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Once I’m fairly confident she’s done making serious noise, I move my hand away so she can at least silently mouth her words to me.
“Why should I trust you?” is her leading question.
Which is, unfortunately, a good place to start.
I just wish I could think of the right words to respond with. But my mind draws a blank and she takes that as confirmation that I am, in fact, a treacherous bastard.
“That’s what I thought. Get. Off.”
I relent only because I need her to see shecantrust me, despite all the evidence to the contrary. I try to at least keep a hold of her wrist, but Clara yanks away and puts a solid three feet of distance between us.
“I’m not going back.” She glares at me, daring me to make another move against her. “You can’t make me go back.”
At first, I think she means to Oleg’s place, and I sure as hell don’t blame her. But before I reassure her that I wouldn’t let her go back there even if she wanted to, I realize that may not be the place she’s talking about.
“Breathe. I’m not making you go anywhere.” I hold my hands up in surrender. “Where do you want to go?”
She studies me through narrowed eyes. “Willow.”
I nod. “Of course. She misses you.”
I miss you, too. Weallfucking miss you.
Clara shifts from angry and suspicious to suddenly unsure, maybe even afraid. “Is she… okay?”
Again, I nod. “As okay as she can be without her mother.” I offer my hand out to her. “I’ll take you to her.”
She recoils and stares at my hand in horror. And again, I pretend like that doesn’t just fucking stab me in the gut with regret.When her eyes scan upward to meet mine, it’s as if I’m some complete stranger luring her into a white van.
“Why should I trust you?” she asks again. “You’re hisson. You’re no better than he is.”
God, I want to tell her how wrong she is. But she’s right that it’s his blood running in my veins. That my actions brought her to his doorstep. Hell, I practically gift-wrapped her for him.
But I can only erase one sin at a time. Some will have to wait.
I drop my hands to my sides. “You know what? You’re right. I’ve spent my whole life hating the bastard and here I am, imitating him. I fucked up. I fucked up badly and I’m going to be paying for that mistake for the rest of my life.” I lower my eyes to the ground at her feet. “Whether or not I get to have you in it.”
Clara takes one, then two, very slow and very small steps toward me. “What mistake?”
I meet her gaze. I need her to see, to know, that I mean every word. “Taking you to?—”
I stop myself. No, that isn’t right. The fuckup happened days before the auction. Weeks before.
“Ever thinking you were guilty. Or lying. Or just…”Overreacting to a stupid fucking dream you had.I sigh. “Look. I came here to get you out.” I glance around for any signs of the guards, but it looks like we’re in the clear. “I’ve been looking for you ever since that night at the auction, and?—”
“You sold me.” Clara shakes her head. “Yousoldme!”
We don’t have time to unpack the logistics of what happened, so I go on the offense just to move her rear into gear. “We can talkabout this later. But right now, we need to get the hell out of here before Oleg and his men find us. Or else neither of us will ever see Willow again.”
She bites her lip. Thinks about it.
“I’ll even sit up front with Pav if it makes you feel better,” I offer. I’m going to ignore the way her face instantly brightens up at the mention of his name. “We circled back and parked a few blocks away. He’s waiting there to take you home.”
Without any further hesitation, Clara turns on her heel and starts walking toward the front of the house—right as angry Russian shouts fill the air.
Shit.
This time, I grab Clara and shove her forward, damn the consequences. She lets me do it, but those fucking slippers on her feet keep tripping her up. I shove down my irritation beneath the fear and panic at hearing Oleg’s men shout even louder.
