Page 153 of Konstantin
They both laugh, but I don’t. Anger pulses through me instead.
“If you say one more word, I’ll put a bullet between your eyes. Now go find some fucking pliers. I need this removed.”
Holding out my hand, I finger the bracelet Konstantin gave me, the one he uses to track my every move.
He laughs, thinking I’m joking, but when he reaches to remove it with his fingers, I’m ready. The shock hits us both at once when he unclasps it, the current jolting through my body, stealing my breath. He curses, yanking his hand back.
“I warned you.”
Gun in hand, I rush backward toward the waiting SUV, slipping into the driver’s seat and gunning the engine. When the guys at the first checkpoint see who I am, they don’t hesitate. They let me through without a word.
He didn’t tell them. He wanted to keep this hush-hush, just like I thought.
The plan is working. Now all I need to do is ditch this car, hotwire a new one, and get to Nate before Gerardo does.
He’s not going to take my brother from me. Not if I can help it.
KONSTANTIN
I hate that I left her there chained up like that, but I had no choice. I couldn’t afford to have anyone find out, and I couldn’t afford her running while I leave for my next meeting. When I return, maybeshe’ll be more compliant.
I stare at the laptop screen, fingers hovering over the keyboard. The glow of the monitor bathes the dark study in cold, sterile light, but there’s nothing sterile about the thoughts pounding through my skull.
Tessa’s image flickers on the screen. No,Emilia. That’s her name. The name she hid from me, or so she thought.
Doesn’t she realize I’m always one step ahead?
When she told me about her brother, I almost understood why she did what she did. I’ve done worse for my brothers. Family is family.
Still, how can we reconcile this? How do I stay married to a fed? It’s never been done in my world. It’s unheard-of.
But there’s no way I would ever let her go. It doesn’t matter what she did or how. She’s my wife, and I would never hurt her.
Now I have to figure out how to keep her alive.
My brothers will be really unhappy when they find out not only about who she is, but that I knew. That I let her stay. That I married her. They’ll say I put all of us at risk, and they’ll be right. But I don’t care. What they think makes no difference. I do what I want, when I want.
She means more to me than anything. More than this empire, than blood, than reason. She’s not just my wife. She’s mine.Mine. My possession. A part of me embedded so deep, I couldn’t get rid of her if I tried.
And I’ll fight to the death for her. Burn every inch of this world if I have to.
When I drag the next image onto the screen, instant rage settles in my marrow.
Gerardo Peters. Her superior. The one she trusted. The one who tried to kill her.
I lean back in the chair, staring into his smug face. My fingers twitch. He doesn’t know it yet, but he’s alreadydead. And I’m going to make it brutal. I want him tobegbefore I end him. For daring to touch her. For thinking he could take her away from me.
My mouth twists into something that isn’t quite a smile, unable to wait until he and I become good friends. Closing the laptop, I head toward the stairs, climbing two at a time.
When I push open the bedroom door, her scent hits me instantly. Sweet. Soft. Familiar. It’s soaked into the pillows, the sheets, the air itself.
Crossing the room, I press my face into the pillow she slept on, dragging in a deep breath. Her scent may be here, but she’s not.
And even though she’s just down the road, her absence is like a blade against my throat.
I can’t lose her.
Tessa, Emilia…whatever name she prefers, she’s mine until my last breath.
