My heart squeezes. He continues. “But before we make plans, I need to know the full story. Tell me everything. It is no longer time for half-truths.”
“I’ll start at the very beginning.”
I tell him of my father, how he was killed, how Calina was hospitalized and I thought dead. How I thought at the time it best I remain off the grid, that on record I did not exist. How I visited her and kept tabs on her, and how I found out she’d been stealing from them. He listens, quietly running his fingers through my tangle of hair. I tell him how I took her place and sent her to live with Glen, and how I had no idea at all that he had any affiliation with Amaranov.
“My only clue was that the man who came here and killed Anatoly, he looked familiar. I couldn’t understand why, as I mostly don’t venture out to see people. But Glen had a picture, and I remembered afterward.”
He nods, and listens, encouraging me to continue and not stopping me at all. When I get to the part about him taking me, he shakes his head.
“I didn’t understand why you were supposedly mentally unwell, when you seemed so lucid to me.” I remember those early hours with him when he tried to ascertain my mental state. “I thought you’d fooled them.” He smiles sadly. “But it was I you fooled.”
I rest my hand on his shoulder, gently tracing the soft cotton collar of his shirt. “And now what?” I whisper. “Where does this leave us?”
I don’t want to leave him. I look up at his eyes. He’s looking at my sorrowfully, shaking his head.
“I can’t hold you here when you are an innocent woman.” Taking my hand in his, he lifts my fingers and kisses them, one at a time. “I meant what I said. I will see to it that you and your sister are well-provided for. She isn’t culpable for what she did, and I consider your debt paid.”
But no. I’m not going down without a fight.
“So those vows you said were a lie?”
He shakes his head. “Don’t do that.”
“Do what?” I say, pushing off his lap so I can stand in front of him. Above him, even, with him below me as I anchor my hands on my hips. “You said you have no claim on me and that I’m not yours to keep, and yet you said vows to me. I heard those vows,” I say, my voice shaking now. “I felt those vows.” I don’t bother to stop the tears that blur my vision. “And I meant them, too.”
He watches me rant quietly, his lips pressed together. Then he pats his lap and orders, in a low voice I’m trained to obey, “Come here.”
Swallowing hard, I do. On trembling legs, I go to him, and gently fold myself onto his lap.
“Let’s start at the beginning,” he finally says, one finger under my chin to hold my gaze.
I swallow. “Yes?”
“Tell me your name.”Chapter 21“Larissa,” she says, holding my gaze.
“Larissa,” I repeat. “This is fitting. A new life together with a new name.”
Her eyes widen with hope as she looks at me. “A new life together?” she whispers. “Do you mean it?”
I expected her to run when she was free, but she didn’t. She didn’t seek her freedom and a new life.
She sought her life right here, with me.
“We can’t raise a family while I run the Bratva,” I tell her. “Others have tried and failed. My family are my brothers here. Do you understand that, Larissa?”
“I do, Demyan,” she whispers. “My only family are you and Calina.” She places a hand atop mine. “And that’s all I need. I’m not suitable for motherhood, anyway.” Frowning, she looks about the suite. “And I’m not sure where a crib would go in here, anyway.”
That makes me laugh. God, it feels good to laugh again. To touch her. To have her by my side, no longer obligated to me but here of her own free will.
I need to tell my brothers that things are going to change, that she will stay here as my wife. I pick up my phone just as it rings.
“Demyan.” It’s Filip.
“Yes?”
“Maksym’s been taken.”
Larissa holds my hand, tightening her grip when she feels my body go taut.
“Taken by whom?”
“Looks like the Thieves,” Filip says. “But we will find him.”
I hang up the phone and hold my wife’s hand before I tell her what happened. Our rivals… somehow connected to Amaranov still.
We need to find Maksym.
“I don’t know what happened,” Larissa says. “But whatever it is, you can handle this. And I’ll be by your side as you do.” She takes in a deep breath. “Let me help.”
I hold her to my chest, letting her strength fuel mine. Breathing her soft, sweet scent.