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The world spins and blurs. Dark spots cloud my vision as the shape leans close to my ear as I lie on the ground, dazed.
“Please…don’t…”
“Stay the fuck away from Gavan Tsarenko.”
The voice with a thick Russian accent snarls into my ear as everything starts to fade.
“The next time you decide to be a Reznikov whore, there will be bigger consequences.”
Something slams into my head one more time, and everything goes black.
16
GAVAN
I wasangry when Vadim was taken away from me.Sofucking angry. The kind of rage and hatred that eats its way inside you until it poisons your very soul. An anger to be drowned in chemicals and strangers and violence.
Those were dark days—even darker for anyone who had the misfortune of even looking at me the wrong way. There was a solid month where I disappeared and almost went feral. It was my sisters, Lizbet and Mara, who finally found me: half-dead, a near-lethal amount of cocaine up my nose, holed up in the Presidential Suite of The Plaza. It was them who got me cleaned up and back to society.
And still, as angry as I was back then?
It’s nottouchingthe rage I feel surging through my system like sizzling hot lead as I gaze at the girl sleeping in the hospital bed in front of me.
My hand reaches out, curling around Eilish’s small, still one as my jaw grits so hard it hurts.
I hate that I wasn’t there. Ihatethat I wasted ten long minutes pacing outside the front of that goddamn bar, dreaming up creative ways to punish her for deciding to thumb her nose at me. I walked back in expecting to see her flipping me off with another drink in her hand. Instead, I saw her friends—Calliope Drakos and that other girl, Dahlia, from school.
No Eilish.
I combed through the place. I checked both bathrooms before noticing the back door to the place was ajar. That’s when I found her, bleeding and unconscious on the ground.
My body tenses up so hard I quickly snatch my hand away from hers before I accidentally crush it.
When I find those responsible for doing this to her, they’llbegfor hell. I’ll make a fucking Olympic sport of skinning them fucking alive inch by fucking inch.
I’m going to avenge her, I vow to myself as my eyes trace the softness of her cheek, marred by an ugly bruise.
Behind me, the door to the hospital room bangs open with a crash. When I whirl, I come face to face with a terrified-looking Neve Kildare. She skids to a stop as she realizes it’s me, suddenly very confused, and her expression when she looks at me is dangerous.
“Neve,” I growl quietly, dipping my head.
Her throat bobs heavily, her nostrils flaring before she deftly pushes past me. She takes Eilish’s hand in her own, her shoulders hitching as she brings her sister’s hand to her lips. After taking another shaky breath, she glances back at me.
The room is silent except for the hum of the air conditioning and the steady beeps from Eilish’s heart monitor. Both of us are keenly aware the dark history between our families. Neve’s clearly weighing that dark history against the current need to make sure her sister is okay.
“What happened a few months ago between our families was…regrettable,” I murmur quietly. “And I hope it’s been made clear how much of that was the fault of myformercaptain, Leo.”
Neve’s lips thin. “We don’t need to talk about that right now.”
She glances back at her sister, sucking in deep breaths and squeezing her hand again. Then she turns back at me with a slightly softer look.
“They told me when I arrived that you’re the one who brought her in.”
I nod.
“Thank you.”
Before I can respond, the door bangs open again, even louder this time. I’ve just started to turn when what feels like a fuckingtruckslams into me, driving me right into the wall with a barely-contained roar.
