Page 58 of Married to the Don (Kornilov Bratva Duet 1)

“Are you still going to kill me?” It has been a surprisingly long time since I’ve consciously considered that option, though it’s always lingered somewhere in the back of my head. It was easier to pretend this fairytale of a life we’d built was real and free of complications. But now, Fedor has returned and everything is back on the table.

Viktor looks up at me, his dark brows raised in surprise and … horror? His mouth falls open, and after a second of stunned silence, he shakes his head as if to clear his thoughts and clears his throat. “Is that really what you think of me after all the time you’ve spent in my house?”

“I’m not sure.” It’s the truth. I don’t know, which is why I asked.

“No,” he sighs. “I’m not going to kill you. I’m going to protect you. And Theo.”

A weight I didn’t realize I was carrying lifts off me. “How?”

Viktor slides from the corner of the desk to the center until he’s standing in front of me. He reaches out, and I lay my hand in his without hesitation, grateful for the warmth of his fingers. Today has been crazy. I’ve experienced every emotion possible from panic and terror to relief, and here I am adding another to the list—desire.

Something about Viktor is magnetic. It draws me in and begs me to get close. Like a cat drawn to a heater, I want to curl into his body and take refuge there, if only for a few minutes.

I push the thoughts away and try to focus on his words. What he says is important. It will determine what the next phase of my life looks like. Of Theo’s life. I don’t have time to remember the brush of his fingers over my skin or the way his teeth feel when they bite into my flesh.

“Marry me.”

My brain short circuits.

The gooey kind of warmth that had been flowing from my center, wrapping my limbs in need, draws inward in an instant, leaving me cold and frozen.

“What?” I try to play back the last few seconds and see if I missed something, if he said something else that gave this any context, but there is nothing. “What did you say?”

“Listen,” he says, speaking plainly, his neutral mask back in place. “Fedor thinks Theo is my son. I had to tell him that so he wouldn’t question the family resemblance. So, you two can’t just disappear. He’ll wonder what happened.”

I’d already come to that conclusion on my own, so I nod in agreement.

“And I can’t have Theo living here with you playing my maid. At some point, the truth would slip out. Fedor has to know that you’re the mom, and I’m the dad, and that we’re a family. So—marry me.”

A family. I’ve always wanted a family. For me and for Theo.

But not like this.

I shake my head. “No.”

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