Page 24 of Frozen Heart
“I’mnot. Killing her.”I spat.
Gennadiy raised his hands in submission. “Okay. Okay, it’s alright.” His gentleness was driving me crazy. He started walking away.
Fear grabbed my heart in a cold fist and I ran after him and grabbed his shoulder. “You’renot doing it either!”
He looked at me in pity. “I’ll make it so she doesn’t suffer.”
I grabbed his shirt in both hands. “If you touch one hair on her head, I willendyou!” I roared.
Gennadiy finally lost his cool. “Then end me!” he yelled. “I’ll still have protected you!”
We glared at each other, our faces only a foot apart. I felt myself fracture inside: I knew he loved me, I knew he was only trying to protect me. And I knew that however much we yelled at each other; he really would die to save me. But I couldn’t let him touch Bronwyn.
“Maybe you could marry her,” said Valentin.
All of us turned to stare at him. “What?”I demanded.
“If she’s your wife,” Valentin explained, “the cops can’t make her testify against you. And if you’re together, none of the other families would dare touch her.”
Everyone went quiet. I glanced around: they all looked thoughtful. “No!”I said quickly. “No. Unacceptable.”
“It’s a good solution, Radimir,” said Mikhail.
“Exceptshe hates me!She’ll never agree to it.”
“She was happy enough to fuck you,” said Gennadiy mildly.
“That’s different! And now she…”Now she’s seen what a monster I am.“She’sscaredof me! And we barely know each other! She doesn’t want to marry me; she doesn’t even want toseeme!” I shook my head. “I’m not ruining her life just because I made a mistake.”
“She’ll be compensated,” said Gennadiy. “A nice apartment. Fancy clothes.”
“She’s not a whore!” I didn’t mean to yell it, but I did. Gennadiy cocked his head at me, curious, and I looked away. “You don’t understand. She’s not like us. She’s not part of this.” I waved my hand at the four of us. “I’m not bringing her into it!”
Gennadiy put his hand on my shoulder. “You know the alternative, brother.”
I shook off his hand and marched to the edge of the roof, thinking furiously.Marryher?! She had her whole future ahead of her, she deserved to meet someonegoodand go off and have children and vacations and all that civilian crap. And it would ruinmylife, too. Sharing an apartment with her while constantly lusting after her. Knowing I could never give her what she deserved: I could never love her. It would be hell. And it would beforever:it wasn’t like we could ever divorce.
No. I couldn’t do it.
But...—I felt myself tearing apart inside—I couldn’t kill her, either.
I scowled and cursed but at last I sighed and turned to my family. “Okay,” I said.
“We’re coming with you,” said Gennadiy immediately.
I felt the anger build in my chest again:don’t you trust me?But no, they didn’t. And they were right not to. If I was on my own, it would be too easy to give in to temptation, give her a hundred thousand dollars and put her on a plane. But wherever she went, she’d still be in danger. My brothers were just trying to protect me.
“Fine,” I told him. “But we’re making a stop on the way. If I’m going to do this, I’m doing it right.”
16
BRONWYN
We were having a busy morning,for once. The line of customers stretched almost to the door and I was working non-stop to serve them while Jen restocked shelves and dealt with queries.
“Enjoy!” I told a woman who was buying an enemies-to-lovers shifter romance calledI Can’t Bear You. “We just got the sequel in,I Can Bearly Bear You Either, so come back when you’re ready.”
For the last three days, I’d thrown myself into my work, reaching out to local book clubs to offer them discounts, creating a new window display and redoing all the book tables...anything to stop me thinking of him. I wasn’t getting much sleep, but the extra effort was paying off.