Page 42 of Plaintive Vow

She stares at me for a moment before she smiles, letting out a breathless laugh. In any other scenario, I’d revel in that sound. Instead, I keep my face blank, not looking away from her, letting my stiff posture emphasize exactly how serious I am.

Her smile lingers, but once she looks at me, it drops like a sack of bricks.

“No.” She shakes her head, the color bleeding from her face. It hits me like a knife to the chest, but I refuse to flinch.

“Yes.”

“Andrei, what the fuck are you talking about?”

A better man would take her at face value and back off. I can get her and Niko new identities. I can get them far away from here, far enough that Maksim won’t be able to track them down.

Then she wouldn’t hate me for making her do this.

I’d also never get to see her again. I’ve been torturing myself by being around her for years, but I don’t know how I’d cope with the pain of letting her go. Or even if I could.

If she’s halfway across the planet, I won’t be able to check up on her as much as I need to. I’ll have no choice but to let her go and let her live her life without my interference.

If she’s close to me, I can make sure she’s safe. I look past her at a smear of something dark blue on the wall near the end of the stairs, forcing my hands to still so they don’t curl into fists.

“I have a respected position in Maksim’s Bratva. Your marriage to Daniil kept anyone from coming after you, right?” She nods slowly, tilting her head back to look up at the ceiling. “Marrying me would do the same thing.”

Her shoulders shake lightly, and when she opens them, her emerald green eyes shine with barely restrained tears. She blinks them back, but one carves a wet trail down her cheek regardless.

It takes every ounce of my control to not wipe it away.

“I know it’s probably the last thing you want, but this is the only thing that I know will work.”

Blair looks down at her hands, and I swallow thickly.

What am I going to do if she refuses? Even if she wasn’t widowed less than two months ago, she deserves to be with someone who makes her happy. Not someone like me, who has to strong-arm her into marriage to save her life.

“Daniil would hate this, you know?” Her voice is tight as she closes her eyes.

“He’d kick my ass,” I agree. Her eyes are glossy when she glances at me, and my breath catches in my throat. “He’d try to, anyway. His muscles were just there to make him look pretty.”

Another tear slips free, a dark stain blooming unceremoniously on her hoodie.

Silence fills the room, suffocating me until she gives a barely perceptible nod. Relief like I’ve never known makes my shoulders sag.

“Yeah? You’ll marry me?”

She sniffs, and it pours a bucket of ice-cold water on the flicker of hope in my chest.

“Yeah, I’ll marry you.”

“Thank you.” I take one of her hands into my own, no longer able to resist the urge to touch her, to comfort her.

There are still a million things to discuss, but this is enough for now. I’m not going to push it and ruin the small victory she’s handed me.

“Now what?”

“Now, you get some sleep. I’ll come by in the morning, and we can go to the courthouse.” I want her to be mine as soon as I can. “Do you think Mila would be willing to watch Niko tomorrow?”

She nods, shoulders slumped.

“She’ll be ecstatic to have another day with him.” I frown, her dejected tone giving me pause. Daniil and I never really talked about his mother. He called her meddlesome and overbearing, but I have no clue how that might translate to her relationshipwith Blair. I figured they’d be taking comfort in each other’s company, but maybe not.

“Then we’ll stop at her place and drop him off.”