Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 145729 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145729 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
“You’re alive. Slava Bogu. All this time, I thought he’d killed you. Why didn’t you reach out to me? I would have come for you, protected you.”
His arms were the same. She remembered them from her childhood. All the times he’d held her when she cried over her father. He’d known Nikita had ordered the man’s torture and death. He’d known Nikita had been forcing her mother to sleep with him. Still, he’d been the one to pay for her mother’s care. For the hospice expenses. For the memorial and cremation.
“Sasha.” She whispered his name, tears welling up.
The vehicle sped down the road. She couldn’t see through the blur of tears. If it had been Nikita coming for her, she could have been stoic, going to her death without drama or weeping, but even knowing Sasha had tried to kill her, she couldn’t block out all those years, from her childhood on, of caring for him.
“You’re safe,” he whispered. “You’re safe with me.”
She knew better. She had believed him once. Just as she believed Joshua. What was wrong with her that this kept happening?
She pulled out of his arms. Immediately he dragged her seat belt around her. “We have a house. It will be well guarded. If my father or Joshua Tregre try to come for you, we have weapons that will give us the advantage in protecting you. It’s all been planned out carefully.”
She shook her head and stared out the window, afraid if she looked at him she’d start screaming. His betrayal cut deep. He’d been her everything after her mother had died. Not just after, before, after her father had been murdered. Then during her mother’s illness.
“Look at me, malen’kiy, you have not even looked at me.”
“I can’t. I’m very confused by the things you’re saying to me, Sasha. I don’t understand why you’re playing this game with me.”
“Game?” He caught her chin and tugged until her head came up and her eyes met his. “What game? I thought you were dead or I would have looked until I found you.”
“I heard you, Sasha. I came in early and I heard you and your father talking about me, my father and mother, and how you had to kill me.”
He inhaled sharply. Dmitri shared a long look with him. The driver glanced back at her in the rearview mirror. She’d been an idiot to admit that, but she’d had it with the lies. She doubted if she was going to come out of this alive, so at least she’d get Sasha to look her in the eye and admit he wanted her dead.
“I have no reason to kill you, Sonia. I love you. You know that.”
“Oh. My. God. I’m so done with the declarations of love and then finding out every man who says that to me is a criminal. Just pull out your gun and shoot me. Get it the hell over with.” Her voice was swinging out of control, but she didn’t care. She was ready to fling herself at him. All she had to do was unsnap the seat belt and lunge for him. Gatita would do the rest – except she couldn’t quite make herself do it. Not yet. Not until she found out why.
The road they turned on was a narrow dirt track leading into the swamp and away from town. “Where did the other vehicles go?”
“Various houses we rented. The others will make their way back here. This property was the most defensible and has the better escape routes.”
She took a deep breath as they parked in front of a large old plantation house. She recognized the architecture. It was very different from her home, but still quite stately and beautiful. Dmitri hopped out first. He and two others circled the house before going in. Dmitri motioned and someone opened Sasha’s door. He slid out and then reached for Sonia.
She hesitated before sliding across the seat to him. Sasha lifted her down and they walked together to the porch. Gatita, look around. We have to be ready to move fast. She took a slow, careful perusal of every aspect of the grounds she could see.
Sasha took her hand as they went up the stairs and entered the older, well-kept mansion. It was definitely a find. Trust Sasha to find it. Like Sonia, he’d always been interested in architecture. “This is beautiful,” she ventured, trying to decide what to say, how to handle the situation. She needed to know what he wanted and he wasn’t giving her much to go on.
“I found it online and then destroyed my entire laptop and hard drive so Nikita wouldn’t know about it. He’s on his way here with a large group of men. You know how he likes to make a show of force.”
She hadn’t known. She’d been kept in the dark until that day. She tugged her hand from his the moment they were inside and stepped away from him, her arms going around her middle for comfort. “Why did you lie about us being married?”