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She looks a little startled by the question. Something else she hadn’t ever expected me to do, ask for her input.
“Would it be so bad to walk away from all this?” she asks. “Did you ever really want it? To constantly be in this situation of not trusting anyone?”
I stare at Paige. “Not trusting anyone … even you?”
She gets up and stands in front of me. Paige doesn’t touch me, and I’m not sure what I would do if she had. Would I push her away or pull her into my arms?
“I want to trustsomeone,” she says quietly. “But I don’t even trust myself anymore. I never thought I would be this person. Someone who wears diamonds and plots revenge. What has become of me … the real me. The person I was before I came here. Or was I always this person? I don’t know.”
I pull her into my arms, and her arms wrap around me, holding me tight. She molds into my body, and I hold her tighter, her belly pressed between us with our child. My hands run through her hair as I inhale, teetering between completely letting go.
I want to take that dive with her. But what will happen when I need to be a killer again?
“Can’t we run away?” Paige whispers. “We’ll find the money and then we’ll run away. We’ll take Emma with us. We can take Dmitri, Natasha, Viktor … everyone and buy an island off the California coast. Live our days by the ocean.”
Her eyes sparkle as she talks of her crazy, impractical daydream.Once the Bratva, always the Bratva. They won’t leave us alone. And if today is proof, they won’t even leave you alone when you’re dead.
“The Bratva is my life, Paige,” I hold her face in my hands. “And now it is yours too.”
She places her hands on mine and pulls them off her face. “I guess I have to deal with reality. This is what I signed up for. But I really didn’t.”
“Do you regret staying?” I ask.
Paige holds my hand. “I want to be with you, Andrei. But will this ever end? When will we be safe enough to have a happy life?”
I look away. I told Paige I would protect her, but I’m the one constantly putting her in harm’s way. Even if she leaves me now, she’ll always be a target. My enemies will go after her and our child. My grip tightens on her hands. I want her as much as I want our child.
“If there is a way, I will find it,” I tell her. “Or I’ll make one.”
Paige swallows hard. “But how many people will have to die before it happens?”
Chapter 8
Paige
From the terrace window, I watch a land mover scoop the sawn hedges up into the air and drop them into the back of a dump truck. The industrial woodchipper makes a horrible grinding noise as all the remnants of the maze are ground down into the earth. In a day, the maze is destroyed and obliterated as if we had all imagined that night.
I wonder how long it will take for me to stop seeing Eva walking to the maze in my dreams.
Listless, I walk into the main hall, and today’s mail is on the console by the office door. In the past, the mail was divided between Andrei and Eva. I never received any personal mail until recently. I pick up a thick cream envelope with both my name and Andrei’s on the front in calligraphy.
On the back is an embossed return address. I don’t recognize the address, but I recognize the name.
Novikov.
My fingers tear at the seal, ripping the thick card out of the envelope.
You are invited to the wedding of Sonya Karamazov and Gleb Novikov at Whisper Glens …
I read the first line again and then gasp as if a pin has been driven into my temple. Where is Andrei? I barely knock on his office door before I enter. “Did you know about this?” I wave the envelope in my hand.
I hand the invitation to him and closely watch the expression on his face. I stand very still and watch his jaw tense and his eyes narrow as he reads the print closely. I wait patiently for his explosion of anger to roll across the room.
But Andrei tosses the invitation aside and returns to his laptop. “Did you send an RSVP?”
My eyes widen, and I stare dumbfounded at him and his suddenly flippant attitude. “What? We can’t go. It’s another trap. They tried to kill us at the first one; they’ll succeed at this one.”
“Then I’ll go with Dmitri as my plus one. You can stay here.”
