8
ROSE
We sit at his kitchen table. The curtains closed. Only a lamp lit as though he wants to keep the light low in case that intimidating man somehow finds us.
He looks dashing in his suit. Collar loose to show the tattoos spiraling up his neck. He’s hunched over, muscles bulging like he’s ready to tear free from his suit.
“I’m an enforcer,” he says. “For years, I’ve worked for the Bratva.”
I’m not surprised—part of me guessed this—well, not the Bratva bit–I’ve never heard ofBratva, and yet it’s still hard to take.
“You hurt people?” I whisper.
He nods.
“Who? Women? Children? Whoever they told you to?”
He shakes his head. Looks at me like I’m crazy. “I’ve always had a code, Rose. I only hurt men who are part of the life. Who have chosen this world over the regular one. For twenty years,I’ve stuck to that rule. I’ve never let them sway me. And I never would.”
His tone is firm. Certain …
Truthful.
An instinct in me pulses, a voice whispering that I don’t even have to ask if he’s telling the truth. Somehow, I can tell that he is. Somehow, I just know.
That’s what love does to a girl.
I bury the notion. But not deep enough.
“So what changed?” I demand.
“Nikolai Dubrov—the Pakhan of the Bratva—he finally had enough. Said I was making him look bad by refusing to carry out his orders. He told me I had to kill a boy. The son of one of his rivals. Said I had no choice. His head or mine.”
He grits his teeth, stares into space as though seeing the past.
“I told him I’d do it …”
My breath catches.
“But then I took the boy and got him and his family away from the East Coast. I helped them to forge false identities. When Nikolai found out, he put a ransom on my head. I fled here because it’s the sort of place nobody would ever think to look for me.”
“To do what?” I whisper. “To just hide–forever?”
“To figure out how I’m going to kill them, all of them.” He looks at me bleakly. “My friend, Pash, he thinks I should run. He thinks it’s too dangerous.”
“Maybe he’s right,” I say softly. “You’re just one man.”
I walk around the table. Slide into his lap. He wraps his arms around me and holds tightly.
“If he ordered me to do that, he may have ordered others. But he’s holed up in his headquarters, surrounded with his men. I’ve been trying to figure out any way to get at him which isn’t going to be a damn suicide mission.”
“You did the right thing,” I whisper, tears pricking my eyes.
He looks up. Brushes a single tear from my cheek with his rough thumb. “I’ve done the wrong thing plenty of times.”
“You saved that boy. And you’re trying to make it so nobody else gets hurt.”
“Don’t say it like I’m a hero, Rose.”
