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She smiles, laughing softly. “That’s where you’re wrong, Ruslan.”
Arching a brow, I tilt my head to the side and watch her for a long moment, waiting for her to continue. She does, and I have to admit that she surprises me.
“Every tattoo represents something that you’ve done, it represents your life and your career. It represents your station in the Bratva and I think that it’s sexy as hell.”
“That’s where you’re wrong, Isa,” I begin. “It represents all of the pain I’ve caused others, and the pain that I’ve brought on to myself.”
She slides her tongue across her bottom lip, then she reaches her arm out, extending her palm to me. Lifting my hand, I place it in hers. She squeezes me before she speaks.
“Pain can be beautiful. Maybe not while it’s happening, but the end result, the person you become. It can be sexy, Ruslan. Trust me.”
I shake my head, letting out a chuckle. “Guess I’ll just have to fucking trust you on that,luchik.”
I hear the knock on the door and release my hold on her hand. Without another word, I turn around and walk out of the bedroom, closing the door behind me. I have no doubt that Isabel is going to try and listen in on the conversation between the three of us, and honestly, I don’t mind, but I have to make a show of telling her she can’t know.
ISABEL
As soon asRuslan leaves the room, I run toward the closed bedroom door. Pressing my ear against the wood, I listen for him to open the front door. When he does, I open mine, hoping that he didn’t hear me. Well, that they didn’t hear me.
Sinking down to my hands and knees, I slowly crawl out of the room a little bit so that I can hopefully hear something. At first, I only hear men murmuring and then Ruslan clears his throat, and I can actually make out his words.
“What do we do now? Rostam will be wondering where his wife is. He’s going to ask around, he’s going to get suspicious,” Osip announces.
“Is there any way he would actually know it was us?” Ruslan asks.
A throat clears, then Vadim speaks. “Aside from it being in public? No.”
“Did anyone see?” Ruslan asks.
There is a moment of silence, maybe a heavy sigh before Vadim speaks again. “Nobody that I know of, but possibly security cameras?”
Someone hums. Then Osip speaks. “We’ll just tell him. This was his fuck up for not warning us in advance. The bitch charged my wife. My pregnant wife. I don’t give a fuck who she was, what her husband did, my wife and Isabel did not deserve that shit.”
“No, they didn’t,” Vadim announces. “They did not.”
Crawling backward, I slowly and carefully close the door behind me, then make my way into my bed. Pulling the covers up to my neck, I close my eyes as sleep takes over. I haven’t slept in a long time. I’m overtired and it’s been a scary and long day.
I don’t know when it happens, but eventually, I feel Ruslan’s body dip into bed next to me. He gathers me in his arms and pulls my back against his chest. His lips touch the side of my neck and I instantly fall asleep again.
I’m calm, comfortable, and happy. I didn’t think that it could be possible to be all of those things, but I truly am. I love it. Love my life. Love this man. He’s caused pain, he’s felt pain, but that is just part of life. Some of us have it easier than others, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t all feel intensely.
Sleep washes over me again, and this time, I dream. There are hands that reach out, they grab ahold of my neck and squeeze. I can feel the air leaving my body. I can’t breathe, the restriction is too much and then my eyes pop open, but the pressure isn’t gone.
It’s then that I realize Ruslan is straddling me, his hands wrapped around my throat.
It’s not a dream.
