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She looks so beautiful with her hair down, especially since it’s grown to reach her shoulders.

I wrap an arm around her waist and whisper in her ear, “I told you to be careful.”

She purses her lips and starts to push me away.

I tighten my grip. “If you don’t want to fall to your death, stay still.”

She gives up, but only slightly. “I’m just doing this out of necessity.”

“If you say so.” I lean down and catch a whiff of her scent. It’s…like her old self, but she started wearing some perfume Karina bought for her. Its floral fragrance has a subtle note of mystery.

Note to self: Thank my sister for her immaculate taste.

This is what I would’ve imagined Sasha to smell like if I’d first met her as a woman. Soft but shrouded in mystery.

“Have we left the bridge?” she asks.

“Not yet.”

She wraps her arm around my back to get better balance. Am I enjoying this? Definitely. Maybe more than should be allowed.

This is the first time she’s willingly touched me since she came back. Some would argue I gave her no choice, but I don’t give a fuck.

I still enjoy every minute of having her warmth mixed with mine. Yes, I could’ve had Viktor drop us off in front of the safe house, but how else would I get Sasha clinging to me like this?

Too soon, we arrive at the safe house that’s about a two-hour drive from home, plus the twenty minutes in which I thoroughly enjoyed Sasha’s touch.

Also, I’m obviously sexually frustrated, because my cock won’t be on speaking terms with me until I get him in my wife’s cunt. However, he likes to twitch to life at the merest touch, so his current state is that of complete irritation.

“Are we here?” she asks tentatively.

“Almost.” I open the main door with my thumbprint. Only Viktor’s, Maksim’s, and mine can open this door, or any other door on the property.

After we’re inside, we cut through the garden and head to the annexed garage, where Anton is. I open it with my thumbprint again then remove Sasha’s blindfold.

She squints even though the sky is getting darker.

I motion ahead with my chin and she eyes me suspiciously before she carefully goes in and takes a few steps down the stairs.

The walls of the underground bunker that’s hidden beneath a garage are both soundproof and shockproof. It was built by my father to withstand bombs if need be. Not sure who he thought would bomb him, but he was always paranoid to a fault.

Other than that, the space is large, so the metal bed in the corner and the few shelves scattered around look like a toddler’s attempt at decorating.

Sasha stops when she spots her brother sitting cross-legged on the bed, eyes closed and hands resting nonchalantly on his knees as if he’s in a meditating position.

The cuffs that should be around his wrists are hanging from the wall.

Maksim is doing one-handed push-ups on the other side of the room, but he stands upon seeing us.

Sasha runs to Yuri—sorry, Anton . Don’t expect me to keep track of his multiple personalities.

“Tosha.” She stops beside him.

He opens his eyes, stares at Maksim and me, then focuses back on his sister with a cold expression. “What are you doing here?”

“What do you mean? I came to check on you.”

“Leave,” he orders. “And I don’t mean here, but the country.”

I’m going to kill the bastard.

Maksim stiffens beside me, his arms crossed.

“What the hell are you talking about? I’m not abandoning you,” she argues.

“I’m ordering you to.”

“No.” She lifts her chin. “I’m done taking orders from you, Uncle, and Babushka. From now on, I’ll only execute my own decisions.”

That’s my woman.

“Sasha…” he warns.

“I’m not going, Tosha. Not without you.”

He closes his eyes briefly and releases a frustrated breath. “Can’t you see that he’s using you against me?”

The he is me, in case no one noticed.

“I don’t care.” She squeezes his hand. “I’ll be fine.”

I approach them and wrap an arm around her shoulder. “I’ll take good care of my wife.”

“You motherfucking—” He lunges up to punch me, but Maksim gets to him in no time and pins him against the mattress with an elbow on his throat.

“Stop, stop it!” Sasha fruitlessly pulls on Maksim’s shoulder.

Anton’s face reddens as he hits Maksim’s arm, but the more my guard crushes his trachea, the weaker his struggle gets.

“Maks!” she shrieks, but he’s not hearing her. “Please, let him go.”

Finally, she realizes who she should be talking to and turns to me. “Tell him to stop.”

I stare down at her. “Say you’re sorry first.”

“Sorry for what?”

“For leaving me. For making me believe you were dead. I want you to say you’re fucking sorry.”

“Fuck you,” she grinds out.

I lift a shoulder as Anton’s thrashes mixed with his raw struggles for breath echo in the air.

“Maks, please,” she begs him, but he’s still not hearing her. Judging by the reddening of her brother’s face, he probably has about a minute left before he crosses to the other side. If not less.

Sasha looks at me with tears clinging to her eyes. “I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“For ever loving a monster like you.”

My jaw clenches and I’m tempted to suffocate the fuck out of her, but I’m not sure I won’t kill her if I do that.

“Let him go, Maksim.”

My guard doesn’t seem to be listening, so I push him, destabilizing his elbow from Anton’s neck.

“I said to let him go.”

He stares at me as if he just came out of a trance, which might as well be the case.

Anton coughs, the sound raw in the giant space. Sasha sits beside him and pats his back. Her expression is that of pure horror.

Not the one I was hoping for.

I glare at Maksim. He slowly lowers his head because he knows exactly how much he fucked up.

Maybe I fucked up, too, because I’m not sure my next plan will work as I’d hoped.