Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 91149 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 456(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 304(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91149 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 456(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 304(@300wpm)
“Lie to me again,” he dares me.
“What do you want from me?” I ask. “Why did you come here, Nika? Is it not enough to kill me? Must you torture me too?”
He kisses me like he’s defusing a bomb, and it works.
“You didn’t betray me,” he says.
“Only your ego would allow you to say so.”
“Don’t trifle with me, Nakya. You couldn’t give me up, so just admit it.”
“And look what good it did me. You found me anyway. You came to take your pound of flesh.”
“I’m not here to kill you.” He reaches for my hand, pressing it against his heart. “I’m here to keep you.”
“What does that mean?” I croak. “What about Ana?”
“Tell me the truth, zvezda,” he says. “It’s the only time I’m going to ask you before I leave your life forever. If you love me, say it now.”
My throat burns. My eyes burn. Everything burns, and I’m afraid that what he says is true. He will walk away forever, abandoning me to this existence without him. But what he’s asking isn’t fair.
“You tell me first,” I demand.
He grabs me around the waist. “So stubborn, pet. You want to hear me admit it first?”
I nod.
“Very well then. I love you, my sweet. I love you more than the stars in the sky love the moon. I love you more than I love my Vory brothers, and I would die to prove it. Is that what you want to hear?”
I cling to his shirt, desperate for his assurances. “You said it wasn’t meant to be. The stars weren’t in our favor.”
“So maybe I’ve rewritten our stars.”
“Don’t play games with me.” My voice wavers. “I can’t take it, Nika. Are you really here to collect me?”
“You should know that we have many customs.” He releases me and falls away from my arms. “The stars on my knees dictate that I should bow before no man.”
Nikolai lowers to his knee and takes my hand in his. “But I will bow to you, Nakya, if it means that you will agree to be my wife.”
Emotion steals my voice. It steals my ability to breathe or think. What he’s asking seems impossible. This is the life I swore I would do anything to leave. I promised myself I wouldn’t be a mafia wife, and that I’d rather die than live that way.
But when I search Nika’s ocean eyes, he is not just mafia. He is not Dante or my father, or any man who I have ever known before. He is my artist. The color of my life. My thief, and the stealer of my heart. I don’t know how I could possibly go forward in this life without the other half of my soul.
I get down on my knees to meet him, grasping his face in my hands. “Do you promise to be loyal to me? Do you promise that I will be your only warmth? The only woman in your life?”
“You are the only woman in my bed, my heart, and my life,” he assures me. “My loyalty is with you, now and forever.”
His eyes plead with mine. Blue to my amber. Until now, I didn’t know that I was dying of a thirst I never knew I had, and he was the bluest water I ever tasted. For eternity, I could drink him, and for eternity, I would never be satisfied.
“Tell me that you’re mine,” I whisper.
He drags me against him, tipping my chin up so he can taste my lips. “I’m yours, Nakya.”
“And I’m yours,” I assure him.
“How did you find me?” Nakya asks.
I squeeze her knee and reach for her fingers. She hasn’t been still since we left her apartment. It will take time for her to trust that this is real, but I’ve only got time to give.
“Gianni told me where you were.”
“He did?” Her voice stings of betrayal.
“I thought you knew better than to ever trust a fed.”
She glances out the car window, watching the scenery fade from view as the highway eats up miles behind us.
“He was the only option I had at my father’s. And then you came in and wrecked that plan.”
“Lucky for you.”
She looks back at me, and I think it’s too soon for jokes. “You sent me to die. What did you expect from me, Nika? He saved my life.”
Mischa glances at me in the rearview mirror. And though I would prefer that he wasn’t here for this conversation, I am grateful that he’s driving right now.
“Is that what Nonna told you?”
Nakya’s foot beats an anxious rhythm against the floorboard. “She said you were done with me, and then the guard took me.”
I squeeze her hand, probably too hard. “And you believed them?”
“Why wouldn’t I?” she questions. “You left me no choice but to believe them. And if Gianni hadn’t come along—”