“Am I?” Leonid asks, “Or are you finally starting to see the truth?”
I can’t answer. My chest feels like it’s caving in, my breath is shallow and sharp as the weight of his words presses down on me. If Leonid’s telling the truth…
"I've been –God, I've been having Sunday dinners with Jake's killer. He helped me pick out Elijah's first Christmas presents. He—"
The words choke off as bile rises in my throat. Leonid's hand tightens on my wrist, but I barely feel it. All I can see is Stephan at my college graduation, beaming with pride. Stephan helping me move into my first apartment. Stephan suggesting I visit The Viper's Nest that night.
Wait.
The Viper's Nest.
My head snaps up so fast that my vision blurs. "The Viper's Nest," I whisper, and Leonid goes very, very still beside me.
“Yes,” he breathes, his stare hardening.
Oh my God.
His hand slid up my cheek, his fingers tracing my jawline, urging me to face him.
"The plan was to kill you that night."
57
Leonid
“The plan was to kill me.” She says again, like she’s only just beginning to believe it herself.
“I’m so … fucking stupid.” Clara muttered under her breath.
I can see it in the way her body trembles, her chest heaving as she tries—and fails—to push me away. Her fury burns bright, a wildfire consuming everything in its path, but underneath it, I see the cracks. The pain. The betrayal.
Blayt. I hate it.
I hate the way my name sounds on her lips when she spits it like a curse. I hate the tears glistening in her eyes, the ones she refuses to let fall. But most of all, I hate the truth that I can’t protect her from —not this time.
I’ve broken bones, slit throats, and spilled blood without a second thought, but none of that prepared me for this. For her.For the way she’s looking at me now, like I’m the reason her world is collapsing. Like I’m the enemy.
She doesn’t realize how much it kills me to see her like this.She looks at me with those blue eyes, raw and wet with unshed tears, it’s like standing in the middle of a fire. I know I’m the one who lit it, but I’d still burn to ashes if it meant saving her.
“Why?” she chokes out, “Why are you telling me this?” Her eyes prick with tears, but she link them back,
Because I love you,Clara Caldwell. I almost say. But I bite it back.
I hold her arms firmly, keeping her from pulling away. When she flinches, her body jerking under my grip, I ease my hands just enough to stop myself from bruising her. The tension between us is electric, her chest rising and falling unevenly against the stillness of the room.
She doesn’t try to hide the flicker of pain in her expression, and it guts me in a way I don’t expect. My thumb brushes over her skin without thinking, stopping near the edge of a fading mark from the attack that almost took her from me. I remember the blood, the limp weight of her in my arms, and the way I’d promised myself this would never happen again. But here I am, holding her while she looks at me like I’m the one who pulled the trigger.
“Because you deserve the truth,” I say. watching her closely. “Even if it destroys you.”
"Destroy me?"
Clara shifts, her body drawing closer to mine as she yanks away from my grip. The movement accentuates the contours of her breasts beneath the white fabric of her shirt, their tantalizing bounce sending a hot rush of lust surging to my cock.
For fuck’s sake, Leonid.
Why do I have to be such ablin? One look at Clara’s curves and my cock is harder than a frozen Kalashnikov.
“You think I’m not already destroyed? You think this doesn’t—?” She stops, her gaze darting to the next room where Elijah sleeps.
