I clench my jaw and look away. “Threatening me isn’t going to work.”
“It isn’t a threat. It’s a fact.”
There he goes again, trying to one-up me. My skin crawls. I hate him. What he stands for. I hate that he’s dangerous, I hate the effect he’s having on me, and I hate that ever since I met him at Sophia’s wedding, my life has turned upside down.
I’m being watched. Not just in the parking lot after my doctor’s visit. Just yesterday when I went to Walmart to do my weekly shopping. Or in the evening the other day, after I finished my workout at the gym.
I hate the thought that Nikolai may have been right.
He warned me to stop digging where I shouldn’t be and that there would be consequences. And lo and behold, there are consequences. I am pregnant by a Russian mob boss, and I’m certain someone or someoneskeep following me around, lurking in the shadows, thinking I don’t know they’re there. I’ve always been hypervigilant about my surroundings and I know when I’m being watched.
Maybe Iamin too deep now.
Maybe thingsarestarting to catch up to me.
Maybe Idoactually need his help, even though I don’t want him around.
And worst of all, this isn’t just about me anymore. There’s a baby in the equation now. My baby.
But the problem is, baby daddy has enemies.
Pretty dangerous ones.
Nikolai Rogov comes as a package deal. If I were to, hypothetically, welcome him into my life, I wouldn’t just bewelcoming him and our child. I’d be welcoming his boneheaded Bratva buddies and all of their competitors. I don’t know much about syndicates and other criminal organizations, but Idoknow that being tied to a mob boss isn’t exactly the safest way to raise a child.
No. It’s too risky to get involved with him.
So why does my heart sink at the thought of cutting him off?
We stare at one another, silence stretching between us. I expect him to say something else, but he doesn’t, so I shove past him, heart pounding as I head for my bedroom.
It’s probably not the wisest idea, leaving thePakhanalone in my apartment, but I can’t look at him right now. Those icy eyes make me cold to the bone. I feel sick, unsure if it’s from the pregnancy or from him. Looking at his face for too long sends me into a trance. It’s like he’s trying to hypnotize me, stealing away my mind and my free will.
He’s the walking definition of danger.
And it’s not just because of his brute strength. It’s more the effect he has on my body and my mind.
I make it two steps before he grabs my wrist, flinging me back.
“You’re carrying my child,” he grits out, his face now inches from mine. “That means you don’t get to make decisions alone anymore.”
My heart thumps in my chest, my breath running away from me. Our eyes lock again.
But I rip free.
I will not be hypnotized by his eyes again.
It’s nothing but a dirty tactic. He wants to control me just like my father, and I’m sick of powerful men trying to control me. I don’t care how wet I get every time we have one of our staring competitions, or how much I want him to bend me overand fuck me senseless. He’s a master manipulator and the leader of a criminal organization. I can’t have him around me.
“Leave.” I march over to the door and open it for him. “Now.”
Again, he stares, and I feel my knees start to buckle. He’s too sure of himself—I see it in his eyes. He’s acting smug because he thinks he’s got me figured out.
Maybe he does, Lauren.
Nikolai crosses the room, but not to exit the apartment. He strides over to me, stepping into my space, confident that he knows how much my body is drawn to him and how unwilling I am to admit it. Our faces are inches away again, and he stands over me, turning everything into a long dark shadow.
He draws a long breath, husky-blue eyes still set on mine.
