Page 94 of Captured Obsession

“You didn’t expect me to fully depend on you, did you?” Luca says to Nikolai. “I had to have my own plan in case The Wolf walked out and you didn’t.”

“He barely walked out,” Dante interjects. “If it weren’t for my incredible skills of keeping assholes like him alive, he’d be a dead man.”

My heart sinks as I look at the two women. Tiarna turns her head toward the woman beside her, pleadingfor her to wake up. I surmise it might be her sister, as they have similar facial features.

The way she tries to wake her stirs something within me.

No more blood, not of the innocent anyway.

“They have nothing to do with this,” I find myself saying, and everyone turns to me. How often does this happen, that the women are simply used as pawns?

When I saw Tiarna for the first time, I remember being impressed by the savage rage in her gaze, despite my jealousy. She has so much fight, and I couldn’t imagine being raised in this world. I look at her younger sister, whom I can’t clearly see, as her long black hair covers her face. They don’t deserve to pay for their father’s crimes.

Tiarna turns her focus on Nicolai, hissing, “You fucking traitor.”

“Your father is dead,” Nikolai tells her, and her body noticeably stiffens. He continues, “You were too slow.” As in too slow to kill him herself? “I’m about to kill everyone in your family who poses as a threat to my woman.” Her gaze slides to me with interest. There’s something animalistic in that gaze I can’t read. “I don’t want to kill you or your sister, but if it’s revenge you want, I’ll end you right here and now.”

She barks out a half-crazed laugh, then says, “I don’t give two shits about that fucker’s death. You should watch your back, though,Udav. My brother will come for you. But he won’t be tipped off by me. Ifanything, I’d like to join you on this little hunt.” I’m shocked by the pure loathing in her eyes when she mentions her brother.

“You know I don’t work well with others,” Nikolai states. “Find a new life for you and your sister, Tiarna.”

She tsks under her breath and then glares at Luca. “And who’s dick do I have to suck around here to make sure my sister and I get out safely?”

“Well, if you’re offering,” the blue-gemmed hound says, but he immediately falls silent under Luca’s hard stare.

Luca appraises Nikolai again, then those around him. “You’ll meet with Dmitri first. We’ll let these four go, under one condition. You,Udav, will be loyal to the Armani name. You will be our ghost.”

Nikolai scoffs, until he realizes Luca is serious. “I won’t be bought.”

“No, you won’t. You will have a reason to stay,” Luca says, looking at me. That’s when I realize it. I’m Nikolai’s ball and chain.

When my gaze snaps to Nikolai’s, I expect to see anger there, but to my surprise it’s gentle, knocking the breath out of me. There are so many unsaid things in that loaded gaze.

I wonder if he suspected by doing this that he’d be forcing his own hand and loyalty because of me.

How else would the others accept him as mine, if not by him pledging loyalty?

But I don’t want to be the one to take his freedom. I don’t want him to agree because of me.

His hand comes up to my cheek, and the touch warms my heart as he gently strokes, as if I’m the air he breathes. With his gaze alone, he’s telling me it will all be okay.

My jaw hardens with resolve. I understand that Nikolai is a decisive man, always two steps ahead. I will never hinder him, the same way he would never hinder me.

“I agree to your terms, Diablo,” Nikolai says, his striking green eyes slicing to Luca, and the tension in the room seems to lighten.

Or perhaps that’s the grim reaper taking his leave.

38

NIKOLAI

Sienna holds my hand beneath the table.

I’d much rather her not be here for this, but I know there was no keeping her away. She is a woman who gets what she wants, and perhaps I’ve become soft.

Today, she wears a white halter dress that flares out at the waist, and accentuating her long legs is a pair of high heels with bows on the back.

Her blonde hair is loosely pinned up, and she wears pearl earrings and her mother’s necklace. As usual, she looks like a goddess.