I couldn’t wait to make her my perfect bride.
I put the Mercedes in park and got out, intending to act the gentleman and open her door, but that tosser Sato already did it for her.
“How’s the arm, man?” I asked.
He scowled at me. “I’m good. Can’t wait to get back into it.” He glanced to the side, and Aralina’s extra security was on my ass.
Fair enough.
I slid back into the driver’s seat and gave Aralina a chaste kiss on the mouth. “I could have gone up and fetched you. I don’t like you standing there and waiting for me.”
Her thumbs flew over the phone and then showed me the screen. “Kirill is in a bad mood.”
He might know about Anya, but he hadn’t informed the rest of the family yet.
“But not because of me anymore, right?”
She pouted. “Yes. You’re cleared. I’m so sorry again for doubting you.”
“Understandable,” I said in my most charming tone. And it was. I’d been conveniently around when Lucy was ambushed. Of course I was a suspect. “Your brother is just worried about Lucy. How is she?”
The hospital security guard started walking my way. He wanted me to move the car.
That was the problem when I was dating someone who couldn’t speak. It took more effort to communicate. I glanced briefly at her reply before setting the car in gear and rolling out of the hospital premises.
So Lucy was still in a coma. A pity.
It became a real problem when I hadn’t fed my craving for watching the life snuffed out of someone. It made me desperate. I’d been desperate to strangle Anya. I just had to push her over the edge so I’d feel the subliminal satisfaction of ending the life of a woman engraved with my own set of scarlet letters. And I knew she was vile to the core. She assured Viktor that she could control Kirill once Davenport was out of the picture. She’d been messaging Kirill constantly, especially when he went away with Lucy on vacation. I knew this because I’d cloned Anya’s phone.
My mother knew about my killings. She approved of and encouraged it. When we were at social events, she would even point out my next target. I think that was what kept her saneand out of psychiatric hospitals. I sought revenge for her. There was no shortage of mistresses to kill. The upper crust of society I circulated in was teeming with them. After my parents were killed in a car accident, I had to rein in my craving. My brother had been on my ass, and I had to take medication to tamp down the urge.
I didn’t like this feeling of anhedonia. The lack of enjoyment of anything. It was worse when you had to act normal.
But no more. Not when people were trying to defame me and I didn’t even get to experience the catharsis of the kill.
I glanced again at Aralina, who smiled sweetly at me. Anya was the one who put Kirill’s angelic sister in my sights, saying she would make the perfect match, fulfilling the conditions of the trust.
Yes, she would be the perfect wife. The perfect cover.
I’d get her pregnant with a brood and be a respected and devoted family man and husband.
Then I could feed my cravings with a secret life in a perfect marriage.
Chapter
Thirty-Six
Kirill
I hadconflicting feelings about Anya’s death.
Rage. If she tried to kill my wife, then I would have murdered her myself.
Sorrow. Because I’d sworn she’d always have me to protect her, and I didn’t. I doubted now whether she really hired Oz’s crew, or Peter was on a rampage and his denial was only to throw us off until he got his complete revenge. He wasn’t above playing mind games. Trevor said that Davenport’s account could’ve been easily hacked. Anya had been part of the coverup of Davenport and Viktor’s deaths. And to execute her in the same way as the Mistress Strangler was a fuck you to the Zahkarov bratva, putting us once again under fed scrutiny.
As expected, the FBI paid me a visit. Anya’s harassing messages to me like a woman scorned gave them enough cause to question me. But it was more of a formality. They didn’t dare accuse my family again after we’d sued the City of New York for Kolya’s wrongful imprisonment.
Especially since I’d been a devoted husband staying by the side of his comatose wife.
