Page 146 of Only for Him

I cut my eyes to Giselle, watching us talk without understanding any of it. This might be the first time I’ve seen her so submissive with her fucking clothes on.

She knows I know she didsomething.

And she isn’t even supposed to be here!

I told her to stay at the mansion. She’s meant to obey me.

Just the fact that she snuck out, came to Manhattan without telling me…

Are you pissed that she disobeyed, or that she might have put herself in harm’s way? Because if it’s the second option, you need to get your fucking head straight.

I’ve looked at her too long. Afanasy clocks it and rolls his eyes.

“You’re not selling me on ‘not in love’, Romochka,” he says. “Anyway, word on the street is that Pasha is trying tosideline both Vova and Ilyusha from their rightful share of the inheritance.”

“I don’t give a shit about your family feud,” I sneer, finally telling an unabashed truth.

“I don’t expect you to,” Afanasy shrugs. “But surely you’re curious as to why I’m here?”

I am, in fact, very curious. I’m even more curious why he’s with her. I nod, jaw clenching in preparation for him to say something I don’t want to hear.

“The woman you’re absolutelynotfalling in love with has done something very stupid,” he says, eyes steady on me. “She put a drop of your DNA into the police database.”

My heart plummets. Panic flickers at the edges of my mind. The room is too noisy, too many eyes and ears.I fight the urge to kill everyone in it, just to make sure we’re safe.

We? Am I still thinking of Giselle and I as a we?

She fucking gave me up.

She handed me over to her precious NYPD like I was fuckingnothing.A perp. Not her owner, not her partner, not even her fucking ally:just a walking DNA sample.

“What?” I grind out, jaw locked and aching.

“The database triggered an alarm back in Russia,” he says smoothly, like he’s not informing me of a death sentence. “Pasha knows you’re alive, and he’s doing everything in his power to hunt you down and finish what he started in Chechnya.”

White-hot rage sizzles up my spine, and I devote myself entirely to keeping it from showing on my face. Inside, I’m molten, but I won’t let Afanasy see it.

Or Giselle.

Rosa’s warning echoes in the back of my mind.She will betray you.

She was right on the fucking money.

I didn’t think anything could hurt me after Anastasia, but I was wrong, in the worst possible way.

I’d rather die than feelthisagain.

And I probably will, the second she walks out of my life for good.

Fuck!What has she done to me?

“But it’s not all bad news,” Afanasy says. “He’s becoming less paranoid. Years of unchecked power have gone to his head. He’s gotten sloppy.”

He’s not the only one. Rosa was right about far too goddamn much.

How did Giselle even get my DNA?

That’s a fucking joke. I’ve been spilling myself all over her for weeks now. Anything to mark her as mine.