Page 182 of Filthy Promises

I pull my hand away, suddenly exhausted. “Even if what you’re saying is true, I don’t know if I can ever trust him again.”

“I understand that.” She stands, gathering her purse. “But ask yourself this: In a world where everyone is hunting you, where your child will be a target from the moment it’s born, can you afford to reject the one person willing to burn everything down to keep you safe?”

She leaves me there with my cooling coffee and impossible choices and the weight of two families’ legacies pressing down on my shoulders.

Night has fallen by the time there’s a knock on my new motel room door. This one is even seedier than the last, paid for in cash, no ID required.

I know who it is before I open it.

Vince stands in the doorway, looking nothing like he did when I left him. His hair is a wreck, his eyes shadowed with exhaustion, his suit rumpled.

He looks like hell.

Good.

“May I come in?” he asks.

I step aside wordlessly, too tired to fight anymore.

He enters cautiously, like he’s approaching a wounded animal. In a way, I suppose that’s exactly what he’s doing.

“How did you find me?” I ask, closing the door.

“Don’t ask stupid questions, Rowan.”

I cross my arms. “Fine. What do you want, Vince?”

“Not this,” he says at once. He spreads his arms as if to encompass the whole fucked-up situation. “This isn’t what I wanted. None of it.”

“No? Then what did you want, Vince? Because from where I’m standing, it looks like you’ve been playing me from the beginning.”

He moves toward the window, keeping his distance from me. “At first, yes. I was monitoring you. Making sure you weren’t a threat.”

“And then?”

“And then I got to know you.” He turns to face me, his face half-cloaked in darkness. “Your kindness. Your loyalty. Your ridiculous stubborn streak. You tuck your hair behind your ear when you’re nervous—did you know that?”

“Stop.” I hold up a hand. “Just… stop. I can’t handle any more lies.”

“I’m not lying.” He takes a step toward me. “Yes, I manipulated you. Yes, I used Natalie to keep tabs on you. Yes, I hired you to keep you close. But somewhere along the way, you stopped being Petrov’s daughter and started being… Rowan. Just Rowan.”

“And that’s supposed to make it all okay?” I back away, needing distance from him. “You violated my privacy, my trust, my entire life for five years, Vince. Five years!”

“I know.” He doesn’t try to defend himself. “And I will regret that for the rest of my life.”

“Will you? Or will you just regret getting caught?”

He flinches like I’ve slapped him. “I deserved that.”

“You deserve a lot worse.” My voice cracks, but it does not break. I refuse to let it. “Do you have any idea what it felt like?”

“I can imagine?—”

“No, you can’t!” I’m shouting now, all the pain and rage I’ve been bottling up finally exploding. “You can’t possibly imagine because you’ve always known exactly who you are! Vincent Akopov, heir to the throne, futurepakhan, the man who controls everything and everyone around him!”

Tears are streaming down my face. I hate that he’s seeing me like this, so broken, so vulnerable.

But I can’t stop.

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