It’s not as if we sleep in the same room. She’s myfakefiancée, after all.
“Leave her,” I say, sipping the bitter liquid and feeling it burn down into my chest.
I deserve it after last night.
I’ve done worse to men before, much worse. A simple cut, a warning, knocking him unconscious. That was nothing compared to the things I’ve done in the past. As a teen, I did things no teenage boy should, trying to stay alive in Europe.
The difference is that I did itfor her.
We arrived home in the early hours of the morning. At nine there is a shareholder meeting in the city; I need to be there. I needed to make sure she was back here and safe within these walls first, though. That’s not what I told my men or my driver.
The breakfast room is too quiet with the kind of silence that hums rather than rests comfortably. It feels thick with guilt. The staff can sense it and move around like ghosts; precise and unobtrusive. I stare at the reports in front of me, but I don’t take in any of the metrics.
The papers at the far end of the table are untouched, but I do not need to open them to know what they show. My name. Her face. The curve of her body pulled into mine. The kiss.
I wanted it to be convincing. I did not anticipate how much I would enjoy it.
The sound of boots on stone carries from the hall and into the room. They are heavy and unrestrained, and my shoulders tense before my mind can fully register the threat. I can tell that the staff feel it too. Their movements are slow and shaky. A cup rattles softly as it is set down. Donna glances at another staff member with warning eyes. The look on her face tells them to be ready for anything. Either setting another place or all-out gunfire.
Liev storms into the room like he owns it, coat still on, hair disheveled, eyes burning with something feral and wild. In his hand is a magazine folded so tightly that the spine has cracked. He crosses the room in long strides and throws it onto the table hard enough that the silverware bounces.
It lands open to the photograph.
The one taken just after we left the casino. My arm locked around Alyona’s waist, her mouth tilted up to mine, lips parted in a kiss that looks nothing like a performance. You can see my tongue delving into her mouth, tasting and stealing the best parts of her. It is intimate, possessive, unmistakable.
Liev’s voice is low when he speaks. It’s the kind of quiet that I’ve heard him use on other men, but never on me.
“You promised me.”
I set my cup down carefully and slowly. I have learned the value of restraint, even in the face of choking guilt.
“I promised you she would be safe,” I reply. “And she is.”
His hand slams on the table, knuckles white. “Do not lie to me in my daughter’s name.”
I rise to my feet; the chair scraping softly behind me, my height shifting the balance of the room. The staff leave without being told. They have seen this before, but never between us.
“She was threatened,” I say, my voice even, controlled. “Directly. Hinto does not bluff, and you know that because you’ve seen the reports on him. He marks. That photograph tells every man watching that Alyona Demsky is untouchable.”
“She is not your property,” Liev snaps. “She is not a message.”
“She became one the moment someone decided she was leverage. This was theplan,Liev, the very one you agreed to. They need to think she’s mine.”
I ignore that whisper of betrayal:Sheismine.
He steps closer, his gaze sharp and unyielding. “You enjoyed it.”
The accusation lands harder than any physical blow.
Something dark ignites in my chest. It’s hot, possessive, and dangerous. I want to grab him, drag him across the table, and shout: “So what if I did?”
Instead, I tell him, “That was the point; make it look real.”
“Was it?” he challenges. “Because it looks like you forgot yourself. It looks like you forgot who she is.”
I close the space between us in a heartbeat.
The table crashes aside as I grab his coat and slam him back against the stone column near the window. Glass shatters somewhere behind us, but he doesn’t flinch. He never has. But he’s not stupid enough to come intomyhome with a weapon,and when it comes down to pure physical power, I have the upper hand. We both know it.
