Page 237 of Toxic Temptation
I stare at him, certain I misheard. “What?”
“I can’t let you tell them, Vesper.”
The betrayal is so complete, so devastating, that for a moment I can’t breathe. Then the fury returns, doubled.
“You bastard!” I fly at him, my fists connecting with his chest, his shoulders, anywhere I can reach. “You knew this whole time! You were part of it!”
He lets me lash out at him for several seconds before catching my wrists and spinning me around, pinning my back against his chest.
“Let me go!” I thrash against his hold, but he’s too strong. “Let me fuckinggo!”
He carries me into the empty boardroom and kicks the door shut behind us. When he releases me, I stumble away from him, putting the conference table between us.
“You’re right,” he says quietly. “I am a monster. I turned a blind eye to this business for too long.”
I laugh. “That’s one way to describe active participation in the most sickening shit I’ve ever heard.”
“I didn’t participate.” He looks exhausted as he speaks. “The moment I becamepakhan, I shut down the organ trade. My brother was considering doing the same when he—” He stops abruptly, his face going pale. “Fuck.”
Despite everything, I find myself asking, “What?”
“Vitalii. He was planning to shut down the operation when he died.” Kovan’s eyes lose focus, staring through me. “It wasn’t an accident. They killed him because he was going to end it. I just realized— I just— I just—Fuck.”
It’s like watching a car crash in slow motion. The truth hits him so hard and yet he doesn’t bend, doesn’t crumple like I would. He just takes it, though his face is wracked with so much pain.
A small part of me wants to comfort him.
The rest of me is too hurt, too angry, too broken to care.
“What’s your point?”
“My point is that Ihor was never going to let us stop this,” he says, sobering up. “Not Vitalii, and not me.”
“So you’re giving up. You’re letting him win.”
He reaches for me, but I jerk away. His hand falls to his side. “I’m sorry.”
Two words that mean nothing and everything. My heart actually breaks—not metaphorically, but physically, a sharp crack in my chest that steals my breath.
“If you really want this to end, then why are you surrendering now?”
“Because of Luka.”
I just shake my head. “You have custody of him.”
“For now. Yana can contest it.”
“You’ll beat her again.”
“Not when Ihor frames me as the mastermind behind everything.” He sounds hollow, defeated. “He’ll pin their crimes on me, and I’ll lose Luka. The boy will go back to being their pawn.”
I dig my fingers into my hair, pulling until my scalp burns. “He’s bluffing.”
“He’s not. I know Ihor. He’ll destroy me if I don’t back down.”
“If he has evidence against you, then maybe you’re not as innocent as you claim.”
Kovan’s shoulders go taut. “I never said I was innocent. I’ve made mistakes—so many fucking mistakes that I could drown in them. I should have shut this down definitively the day I took over. The very fucking second the crown hit my head. And even before then… I should have killed Ihor before he had the chance to murder my brother.” He takes a step toward me but doesn’t try to touch me. “But it’s too late now.”
