Abbie drags me back to the castle but stops in front of a guard standing by the entrance. “Who are those men out there? The three staring this way.”
“They’re bratva and mafia enforcers, Miss Sartoni. From left to right, it’s Misha Petrov, Armani De Santis, and Alek Aslanhov,” the guard answers in a professional tone.
Misha Petrov.
The day I finally learn his name, I also have to find out he’s bratva.
And it’s clear he despises me.
The man who kissed me so tenderly hates me.
The man who saved my life now wants me dead.
I’ve built every fantasy around him, dreaming of the day we’d meet again, and like a house of cards, it all comes crashing down around me.
The realization hits so hard I wrap an arm around my middle, and pulling my other hand free from Abbie’s hold, I rush into the castle.
“Aurora!”
With Abbie right behind me, I run down the hallway and up the stairs, then down another hallway until I reach my room. I dig the keycard out of my bra and have to swipe twice before I get the door to open.
Abbie follows me into my suite, and slamming the door shut, she rushes over to where I’m standing in front of the window.
Try as I might, I can’t stop my eyes from lowering to the patch of grass where Misha is standing with his friends. The other three men they were fighting are nowhere in sight, it’s just the three bratva and mafia enforcers.
Misha.
Even his name is gorgeous. It fits him.
Greedily, my eyes drink in the sight of him. The past two years have been kind to him. He’s taller and more muscled than I remember. Some of his boyish features have disappeared, and in their place is a hardened man.
In some ways, he doesn’t look familiar at all.
“Don’t listen to them,” Abbie says.
She doesn’t know everything.
She doesn’t know about the dreams I weaved around him.
Fighting the urge to weep, I close my eyes and admit, “He was my first kiss.”
I hear her inhale sharply, then her arm wraps around my lower back. “I didn’t know.”
Slowly I shake my head as all the wonderful memories turn to ash. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. He just seemed so special I didn’t want to share him with anyone.”
My chin starts to quiver as the blow hits. For two years, I fantasized about Misha finding me and sweeping me off my feet. My dreams became a living force, brightening every day and carrying me off to sleep at night.
I dreamed about giving him my virginity.
I would’ve given him everything I have.
Now it’s all… gone.
Every dream is tainted.
Abbie stares at me, then compassion fills her face. “You fell for him?”
“So hard.” I whimper, and my tears threaten to fall. “He’s all I thought about since that night.”