Now I know better.
His father destroyed my family. Lev found the proof. Then he came looking for me.
The thought lands so hard I have to stand.
I stalk across the room once, stop by the dresser, and brace both hands on the wood. My stomach turns. For one ugly second, I don’t know whether the nausea belongs to the baby or the betrayal.
I look back at the folder on the desk.
He didn’t follow me because he was fascinated. He didn’t watch me because he couldn’t stay away. He tracked me because his family murdered mine, and he wanted to find out what I knew.
I snatch up the crumpled file and walk out of my room.
One of Dmitri’s guards glances up when I step into the hall. He takes one look at my face and moves aside without a word. Smart man.
I make my way to Lev’s quarters, and I don’t bother knocking. I open the door and go straight in.
He’s at the table with a laptop open in front of him, and a half-empty glass sits by his elbow. His head snaps up the second he hears me, and the moment he sees the folder in my hand, every bit of blood drains from his face.
That tells me everything before he says a word.
I cross the room and slap the file onto the table.
Lev looks at the folder. Then he looks at me. “Polina…”
“Don’t.” I raise my hand, cutting him off. “Don’t you fucking start with lies.”
He rises slowly from the chair. “I was going to tell you.”
“The fuck you were.”
He takes the hit without arguing, which only makes me angrier.
“You knew who I was,” I rage.
“Yes.”
“You knew what they did.”
“Yes.”
“And then you followed me.”
His jaw ticks once. “Polina?—”
“No. You do not get to say my name like that.”
Pain lances across his face. Good. Let him keep it.
“I started watching you because I needed to understand what kind of risk you were,” he explains. “To my family. To the secret. To what would happen if the truth got out.”
There it is. Not desire. Not obsession. Not the dark, twisted version of romance I was so close to letting myself believe in because I wanted him badly enough to excuse what should have sent me running.
“But then it changed,” he insists. “I became enamored with you, and before I even realized it was happening, I had this inescapable need to keep you safe.”
I burst out an ugly, wet laugh. “From who, Lev? Your father? Or from you?”
“All of it.”
