Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 92549 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 463(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92549 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 463(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
Goddamn it. She was right. It was good.
A soft sound of triumph left her lips, and I fought the urge to drag her across the table and replace that cocky smirk with a gasp.
Instead, I said the one thing I knew I shouldn’t. “Do you have regrets, Marina?”
I braced myself for the answer I didn’t want to hear.
For her to tell me she regretted fucking me in that train car, and in the shower—though she hadn’t exactly had much of a choice. Or that she regretted not finishing the job when she knocked me unconscious. That she regretted not calling the police, or running further, or a thousand other things she should have done.
But she just shrugged, unconcerned, tearing off another bite of bread. “Life’s too short for regrets.” She licked a crumb from her lower lip, utterly unfazed by the weight of the conversation. “Why waste time on things I can’t change when I could be focused on living in the moment? Enjoying absolutely everything in front of me?”
I leaned in, letting my gaze drop to her mouth before meeting her eyes. “Everything?”
The word sat between us, heavy, charged, thick with meaning.
Her lips parted slightly, but she didn’t look away.
Didn’t back down.
A slow, knowing smile curled the edges of her mouth, and fuck if I didn’t want to devour her all over again.
“Did you know my sister was cheating on you?” she asked suddenly.
The conversational shift hit me like a punch to the ribs.
I exhaled slowly, carefully. Tread lightly.
I had told Marina I would give her the truth, at least as long as it didn’t put her in danger. This truth wouldn’t. But I also wasn’t in the habit of speaking ill of the dead. Especially not someone she had loved.
But she hadn’t asked if Veronika had cheated.
She had asked if I knew.
Meaning she already did.
What else did she know?
“Yes,” I said, watching her carefully, measuring her reaction. “I knew she was with other men. I knew she wasn’t even discreet about it, despite our agreements. And I know that’s what got her killed.”
Marina didn’t flinch. Didn’t hesitate. “Tell me the truth. No lies. Did you do it?”
My answer was immediate. “No.” My voice was steady, unwavering.
I hadn’t loved Veronika. I hadn’t even been faithful to her—not in the ways that mattered. Not in the way that counted. Because from the moment I first saw her little sister I had been a fucking traitor.
I never touched Marina.
Never crossed that line.
Not when she wasn’t mine, when she was too untouched, too fucking off-limits. Not when she looked at me with those big, curious eyes.
But it hadn’t stopped me from thinking about her. Hadn’t stopped me from wondering how her lips would feel wrapped around my cock. Hadn’t stopped me from watching, from waiting, from wanting. And now, years later, after she had run, after she had fought me at every turn, I had her exactly where I wanted her.
In my world.
In my hands.
And no matter how much she tried to play coy, tried to pretend she wasn’t affected, I saw the way her pulse ticked at the base of her throat. I saw the way her breath caught when I leaned in.
She wanted me. The way I had always wanted her.
Marina inhaled slowly, her fingers curling against her lap as if she were bracing herself.
Because she knew.
Knew the answer as well as I did.
Because Veronika might have been my wife, but Marina had always been my obsession.
And now? Now there was no one left to tell me I couldn’t have her.
No contract to keep us apart. No thin veil of morality stopping me from taking her the way I had wanted to for years.
She belonged to me.
She just didn’t realize it yet.
“I may not have loved Veronika,” I admitted, “but I wouldn’t have killed her. It wasn’t a love match. It was a contract.”
“Did you hate her?”
I hesitated. The easy answer was yes. It would have made everything simpler. But it wouldn’t have been the truth.
“No.” The word came out lower than I expected.
Marina’s gaze sharpened. Calculating.
“I was disappointed,” I said finally. “I had certain expectations. Hopes. I thought we’d at least have a functional partnership. When that fell apart, I let it go. But I didn’t hate her.” I leaned forward, my voice dropping, darkening. “Though I am furious at the situation she’s put you in.”
That part was true.
Veronika had been reckless, and now Marina was tangled up in a game she had no business playing. A game that would get her killed.
“She didn’t know,” Marina said, her voice quieter now. “I told her sleeping with another mafia boss was stupid. Especially one from a rival family. I told her she was wasting an incredible opportunity by making poor life choices, and she was.” She exhaled, jaw tightening as if she hated herself for still caring. “But she never would have given me that bag if she knew it came with strings.”