Page 108 of Beloved
Something else I’d realized was that in having Kirill expose my reappearance, I was playing a game of Russian roulette with more than just my life and livelihood.
Her life would also be on the line. I’d need to be prepared to handle the situation accordingly.
“Trust me, Kazimir. That girl will never exist again.”
“A pity that someone so beautiful could become so jaded.”
She gripped my jacket. “Yet you don’t trust me. You think I had something to do with ruining your life.”
“Did you?”
When she tried to slap me, I caught her hand. “After everything I risked you still accuse me of betraying you. If you honestly think I could do something like that then you’re crazy and I want nothing to do with you. Not one damn thing and I don’t care if you force me to be with you, that doesn’t mean I’ll ever give you my heart again.”
She shifted her eyes, defying me just like before. As the elevator doors opened, I withdrew my hand, rubbing the backs of my fingers across her cheek.
Which was hot to the touch.
“I had to ask.”
“Yeah?” she countered. “Do you need proof?” When I said nothing, her expression was both one of hurt.
And fury.
“Trust is earned, little healer. Even aprintsessashould comprehend that placing your trust in anyone without verification is potentially deadly.”
“Well, what about your heart?”
“My heart?” When the doors started to close, I threw my arm in between them.
Her nose wrinkled as she glared at me, complete venom in her eyes. “I can’t believe you spent the last three years in prison. I’m horrified and feel guilty for anything I might have done to place you in such jeopardy, but I didn’t tell my father anything that would have gotten you captured. And do you want to know why I didn’t, when doing so would have been much easier on me in so many ways?”
“Tell me,” I snarled as a gut reaction instead of a preferred reaction.
Now her face fell, the moment when she completely understood nothing would change the fact I was a monster by birth. “The reason I did everything I could to keep the horrible soldiers from finding you, refusing to tell my father anything was because of my heart. The one I’d already given to you.” Her stare was pointed and after a few seconds, she licked her lip, nodding several times as the realization all emotion had been driven from me settled in. “But that’s nothing you can understand.”
She stormed off the elevator with Golden right by her side before I could say anything, keeping her distance. I moved toward the door, sliding the key into the lock and ushering her inside.
I stood just inside the doorway as she walked in, uncertain what to do or how to react. With her back remaining toward me, her shoulders were heaving.
Her heart.
“The single weakness that will get you killed every time is love because love means trust. They go hand in hand. Yet so does manipulation and betrayal. If you learn never to fall in love, your life will be a success.”
Something my father had told me more than once, a statement that had become an easy mantra in my life. Yes, I cared for my brothers, but I had also learned a long time ago that no one was perfect.
And everyone had a price.
Everyone.
Which should make it easy to obtain the necessary information, perhaps to use her as a pawn then move on. But I couldn’t. Seeing her pain tore through me, shredding not only every concept of keeping emotional protection for myself but also the willingness to keep her at arm’s length.
“We need to talk, Rafaela.”
Golden Angel rubbed her face against Rafaela’s leg, the beautiful woman responding by bending over and rubbing her fingers along the scruff of the dog’s neck. Even whispering words and using some form of sign language that I couldn’t understand.
But Golden did, peering at me as if issuing a warning of her own not to fuck with her mother. Then she padded off, slumping down while keeping her gaze locked on me.
Rafaela took a deep breath, continuing to remain facing away from me.
