Page 92 of Devious Madness

“I don’t want to hurt you while you’re asleep.” I flick my gaze away, so he can’t see right into my very soul.

“I’ll survive. You’re sure nothing happened last night that stressed you? These episodes can be brought on by an increase in stress, or by trauma.” He tilts his head to the right, still searching my face.

“If you’re talking about what we did, no, I don’t think that had anything to do with my night terrors making a comeback.” If anything, it was the mysterious text message that kept me up for two hours, but telling him that is not an option.

“Something is bothering you,” he says, brushing away a lock of hair from my forehead. “What is it?”

“Nothing.” I maneuver away from his touch. It’s toodistracting when he’s touching me. “Actually, there is something. It’s not a big deal, but I’m running out of clothes.”

“The boxes from your apartment arrived; haven’t you unpacked them?”

Six cardboard boxes showed up two days ago with everything from my previous life neatly stowed away inside.

“I still need a few things. I left a lot behind when you kidnapped me.” I’d taken almost all of my clothes with me when I’d left town the first time. By the time Rurik caught up to me and snatched me up, I’d had to leave more than half of what I owned behind.

“Kidnapped you?” He smirks. “What do you need? I’ll have it brought over.”

“No.” I put a hand on his arm. “Rurik, you can’t keep me locked away like Rapunzel in a tower. I’ll go crazy, and then I’ll make you crazy. And then you’re likely to kill me, which would defeat the entire purpose of keeping me locked away in the first place, right?”

His brow furrows while he tries to follow my logic, but eventually he gets there.

“You’re safer here.”

“I know.” I sigh. “But I’m not happy stuck in this place all day every day. If I pinky promise to always have someone with me, will you at least let me go to the store for myself? I’ll be gone for an hour, maybe two. Or three, if I can get Megan to meet me for lunch?”

“Just shopping?”

I smile. “For today. Tomorrow we can talk about me getting a job.”

“A job?” He says it likes the most disgusting idea he’s ever heard. “Why would you need that. You have plenty of money.”

“No. I have no money.”

He pulls out his wallet and plops down a black card in front of me. My name is embossed on the front with gold lettering.

“Your account. I meant to give it to you yesterday, but there was all the excitement of having to chase you down.” He pauses. “Again.”

“I don’t want your money, Rurik.” I push the card back toward him.

“It’s not mine. It’s yours.” He shoves it back at me.

“If it’s mine, I can do whatever I want with it? Like get an apartment of my own?”

What was intended as a tease goes horribly wrong. His eyes go dark, and his jaw does that tense thing where I’m sure a tooth will crack.

“No.”

“Of course. It’s my money so long as I follow your rules.” I go back to stirring the sugar into my coffee. “I’m sure you have a lot to do today, I’ll take my coffee upstairs and get out of your hair.”

Before I can get a step away, he grabs my arm and spins me back to face him.

“It’s your money. Do whatever you want with it. If you want a job, get a job, but not until we have Marco.”

“If I have the money, I can pay him what he thinks I owe. He’ll leave me alone then.”

“The fire yesterday.” He releases my arm. “It was him sending a message, Mira. He’s at war with Alexander, so he went after his storage units. He knows I have you, so he went after my building. He won’t stop until he has you, and I’m not going to let that happen.”

“He’s a real stubborn son of a bitch, huh?” I put my cup back down. “I’m sorry. I brought all of this to you, to Alexander, to Megan.”

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