Page 4 of Cruel Juliet

And if he had to chase me—if I made him work for it—I don’t know what he’d do when he caught me.

So I stay rooted where I am, every muscle strung tight, and wait for the storm to break.

He jerks his chin toward the sofa. “Sit.”

My knees wobble, but I force myself across the room. Slowly, I lower myself onto the sofa opposite him. The cushion dips under my weight. My hands knot together in my lap to keep themfrom shaking, but I keep my eyes on him. I won’t give him the satisfaction of looking away.

“I’ll give you this,” he begins, too calm for my liking. “I’m impressed. You hid well. Better than I thought you could.”

He sinks back into his seat and leans forward, elbows braced on his knees.

“I might never have found you. But you should do better about leaving loose ends.” His mouth curves into something that isn’t a smile. “Not that you’ll ever get the chance to do this again.”

My pulse spikes. “What do you mean, ‘loose ends’?”

“The woman who gave you your new identification. Angel, right?” He says her name like it’s nothing. “She wasn’t hard to track down. People like her never are.”

I shiver hard. “What did you do to her?”

“Obviously, she’s alive,” he grits. “I’m not in the business of hurting women.”

For a second, my lungs work again. Then my fear turns into fury. “You’re right,” I snap. “You don’t hit women. You just lock them up and threaten to steal their babies.”

Petyr’s brow furrows instantly. His whole face goes stormy with rage.

I’m expecting him to erupt. Punch a wall, maybe, considering his track record with plaster.

But he doesn’t. His jaw ticks once, then he leans back, voice flat. “She’s done,” he says. “Retired. She’ll think twice before she ever takes one of your calls again or opens the door for you.”

Relief and guilt twist together in my gut. Angel is alive, but only because Petyr decided she could be. And now she’s lost her livelihood because of me. Because I dragged her into my mess.

I swallow hard. My gaze flits down to my hands. There’s no blood on them, not physically, but there might as well be. Shame bites deep into me.

“I’m taking you home,” he says.

What?Cold fear rolls through me.Home. What is “home” now? Does he mean the mansion? Back into that creepy cage? Under his control?

My hand presses against my stomach without me thinking.

He’ll take my baby.He said as much before. Now that he’s got me, nothing is stopping him from doing it.

The thought makes my chest seize, but I can’t push it away. Right now, it’s all I can think about.

“The baby’s a girl.” My voice cracks, desperate. “She’s not… not suitable for a Bratva heir.”

For the first time since he turned on the lamp, something other than icy fury passes across Petyr’s face. His expression goes unreadable, but I catch it: a spark of emotion in his cold, hard eyes before he smothers it again.

When he speaks, his tone is hard. “Then we’ll just have to try again. Until you live up to your end of the deal.”

My mouth falls open. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“You promised to give me an heir. You haven’t done that yet. Until then, you’re bound to me.”His stare doesn’t waver. “Don’t tell me you forgot.”

Those words pull me back to everything I thought I’d buried.

Of course I remember.

How could I ever forget?