Page 123 of Sinful Betrayal
The moment I learned her name, I should have had Rosa or Rurik look into Nina’s background. It’s standard protocol, considering who my family is.
But I wasn’t thinking with my head. If I had been, I could have saved myself a lot of fucking heartache.
“My glass is empty,” I mutter as I set the rocks glass down on the bar top again.
The bartender quickly gets to work fixing me a fresh drink, and I waste no time downing the clear liquid. I can barely feel the burn of the vodka as it hits my throat, and that only pisses me off more.
Was everything a lie? Or did somewhere along the way, the lines became blurred, and she truly fell in love with me?
My chest tightens as I realize it doesn’t even matter. Ultimately, she’s the daughter of the most dangerous man in Russia. The man who is responsible for murdering my aunt and uncle, and for kidnapping my cousin’s half-brother and doing god-knows-what to him for the past three decades.
I frown as I stare down at my drink.
She knows about Lev, and likely knows where he is. She’s known all this time and never bothered to tell me.
I fight the urge to launch my glass across the bar in anger.
Alarm bells should have started to ring when she began asking about if I’ve killed anyone. It’s likely she was wanting information about the night I killed Maxim so she could report back to her father. The thought has bile rising in my throat as I realize the danger I’ve put my family in.
She’s seen pictures of my cousin’s children, she knows intimate details about my mother and brother. Not only that, but she’s had access to the security codes of my home.
“Fuck.” I run my hand over my face.
I’m a fucking fool.
“Another, Mr. Koslov?” the bartender asks.
I nod as I feel myself start to sink.
How the hell am I meant to fix this? If it was anyone else, my cousins would order a hit, but this is Nina.MyNina.
A few hours ago, she was the woman I thought I would spend the rest of my life with. As much as I wish I could just turn those feelings off, I can’t because I’m really fucking in love with her, that much is true.
I think I’ve been in love with her since the moment she fell into my lap and I first looked into her ocean blue eyes. She stole the breath from me, and I’ve been drowning ever since.
And now she might be pregnant… Or so she claims. For all I know, that could just be another lie to trap me.
If it is, it’s fucking cruel.
But that doesn’t sound like Nina.
Then again, I don’t know Nina at all. For all I know, she could be just as cruel and cunning as her father.
“Can I settle my tab?” I grunt at the bartender.
As much as I want to spend all night numbing myself with alcohol, I need to face reality sooner rather than later. I need toknow if there is some truth to what she said, at least about the pregnancy. If she really is carrying my child, then there’s no way in hell I’m letting Igor Ivanov get anywhere near her.
I parkaround the back of the house and head in through the back door, hoping that Nina is still around. I know I told her to get the hell out, but I’m hoping that she decided not to listen.
“Nina?” I call out. “Nina!”
Silence.
I bolt through the kitchen and sprint up the stairs toward her room.
“Nina?” I bang my fist on the door, and it swings open.
My stomach sinks as I step inside and notice the pile of old pointe shoes that she kept beside the chair has gone, and I know she has too.