But what exactly did she expect? That I’d let her roam free after she proved to me she can’t be trusted? Let her give me the slip again out of the goodness of my heart?
As fucking if.
Angry, I slam the report shut and shove it aside. My office feels too small and starved of oxygen.
I stand and pace to the window. The countryside stretches below. Usually, I find it relaxing. Today, all it does is make my skin crawl with impatience.
My reflection glares back at me from the glass. I take in my sunken eyes, deep bags, unkempt beard. Somewhere along the line, I stopped looking like the put-togetherpakhanI used to be.
Instead, I started looking like a man who has lost all control.
I turn from the window and drag my hand over my face. I don’t give a shit if she likes her new digs or not: she’s staying put. Here, in my home, where she belongs.
The image of her alone on the streets still haunts me. If someone else had gotten to her, if they had dared?—
I grip the edge of the desk until my knuckles turn white.
I can’t help but wonder how much of this is my fault. If I had trusted Sima, maybe things wouldn’t have come to this point. We’d still be together, same as before, without all of these new secrets between us.
I should have believed her when she warned me about Anatoli. About Lev’s betrayal. Every word she told me back then turned out to be the truth. If not for her,I’dbe the one rotting at the bottom of the Hudson right now, not that filthy traitor.
Instead, I accused her of helping her family try to murder my brother while he was in a coma, alone and defenseless. It was the only thing that made sense at the time, but I know now that’s not how things went. I rushed to judgment, and it cost me everything. Worse, I never gave Sima the chance to explain herself properly.
But whatever mistakes I made, she had no right to run from me. She’s my fucking wife.Mine.That fact alone should have anchored her to me. She took vows. Swore loyalty to me.
Then she ran.
So now, she doesn’t get to complain if she doesn’t like the way I’m treating her. She made her bed all by herself. Time to fucking lie in it.
No matter how badly I want to be in that bed with her.
A soft knock at the door snaps me out of my thoughts.
“Come in.”
For a second, against all reason, I expect Sima to appear. Even though I locked her up precisely so she wouldn’t wander, the hope stays with me as the door slowly cracks open.
But it’s not Sima who steps inside. Of course not.
It’s Kira. My sister-in-law. “Hope I’m not disturbing you.”
“No.” My jaw sets, but I try to hide my irrational disappointment from her. “Not at all.”
“I was hoping we could talk.”
I’d rather chop off my own arm than entertain any form of conversation right now, but I don’t tell her that either. “By all means.”
She shuts the door softly behind herself and lingers there for a moment. An empty chair is right across from my desk if she wants it, but since I don’t offer it, she doesn’t take it.
“I heard she’s back.” Her tone is light, playful even, but her eyes don’t match. “Do you really think it’s safe to keep a woman who betrayed you under this roof? Especially now, with her family ready to put a knife in your back?”
“If I didn’t know better, I’d say you’re questioning me.”
“Of course not,” she hurries to say. “I’m just making sure you’ve thought it through. You’ve been at war with the Danilos for months. Now, she’s back here, living in this house like nothing happened. You don’t see the risk in that?”
I bite back my irritation. Kira’s been at my side every day since Sima left. She carried the weight I should have carried myself. She doesn’t deserve my temper.
“I don’t need to be second-guessed,” I tell her, soft but firm. “I know what I’m doing.”
