take a trip last night.”
Max didn’t react to that statement. “Did he ask? Or did he tell you?”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “You know all about it, don’t you?”
He shrugged. “Kirill will decide the best thing to do. Why don’t you trust him?”
“So, you think it’s okay for him to send me away? What if he gets hurt?”
“I don’t see how you being here would stop that.”
I stared at Max, a little hurt by his pragmatic words. The rational part of my brain reminded me he had a point, but my heart bristled with offense.
