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“I’m sorry for keeping Kat a secret from you,” I whispered, not sure why I was even saying it. “But I’d do it all the same again if I had the choice. If you weren’t Nikolai Morozov and my father had found out any other man was the father of my child, he would’ve killed you without blinking.”
A small, strange smile slipped onto Nikolai’s face. “I guess we’re both lucky I’m Nikolai Morozov, then.”
Snorting a laugh at that, I leaned back against the pillows and watched as he moved his dirty clothes to the laundry hamper.
Nikolai sighed. “The man who attacked us was from the Balakin family, but he swore he wasn’t acting on orders from his bosses. As for whether he’s to be believed remains to be seen.”
More relaxed in his presence then, I murmured mockingly, “Does nobody in your family ever act without orders?”
His brows shot up at the question, but it seemed Nikolai didn’t take too kindly to my remark. The time for his kindness and willingness to open up had expired the moment his expression fell.
Nikolai turned away from me and wordlessly moved back into the bathroom. That time, the door was shut, and the shower ran not long after.
Sighing to myself, I dropped back into place and leaned into the soft pillows.
It was still impossible to know his limits until it was too late.
With a numbness in my heart, I brought the blankets up around me and closed my eyes. Slowly, I drifted to sleep wondering if we would ever find a mutual ground to stand on, and somehow go a full day without bickering.
The heaviness of sleep lifted slightly after a time, and my eyes eventually opened just enough for me to see Nikolai standing by the window with the baby monitor in his hands. He was crooning a gentle lullaby through it for Kat, but it didn’t sound like English. He moved across the room to where the monitor sat.
The longer I listened, the more I realized it was a Russian lullaby. One I heard as a child but had completely forgotten about.
Not moving from my place, I noticed as the sky had started to lighten, and I wondered what time it was.
Before I could say a word, Nikolai reached for the shades and lowered them, bringing complete darkness to the bedroom.
The moment I inhaled sharply, Nikolai moved toward the bed and lifted the blankets from the other side. He glanced at me and slipped beneath them.
“Go back to sleep, Mila,” He whispered, settling in. “You have nothing to worry about.”
While I should’ve found comfort in those words, I wasn’t so sure it was true.
I rolled over to face the other side of the room, hoping Nikolai would put his arms around me as he had at the club and in the back of the SUV. But he remained what felt like miles away from me, facing the opposite way.
Without another word, Nikolai fell asleep quickly, leaving me with the sound of his deep breathing.
Chilled from the distance between us, I slipped back into a comfortless sleep and wondered what was left for us.
Chapter 15 - Nikolai
My eyes peeled open in the dark room with the only sign of daylight coming through cracks in the blinds. Sitting up, I looked over at Mila, noting that she was deeply asleep and tucked into the blankets with pillows beneath her head.
She looked peaceful, and I didn’t want to wake her. After being up nearly all night, she likely needed the sleep.
Watching her sleep was much nicer than considering how Ivan and I had been foiled during the interrogation the night before. We tried to figure out who ordered the attack on Mila and me, but we had no luck.
Of course, I still had to check in on the investigation that remained ongoing, but I couldn’t take my eyes away from her.
Mila slept soundly with her dark hair splayed out behind her. A stray section rested over her eyes, and she had one arm tucked beneath the pillows. She looked so delicate there, and I had the longing to move her hair back so I could get a better look at her face.
But a rustling through the baby monitor pulled me away from the idea, and I slipped out of bed smoothly, careful to not disturb her sleep.
I reached Kat’s room to find her on the edge of the bed that seemed a bit too tall for her, swinging her chubby legs over the side. Rushing in, I asked, “Do you need help getting down?”
“I can do it,” Kat insisted, pushing herself down to land on her feet without issue.
A proud smile settled on my face, watching as she moved around the room on her own. “Let’s get you cleaned up, then I’ll make you some breakfast. How about that?”
