Page 9 of Trapping His Angel

“Then take better care of her.”

I could hear his shrug, even though I didn’t have the courage to glance up and look.

If I told him I wanted to die, would he even care?

“I-I Y-you… ugh,” Valentina sputtered, trying to withdraw her knife.

Benedikt stood, ignoring her completely, and I watched his shiny shoes as they pointed toward me and walked my way.

“If you need anything,malen'kiy angel,” he murmured, his voice a low, dangerous caress against my ear. His lips lingered just long enough to send a shiver down my spine, as he pressed a kiss to my cheek; soft, yet claiming. Straightening, he shot me a look that promised more than comfort, before turning on hisheel and disappearing down the hallway, each step deliberate, commanding.

I braved the world and looked up at his back. Powerful, like he was. His stride wasn’t meek, it shouted to the world that he was a leader, through and through.

“Shit, if I wasn’t locked down, I would say Benedikt has grown hotter with age,” Valentina murmured, concealing her knife once more.

I wanted to scratch her eyes out for looking at my man like that. Wait,myman? Benedikt wasn’t mine. Just because he said some friendly words, and gave me a bit of affection, didn’t make him trustworthy.

He was a man after all.

“Let’s find you some pants, and take a walk on the deck,” Valentina suggested, pulling herself off the ground before offering me her hand.

We headed back to her room and she lent me a pair of tights.

“What was that back there?” Valentina brought up the incident.

“I just didn’t want him to be angry with me,” I whispered.

Valentina drew me into her arms. “Is that what they were teaching you while I was gone?”

I nodded my head, not wanting to tell her the awful truth. I didn’t remember any of my time at The Academy. It was like my mind didn’t want me to relive anything, and had wiped the slate clean.

I remembered this ship. I loosely remembered my family, and that there was some big deal happening. I couldn’t force it. Nor did I want to. The mind was only protected from things that were too horrific to process.

I can’t even remember a reason to keep going.

So, whatever happened, I didn’t want to know.

We promenaded along the deck. I saw Benedikt once we rested on the side rails. He headed toward the helipad andpulled out his gun. Intrigued, I watched as he tried to hit his target in the same spot. Sometimes he got it, other times he missed it.

Valentina sighed, “poor Benedikt Petrov.”

“What about him?”

“It just sucks that Roman took his eye like that. I feel like they could’ve talked things through, and worked on a better solution.”

Confused, I pulled my focus off my new obsession. “What do you mean?”

Valentina looked around, like she was worried someone would hear her. “I forgot you weren’t around. Benedikt pulled his gun on me for threatening Roman’s life, and he took Benedikt’s eye in payment.”

“What?” Shocked, I clutched my throat.

I wasn’t sure if I’d met Roman, but he sounded awful. Valentina nodded, her doe eyes wide. “That’s the way it is in the Bratva.”

“Well, it’s a good thing I’ll never have to worry about it,” I muttered. “Unlike you.”

Valentina squeaked. “I have the protection of Tiffany Petrov. I should be alright.”

Confused again, I groaned. “Who’s that?”

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