Footsteps. Slow. Unhurried. Coming closer.
All I can think about is Milo. How I’ll never get to hold him again. How I might not even get the chance to say goodbye.
Terror scorches the back of my throat as the room closes in around me, the air turning too thin, too tight.
And then something cold and metallic presses to the back of my neck. Firm. Unmistakable.
A gun.
The blood drains from my body so fast, I nearly crumple.
“My, my,” a voice says from behind me, harsh with amusement. “Malenkaya vorovka.”
The words slide over me like a noose tightening.
“I’m disappointed.”
A broken whimper escapes, my whole body quaking as the barrel presses harder into my skin.
“You have five seconds to convince me not to kill you, Eden. And I would start now.”
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
SLOANE
You havefive seconds to convince me not to kill you, Eden. And I would start now.
The words repeat over and over while the gun remains planted at my neck, ready to fire at any second.
He knows my real name. He knows everything about me.
And now this dangerous man knows that I tried to steal from him, so there’s no way I’m getting out of here alive.
Another broken sound slips out of me, and before I can catch my balance, he pushes me up against the wall with a growl that sounds almost inhuman. The barrel digs deeper into my skin as he leans in, pressing his nose to my hair and inhaling like he’s deciding exactly how he wants to destroy me.
“You’d better start talking, and you’d better make me believe you, because I’m very close to putting a bullet in your skull.”
“Kirill, please…” I choke out. “I?—”
“You what?” The gun shifts, the muzzle pressing harder now. “Was this your plan from the beginning? You and that man working together to steal from me? Are you fucking him? Have you been making a fool of me this whole time?”
He growls the words against my ear, his body crowding mine so completely I can barely breathe.
“Do you really not understand who I am, solnishko?” Each syllable is more threatening than the last. “Do I need to remind you?” Then he steps back, the gun dragging down the length of my spine, and I wince. “I could kill you right now.”
“Then do it!” I whip around to face him, sick of all of it—the fear, the lies, the constant games, this feeling that no matter what I do, I only make everything worse.
His expression softens, but it only lasts a second.
My hands close around the gun, and I drag it toward my own head. My gaze fastens on his, fury burning so hot inside me, it feels brighter than the terror.
“Do it!” I scream, tears blinding me. “I’d deserve it.” My thumb presses against his on the trigger. “I’ve spent too many nights thinking people would be better off without me. Thinking about all the ways I ruin everything I touch, all the ways I make every bad thing worse just by existing.”
A sob tears out of me.
“But if you ever cared about me at all, then promise me one thing.” I manage the next words through the ache in my throat. “Watch out for Milo. Watch out for my boy.” The back of my hand scrubs beneath my eyes. “Take him as your own, because he has no one else. My sister will ruin him—or worse, leave him in the system—and he deserves so much more than anything I ever had.”
Another sob shakes through me, violent enough to make my whole body tremble.
