“He is my ex,” I insisted. “Even Liza will tell you I broke up with him several months ago when he tried to coerce me into his bed. I ended things with him when I was still under Lobanov employment in New York. He kept sending me texts even when I changed my number, so I just stopped asking him to stop;I expected him to get tired, eventually. I don’t know anything about whatever he’s been up to.”
He nodded once but didn’t speak. He circled me like prey, the silence between us heavy. When he came around to face me again, I caught a flicker of something in his eyes but couldn’t quite place what it was.
My pulse raced as his blue eyes locked on mine, but I didn’t drop my gaze. Even if I was terrified inside, I was cold as ice on the outside.
“If you’re going to kill me, you should just do it now,” I said.
He inclined his head to the side like he didn’t expect what I had just said. Then he finally spoke again. “I have orders to extract information from you or kill you. I haven’t decided on what to do yet.”
My responding laugh was a scornful sound.
“I just told you the truth about Vitya,” I began. “But, yeah, there might be another truth you might not be ready to hear yet.”
A small frown appeared on his face, and he questioned, “What do you mean?”
I had expected him to taunt me back. His curious attention wasn’t something I had anticipated. Not sure who I was actually angry at, I raised my voice as I spat, “Just get it over with! Kill me and put it all behind me.”
“Tell me what truth you're talking about,” he insisted, his tone equal parts commanding and pleading.
Unable to keep it in any longer, I asked him in a low tone, “Remember anyone called Siroc Antonov, a young man you killed at a warehouse during a raid several years ago?”
I crossed my fingers on my lap, waiting for him to remember. I watched as recognition dawned on his face, subtly chewing the inside of my cheeks to avoid breaking down at the memory again.
“You were his girl,” he stated immediately, and I nodded in response.
I couldn’t keep the tears from running down my face as my attempts to maintain composure failed.
“You killed the first man I ever loved right before my eyes! I begged! I shouted at you not to, but you pulled the trigger! You mercilessly killed him! Just kill me right now! Kill me, too, because that’s what you do best!”
Through the tears in my eyes, I watched him turn around and leave the room without a word.
Chapter Four
Konstantin’s POV
Who could have thought?
Who could have fucking thought?!
What are the odds that a random guy I killed several years ago was now in my present in the form of Alina Sokolov?
I didn’t even remember the accusation she hit me with when I initially went to the guest room and had to leave to answer my brother’s call. It wasn’t until she mentioned it again that it made sense.
Being called a murderer wasn’t new to me; the term lost its effect on me over a decade ago. That was exactly why her accusing me of killing some guy shouldn’t have made me feel anything. But what I felt wasn’t nothing.
As I ignored Sergei’s questions and left the hallway, I wondered—in a rather annoyed manner—why I felt disturbed by the new revelation.
Aware of Sergei following me at a safe distance, I crossed the sitting room and walked out of the house.
I was in my study in another ten minutes. Unable to sit or stand still, I paced like a caged animal.
I hated being unsettled—and it took just one conversation with her to make me like this. It made me feel like she had the upper hand in a fight I didn’t even understand.
Of all the people Vitya could date in the world, why did it have to be her?
The pain and hatred beneath her anger were palpable as she talked about him. At first, I wondered who she was talking about; I had met a number of Sirocs in my lifetime. But as I held her gaze, I immediately remembered the exact warehouse raid she was talking about.
I couldn’t think of anything to say as I left the room.
