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I’d lost it in front of Leonid, showed hiet it He’d use it against e It’s what men like him did It’s what I did

I’d seen it in the way he looked at me when I took Lina out of there When he stared at her

I turned away and stalked back to the bar, pouring lass nuer, and alcohol was the last thing I needed My head was already fucked up without the temptation of Lina in my apartment and the cloudiness of booze in my veins

I shouldn’t have told her I killed that fucker in the alley But I’d taunted her, needed her to ask o for her

“Who are you? Who are thoseon?”

I didn’t turn around to face her I stared at the wall straight ahead, lass I hoped it cracked and toreelse to feel

“I’m a ba—”

“I know You’re a bad man I didn't ask what people see when they look at you, not what you see in theon, because if what you say is true—”

“It is,” I said, cutting her off

“Then with er, you owe me the truth”

How could this woht and uncoans? I was now regretting not looking into her past, not getting any and all information on Lina that I could I didn’t have aout who exactly Lina Michaels ho she really was—I foundher to be the one to confide in me

It was fucking stupid A mistake I ran a hand over my face

I turned around and looked at her She was still against the , but her gaze was steady as she watched o up to her and press our bodies flush together, to curl ers around her throat and make her look into my eyes as I tell her she’s mine

Fuck, I envisioneddeeply before running ue up and down her soft skin I could practically taste her in my mouth Sweet So sweet I wanted to feel how fast her pulse would beat againstthat she was just as affected by me as I was by her

“Don’t ask questions you don’t really want to know the answers to” Did she want me to admit I was involved in the cri that touchedI owned, was because of blood money?

She pushed away from theand took a step toward h her body She was trying to be stronger than she felt It was an admirable quality, but it was also a weak one A huood

Lina keptet so close I could reach out and curl h to where I could press her body to ht out of me?

“Are you part of that…?” She didn’t finish that question, but she didn’t need to She knehat I’d say if I could have She just wanted me to verify it I couldn’t I wouldn’t It wasn’t even about some moral compass, wasn’t because of the Bratva or the Cosa Nostra At this point I didn’t care about any of that I’d never tell her, because it would put her in even er

I said nothing There were no words I could say She looked ahen it was very clear she understood, when she knew she wouldn’t get the answers she sought frolass down I tried to shut off my e but cause issues They made a conscience rise up in somebody like me

“So what?” She looked back at er now?” She scoffed and looked away So brave Trying to be so strong It was a turn-on “You know nothing aboutto hide the fear in her eyes