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She doesn’t have to ask to know what I’m talking about. “She had me at gunpoint. What was I supposed to do?” She’s not nearly as contrite as I expected her to be.
“Is that a joke? You could have disarmed her in seconds. Not to mention the fact that you had her outnumbered ten to one.”
Mila shrugs. “She was tougher than I expected.” She glances over to where Dima is silently taunting Benedict. “And a far better shot.”
“You don’t have a hole in your foot, so I’m guessing her aim’s not all that good.” I keep my voice low, well aware of the fact that Taylor is watching us from afar. “You are so predictable.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means that she got to you, didn’t she?”
Mila raises her eyebrows. “You’re telling me she didn’t impress you, too?”
I glare down. “Careful,moya sestra.”
“I’m just saying—”
“Well, don’t. I have to get both of them home immediately. We have Benedict, but Gregor isn’t exactly a wilting daisy. He could be back any moment with reinforcements.”
“I’m going, I’m going,” she grumbles, backing up toward her contingent with her hands held up in surrender. She glances at Taylor and hitches a thumb in my direction. Taylor takes one look at me and shakes her head. Then she climbs into the same Hummer as Mila.
Grinding my teeth together, I get into the back seat with Celine and punch the roof of the vehicle. As soon as I do, we start to pull out.
I keep my eyes on the window, but I can feel Celine watching me. “You’re upset about something,” she says abruptly as we leave the burning trees of the broken Bellasio property behind us.
I force myself to turn to her with as patient a smile as I can muster. “No, I’m not.”
She frowns. “I know we haven’t known each other all that long, Ilarion, but I can still tell when something’s not right with you.” When I don’t say anything, she sighs. “You deserve to know what happened while I was with Benedict.”
“I already told you—”
“He offered me a deal,” she explains, rushing through the words as though she’s scared she won’t have the courage to say them if she holds out any longer. “He told me that he would marry me if I agreed to end my engagement with you.”
My blood had just begun to settle after the firefight, but at those words, it starts to churn all over again. “He didwhat?”
She nods. “He didn’t bring it up right away. He would come to see me every couple of hours and he would talk to me.”
“About what?”
She shrugs. “His childhood, his family, his interests. It was almost like he wanted me to get to know him. To see that he wasn’t so bad. Then, around the third day…that was when he offered me the deal. He told me that the marriage would come with safety for my entire family, with property and wealth and travel. Whatever my heart desired. He also told me that he wouldn’t hurt Mom.”
“And you said…?”
Her eyes freeze on me for a moment. She passes right through shock and veers quickly into hurt. “You’re not… You’re really asking me that?”
“Celine—”
“I love you, Ilarion,” she snaps. “Do you really think I’m so fickle that I would throw you away for whatever some crazed mafioso promised me?”
“He was dangling your father’s safety in front of you, Celine. All I’m trying to say is that I wouldn’t have blamed you for considering your options.”
She eyes me angrily. “Yeah, well, maybe that would have been enough to convince you, but it wasn’t enough to convince me. I wasn’t about to trust a man who threatened to kill my loved ones if I didn’t sign away my life to him.”
“So you said no.”
“Of course I said no. I’m not gonna lie; I was terrified. I thought he would…would quit asking and justmakeme at one point. But he just told me that one day I would regret my decision. Then he left.”
“Did he touch you?” I swear I will stop the entire caravan and beat the fucker within an inch of his life if he laid a finger on her.
