Page 107 of Toxic Temptation
I’m hearing him. I’m just not fuckingunderstandinghim.
“You expected me to stand there while she called you an unfit guardian?”
“Yes.”
“While she hissed and screamed and cursed and jabbed a finger in your face?”
“Yes.”
“While she threatened you? Me? Us? Luka?”
“Yes, to all of it, Vesper.”
I shake my head, chin thrust out stubbornly. “That’s not who I am.”
“I don’t give a fuck who you are,” he fires back icily, spinning around to face me. “This wasn’t part of our agreement.”
“Then you need to spell out what our agreement actually is,” I snap. “Because, silly me, I thought we were on the same team.”
His jaw ticks. “We’re not on the same team, Vesper. In fact, there are no teams at all. There’s me, there’s Luka, and then there’s the people who work for us.” He turns toward the window, his profile jagged and cruel and all the more beautiful for how remote it is. “Luka and I are not yours to defend.”
I swallow back angry, frustrated tears. “That’s not why I did it,” I croak. “I defended you because I care about you.”
It’s not regret that I’m feeling after I say those words. Maybe it should be. Perhaps I should take it back, pretend I didn’t mean it.
But I’m so damn tired of pretending. We’re too deep to keep playing charades.
“That’s the problem,” he says quietly as he puts his back to me once again. “When you get emotional, you get sloppy. When you’re sloppy, people get hurt. Maybe you weren’t the right choice for this situation after all.”
The bottom drops out of my world.
I feel that familiar, full-body throb from the day my father told me about his diagnosis. The way everything inside me went rigid, then cold. Like my body was protecting itself from a blow it knew it couldn’t survive head-on. It’s doing the same thing now.
“From now on,” Kovan continues, his voice devoid of emotion, “I need you to be part of our lives without gettinginvolvedin our lives. Watch your mouth or you risk making things harder for Luka. Do I make myself clear?”
I nod because I don’t trust my voice. Because if I speak, I’ll fall apart completely.
“Answer me,” he orders. “I need to know you understand.”
I swallow again. It hurts. “It won’t happen again,” I croak.
“Good.”
I wrap my arms around myself, suddenly freezing in his massive house. “Will you tell Luka goodnight for me? I think I’ll head home now.”
He doesn’t argue. Doesn’t apologize. Doesn’t take back a single word he’s said.
“Okay,” he says finally. “Goodnight.”
36
KOVAN
The days that follow Yana’s fucking disaster of a visit get worse and worse.
I’m getting death glares from Osip and Pavel, arctic silence from Vesper, and outright hostility from her pain-in-the-ass brother.
Even Luka has turned against me, apparently.
