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I’m about to say something when she holds up her hand. The same way that Dad used to do when I got mouthy with him. My lips snap shut, and my cheeks burn with embarrassment.
“That’s enough. You think I don’t know who I’m marrying. I’m marrying Ilarion Zakharov,pakhanof the Zakharov Bratva. He told me who he was on our first date, Tay. I knew the risks going into our engagement and I chose to accept them.”
“He doesn’t really l—”
“STOP!” Celine screams so loudly that I take an instinctive step back. “Just…stop.” She takes a deep breath. “I love you for wanting to protect me, but you don’t have to do that. I don’t need your protection. I need you to trust me. To trust that I know what I’m doing.” She meets my gaze and holds it. “Can you do that for me? Please?”
When she asks like that…what choice do I have? I don’t so much as glance in Ilarion’s direction as I nod silently to my sister.
She smiles and floats forward to hug me. “Thank you,” she whispers in my ear. “I know this isn’t easy for you, but it’ll all work out. You’ll see.”
And Ilarion calledmedelusional.
I release Celine, and she turns to her fiancé. “Ilarion,” she murmurs. “I…oh my God! You’re bleeding!”
His eyes flicker to mine for the briefest of moments before they divert back to Celine. “It’s nothing. Just a scratch.”
“Let me see it,” Celine insists, taking his arm tenderly.
I turn and walk out of that room as fast as I can. I don’t stop until I reach the truck that we arrived in. Mila is standing by the open passenger door, one leg on the runner, the other on the forest floor.
“Dima filled me in,” she says, watching me with incredulous respect. “Youshot Benedict Bellasio?”
“Yeah. But I missed. Mostly.”
She stares at me for another long moment. Then she bursts into laughter. “You’re full of surprises, Taylor Theron. I can’t wait to see what you do next.”
Yeah,I think miserably.Me neither.
46
ILARION
“I’m fine,” I snarl. “You don’t need to keep fucking petting me.”
Celine freezes, her hands hovering inches away from my skin.
I curse inwardly as I attempt to act like a normal human being to my fiancée. “Fuck. Forget it. I’m just—”
“On edge,” she fills in. “I know. It’s okay.”
I look up to see her eyes filling with tears. “Celine, I believe you, okay?” I say. “I don’t have faith in a word that fuck said to us.”
She smiles self-consciously, but shakes her head. “No, that’s not what… I mean, I’m glad that you believe me, of course.”
“There’s something else on your mind?”
She nods, her hand still fluttering like a wounded bird over my arm. “You and Taylor seem really…”
I find myself holding my breath, waiting to see what will follow. Suspicions? Accusations? Instincts? Either way, I’m tempted to just answer with the truth.
Not that I know what the fuck the truthisat this point.
“Really pissed at each other,” she concludes. “Did something happen?”
“Lots of things happened, Celine,” I tell her with a grimace. “You and your father were abducted, for one. In case you forgot.”
“Right.” She looks down and shuffles her feet on the carpet. “That must have been hard on Mom and Taylor.”
