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“Let go of me!” I shout.
He can’t use sex or jewelry to get himself out of this one. But he catches my chin in his grip, and his lips take mine. His mouth tastes like vodka—warm and strong—as I struggle in his arms.He’s been drinking with some other woman, barely an hour after he fucked me.
“What’s the matter with you?” he glares, frustrated that I’m not instantly giving in so easily.
He lets me go suddenly, and I catch my balance using the edge of the bed. Andrei sits down on the bed, and I feel awkward just standing there beside him. I didn’t expect him to actually let me go.
“We can keep arguing,” he says. “But I’d rather skip the drama and make up before we have a meaningless fight.”
Andrei stares at me, and the dark expression in his eyes doesn’t match his wiseass words. There’s tenderness mixed in with his bluntness. But when I stay silent for too long, unable to react because of my persistent mixed emotions, the warmth in his dark eyes slowly cools into ice.
I turn away, saying nothing, and the reaction is the same as if I had listed a dozen good reasons why I should leave him tonight.
“Was Talia who you were talking with on the phone?” I demand to be taken seriously. “Did you sneak away to go see her?”
“I did,” he replies. “She agreed to a truce.”
“And what did it take to get that?” I stare at him in disbelief at the news. “Because the Talia I know wants only one thing from you.”
With a quick motion, Andrei snatches my waist and makes me look at him, his face contorted with emotion.
“Do you really think so little of me?”
“I don’t know what to think of you anymore,” I reply. “With one breath, you say you love me, and with the other you go drinking with the woman who admitted she’d set the world on fire for you. Maybe this is who you were all along, Andrei Barinov. Maybe you’ve been fooling me this entire time. Maybe I’ve been fooling myself this entire time.”
Andrei stares at me for a moment, then scoffs.
“Do you dream of going back to the life you once lived?” he asks cruelly. “Be honest. Are you strong enough for that?”
My face is within inches of his, and I get the full effect of his wrath. Everything about our situation, including his anger and pain, has reached a peak. One wrong move and things could turn dangerous for us. But Andrei’s cruel words scrape viciously against my stretched nerves, and finally, my own anger cancels my fear. My eyes blaze as I yank my body out of his grasp and put the bed between us.
“Strong enough?” I hiss through my teeth. “You dare accuse me of being weak, but you should look in a mirror. You aren’t even trying to face the world and the consequences of your own actions.”
Andrei gets the truth he taunted me for, but it only inflames him further.
Seizing the half-empty bottle of scotch from the table, he yanks off the cap with his teeth. He tilts the bottle to his lips and swallows several long gulps. Without stopping to think, I lunge forward and try to snatch the bottle away, spilling most of it all over his shirt.
“Stop it, Paige.” He glares at me, his face full of menace and hurt.
“No, you don’t get to have this excuse. You don’t get to tell me that I’m the unreasonable one. Not when you’re going behind my back like this.” I say exactly what I think, and for a second, it shocks him.
Firmly, I cling to the bottle with both hands and try to pull it away again. I know there will be consequences, but I don’t care. Something fierce inside me won’t let go, and I cling to the bottle with a strength I didn’t know I had to save him.
Cursing, Andrei tugs at the bottle, and with one hasty move, too fast to stop, the bottle flies out of our grasp and onto the floor, spraying our feet with alcohol. We stare dumbstruck at the mess until I start to laugh uncontrollably.
The volatile tension in the room dissolves just in time. The whole crazy argument has suddenly become ludicrous, and we’re past the point of knowing why we’re continuing to fight. We can’t turn on each other because we have no one else to turn to.
I look at Andrei, and he holds me to him. Slowly, the insanity of our fight dissipates, and I hold him back. His forehead rests against my shoulder.
“Talia wanted a truce, and I wanted to know if Sonya was all right. I’ve heard nothing and I’ve learned nothing.” He takes a shuddering breath. “I had hoped that I could apologize to her properly. For what I’ve done …”
“I know.” I take his hand in mine and kiss it gently.
“Eva died thinking I hated her,” he whispers.
“No, Andrei.” I stroke his hair gently. “Eva loved you. And she knew you loved her. She told me that she regretted not telling you the truth sooner. She wanted to protect you in the only way she knew how—her silence.”
Andrei lifts his head. “She was happy I married you. She hoped we would stay together.”
