Page 54 of Vitaly

It would look suspicious. It would give away the obvious, that I do in fact care for her. It probably isn’t a good idea.

But the pain on this woman’s face… Telling her no… That I can’t do.

I toss my napkin on the table and rise from my seat. “Excuse me.”

I don’t meet Nikita’s eyes or wait another moment before heading for the exit, running through in my mind where Mila may have gone. It’s a huge house. It could take a while to find her.

But it doesn’t.

I stride down the hall, and as soon as I turn the corner, I find her sitting against the wall. My momentum pushes me past her, but I stop and turn around.

Her eyes bug, obviously not expecting me.

I open my mouth but pause a couple of seconds while I search for words that don’t come. I settle on, “Hey…”

Her wide eyes narrow to slits as she stands, her face twitching with the pain she must feel but refuses to voice. When she storms away, I follow her.

“Are you okay?” I ask, taking her arm only for her to jerk from my grasp.

“Don’t fucking touch me,” she sneers, emotion drowning the empty threat as she whips toward me. “Leave me thehellalone.”

“Mila.” I grab the back of my neck, my heart speeding. “About what I said earlier… I’m sorry. I?—”

“Do you think I care about thatright now?” She laughs incredulously. “Do you honestly believe I care what you think at all? You arenothingto me, Vitaly. You’re nothing toanybody.” She runs her hand through her sweat-slicked hair before waving toward the dining room. “Don’t you get that that’s what Nikita was trying to show you back there? You think you have a right to me, but you don’t because you’reworthless. You have no power, no authority, no nothing. So please, do me a favor, andget the fuck out of my life.”

Her voice raises several octaves, and she shoves me with her last words.

“Then let me take you away from here.” I grab her arms when she goes to push me again. I back her up into the wall when she tries to fight and lower my face so it's close to hers, close enough we could kiss if her mouth wasn’t full of venom. “Please, let’s just go. Now. We’ll get in a car and leave.”

She shakes her head, her eyes closing. “Stop.”

“Why? Why are you being so stubborn?”

I cup her face, my eyes dancing wildly over hers while I wait for her answer, and when she opens her eyes and sighs, I think I’ll finally hear the one I want.

“Okay.”

“Okay?” My brows shoot up.

She nods, her breath shaky as she sniffles. “But only on one condition.”

“Anything,” I deflate, relief overtaking me.

Her hand weaves around the back of my neck, and she lowers my head until I can’t help but notice her lips. They’re parted, the red she wears dull now. A strong urge washes over me to lean in to kiss them.

My eyelids droop as the hand on the back of my neck rubs, relaxing me into Mila. I close my eyes the rest of the way and go to kiss her, but her skull crashes with mine, radiating pain down across my eye and through my head.

I stumble backward, my hand going to my head, but Mila kicks my kneecap before I regain my bearings, and I fall to the tile.

She stands over me, looking so much stronger than she did a half hour ago. Her jaw is tense, her shoulders are squared, her lips are pursed.

“You’ll have to kill me first. The only way I’d go anywhere with you is in a body bag.”

When she storms away, I don’t follow. I just watch her go, my head throbbing from the hit.

I didn’t see that hit coming.

This morning, in the gym, she listened. She took my advice.

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