More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
“Moy kotyonok.” I ran a thumb across her parted lips. “I told you this city would eat you alive.” I just didn’t tell her I owned Moscow and everything in it.
My gaze settled on the tattoos on my captor’s fingers, and my stomach went cold. He had men who did his bidding, he was outrageously wealthy, and he had apparently been to prison. What was the word for Russian mafia? Bratva.
“Sloth is a sin,” I said, my gaze narrowed. “So is pride,” he returned. “In fact, it’s believed to be the deadliest of them all.”
A shiver coasted through me, my chilled body absorbing the heat of his. “I’ll hate you forever if you hurt him,” I said numbly. “Your dramatics are a bit much for a Tuesday morning.”
A shiver wracked her, and the pressure in my throat expanded, compelling me to skim a kiss across her cold thigh and roughly say, “Izvini.” I’m sorry.
“Keeping you here is a slap in the face to my men, but it seems I don’t give a fuck about that.” The eye contact seared. “The longer I put off revenge, the closer I get to another war with your papa. And I don’t give a fuck about that either.”
His gaze narrowed. “You pull a trigger on me, and I can’t even leave you out in the cold for fifteen fucking minutes. So you tell me, Mila, who cares more here?”
“If you want to turn me in, so be it. I’d go back to prison for you, kotyonok, but when I get out, there’d better be an ocean between us.”
“But be careful. One of them might end up meaning something to you.” The words seared like acid on my tongue. He watched me for a second. “Ya dumayu uzhe slishkom pozdno dlya etogo.”
He ended the kiss. “Your turn.” What? Oh, right. His questions. “Um . . . two,” I said unsteadily. “Two have touched me . . . that way.” He made a rough noise. “Dvoye mertvetsov.” Two dead men.
Ronan pressed his face against my neck with a low groan. “Inogda bol’no smotret’ na tebya.” He wasn’t going to translate the statement for me, but he didn’t need to. I understood what he said. Sometimes it hurts to look at you.
I’d like to think my interest in Mila was just about her body, but I’d never talked to a woman as much as I did her without experiencing the pull of suicidal boredom. And yet I was the one striking up conversation even while balls-deep inside of her just to hear what that mouth of hers had to say.
“What do you want to do with him?” Albert nudged Sergey’s leg with his boot. “Use him as target practice. Feed him to the fish. I don’t give a fuck.”
“Fuck.” He pulled out of me, turned me around, and framed my face with his hands. “Did I hurt you?”
With a rough noise, Ronan pushed my face against his chest. “I’ve never met a woman who cries as much as you. You’re like a faucet.”
“Because I’m too weak to handle it?” He shackled my wrists above my head. “Because you’re so sweet you fucking glow.” His eyes darkened. “And I’ll kill anyone who tries to take that light from you.”
A rough thumb wiped the tear away. “Ya ne govoryu togo, chego ne imeyu v vidu.”
“Then let me make it clear for you,” he said, the shadows in his eyes flashing. “You would survive without me. You would move on.” His tone roughened. “I can’t imagine a world where you and all your fucking yellow doesn’t exist. So if you die, you’ll take me with you. Your sacrifice would mean nothing, kotyonok. NOTHING.”
I swallowed. “So you’ve given up on your revenge?” He clenched his teeth. “You think revenge is on my mind right now?” “You hit him,” I challenged. “That was necessary to regain my concentration.” “Your concentration of watching me sleep.” “Yes,” he growled.
“Your Russian has gotten better.” “I’ve been studying.” Hoping. Dreaming. He wiped away a few tears while I clung to him, refusing to ever let go. “That’ll help,” he said coarsely. “Why?” I asked, my tears abating. “Because you’re coming home with me.” I raised a brow. “As your captive?” That villainous look so akin to him touched his eyes, and then he said three words that stopped my heart dead in its tracks. “Kak moya zhena.” As my wife.
“Ya lyublyu tebya. Tak sil’no chto ne mogu dumat’ kogda ty daleko ot menya.” I love you. So much I can’t think when you’re away from me.
He ran his thumb across my lips. “Ty byla sozdana dlya menya.” You were made for me.
