Page 119 of His Prince

“It’s fine. I know what you meant. How could I have been so naïve as to still marry her? She was cunning, sólnyshko. She assured me that she didn’t blame me for it. But I was easily fooled. And she had her revenge.”

“I’m so sorry,” he says and then touches my chest tenderly, mending my wounded heart with just the brush of his fingertips. How can someone so small, so tender, manage this? ‘A rose among thorns’, is all I can come up with.

“Do not be. It is what it is. And even though I’ve come to terms with it, I realize now that she was much more cunning than I thought.”

“The tunnels?” he asks, and I nod.

“I do not think my father or grandfather had them made. I think she did, so she could sneak around without me noticing.”

“When do you think she had time to do that?”

“When my family and I traveled for business, when she was here all alone. She spent a lot of time on her own anyway. I just thought she liked her independence. I should have known she was up to something.”

“And someone has been down there. Do you think they still are?”

“I had the men seal off the entrances, every one that your crazy Bane found. But perhaps it is a ghost. She haunts me even in death.”

“Oh, Mikhail, I don’t think that. I think it’s something else. It’s not her.”

“Who else would it be? Someone is hunting me here and also stealing from my accounts. It has to be connected.”

“Maybe. Or maybe it’s not. We don’t know.”

He leans down and nuzzles into me, my hands moving around his back.

“We’ll figure this out—together.”

“Hm, yes, my little Angel, we will do this together.”

25

MIKHAIL

We leave the next morning, Angel packing far too many bags for such a short trip. But I don’t say anything, just watch as Dima loads everything into the back of the SUV.

He doesn’t say anything either. Good man. I don’t want anyone upsetting Angel.

“I can’t believe you’re taking me on a business trip with you,” he says, sitting in the middle seat and linking his hand with mine.

I bring it up to my lips and kiss him gently.

“I’m not leaving without you. Who knows what you’d do in my absence?”

He grins at me and then kisses my cheek.

“Nothing bad, I promise. I’m not her, Mikhail. I don’t have plans to trick you.”

“Yes, you just paint my house with ridiculous colors and buy floral throw pillows to drive me mad.”

“Don’t insult the colors or the pillows,” he says with a laugh, just as Casey and Gael move into the seats opposite us.

I would have rather gone on this trip alone, but I’m not risking my husband because of my pride. I’ll take him with me and I’ve allowed two guards to come as well.

This is going to be a simple, straightforward trip. And I’m sure Daniil will have a very obvious explanation for why the accounts are off. I’m sure of it.

“I’m so excited to see more of the East Coast. My dad was so protective, I never really got to go out and explore.”

I catch Casey eyeing him, and I glower at him.

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