Page 56 of Darkest Desire

“Alek,” I hiss. “You speak of him like you were friends. Did you like him?”

“What? No! Like I told you, he pulled me aside the nigh of the dinner party and told me who he really was and what he was hear for, which was to save me. I didn’t have feelings for him. He’s a stranger to me.”

“So the reason you didn’t want me to kill him had nothing to do with feelings for him but because you didn’t want the truth coming out?”

She nods once. “Yes. I have no romantic feelings for him. He’s a stranger to me.”

“A stranger you were trusting would get you to safety.”

“Because I trust my sister. Mikhail would only have sent a man who would protect me, not hurt me, for my sister’s sake. I didn’t know he was going to try to kill you.”

“You didn’t try to help me when he tried to kill me,” I snap.

“Why would I have? I was drugged! I wasn’t in my right mind.” She stands up and pushes me back a step. Even now, she’s still not afraid to show me her anger. I like that about her. “I was scared. I didn’t know what to do. I am sorry I didn’t help you, Nico, but can you honestly blame me for that?”

Some of my anger dissipates. She has a point.

“Fine,” I grit out. “I get it. I won’t blame you for that. But I’m still angry. You were going to leave me.”

“Can you also blame me for that?”

“I haven’t hurt you once! In fact, I have saved you on multiple occasions. I knew you weren’t happy about our marriage but do you honestly hate me, Sasha? Or are you just being stubborn?”

Her mouth opens but nothing comes out. Slowly, she closes her mouth and glares at me.

“Stubborn then,” I say. “Which can sometimes be fun but, right now, is getting on my fucking nerves. Come with me.” I grab her arm and haul her out of the room.

“Where are you taking me?” she gasps.

I take her to my office and through the hidden door down to the basement. She goes rigid when she sees Alek on the table.

I pick up a knife and place it in her hand. “You had a part to play in this. So you’re going to kill him for me.”

Chapter Ten

Sasha

Istare down at the knife in my hand, trying to process Nico’s words but it doesn’t make any sense to me. “You want me to…”

“To kill him.” He states it like it’s such a simple thing when we both know it’s not.

I glance at Alek, strapped to the table, not even making a sound. He looks spent. Tired.

From all the torture Nico did to him.

“I can’t kill a person.”

“He’s here for you. He tried to kill me for you. So, you’re going to kill Lorenzo.”

“Alek,” I whisper.

Nico rolls his eyes. “Fine. Yes. Alek. You’re going to kill Alek.”

“Why are you doing this to me?” I whisper, dropping the knife to the ground. Nico only picks it back up and shoves it into my hand, wrapping his fingers around mine so I can’t let go.

“I’m doing this to teach you a lesson. You are mine now, Sasha. You’re not leaving. You can try to escape time and time again but you’re mine. If you just gave yourself in to it, I think you’d find we could have a lot of fun together.”

“Fun how? By murdering people?”