Page 86 of Relentless Sinner
“From you, my dear wife-to-be.”
The awful truth pains my soul, feeling no different from a knife twisting in my stomach. “No. I never said anything.”
“You didn’t need to.” He looks demonic now with that smile still lingering on his face. “Natasha wasn’tserewhen she’d see you again, but she wanted you to pray for her like you did that summer with your mother.”
He read the email. And he figured out the typo—sere.
“You went through my things?”
“You fell asleep on the balcony the other week and the email printout fell out of your diary.”
Damn it.I’m so stupid. This is my fault.Allmy fault. I shouldn’t have printed the email. If I hadn’t, no one would ever have known. Now I’ve put my sister in danger.
“You didn’t have to read it.” My voice shakes from the tears I’m holding back.
“I didn’t. But I did, Krasota. So… how about we try this again? The easy way is you come with me and we stick to the plan. I get yourcompliance and we get married next Saturday. I want you to agree without trying to escape again. Agree, and we’ll pretend this never happened. I’ll also forget that I know where your sister is. What’s it gonna be? Ready to come with me?”
There’s no question about what I’m going to do and it churns my stomach that he knows that answer, too. “Yes.”
“Louder.”
“Yes.” I speak louder.
The smile fades from his face and he looks scarier. “Good girl. Let’s go home, then.”
Home.
I have no home. He’s taking me back to my prison.
Chapter Nineteen
Jaxon
The cold silence of tension surrounds us like a thick fog of acrid smoke. It’s almost as tangible as Gabriella and I sitting next to each other in the back seat of the car.
Andrieu is driving while Vladmir is in the passenger seat. I imagine that having the two of them here along with me must feel like overkill to Gabriella.Good.
Let her feel scared.
Let her tremble in her skin and feel the weight of her actions.
Let her think of me as the asshole. Her monster. Hervillain.
I’m pissed as fuck. Anything could have happened to her. I don’t know what the fuck she was thinking.
Okay, that’s not true. Idoknow.
She wants her freedom, but she wasn’t thinking about the risk of getting it. People seldom do. They think if they can just reach a certain point, they’ll know what to do after.
That’s the part that could get you killed. Or in her case taken captive by someone worse than me.
Her father is on the lookout for any cracks in my fortress for him to get a foot in and seize her. She knows that.
I guess to her it was still worth the risk.
I have to hand it to Cora. She came up with a solid plan that would have had even me running around in circles for weeks.
If I hadn’t overheard that phone call this morning everything would have been so much harder. In fact, I’ll admit, there’s a good chance I may not have found Gabriella at all. Which I suppose could mean her father may not have found her, either.