Page 48 of Sinful Hearts

I never thought of my childhood home as sentimental. It hadn’t been passed down through several Morozova generations. I didn’t help my mother design or remodel it. But that home was all I ever knew. It was somewhere I felt safe, where I had a room and a bed, where I had my sister.

Now, that’s gone.

Another piece of me chipped away.

Another piece shoving me straight to Emilio.

Why would my mother sell our home and not tell me?

She’s growing more and more suspicious by the day.

“Whose call did you switch over to earlier?” Emilio asks.

“No one’s,” I blurt out.

“Whose, Liliya?”

“It was some solicitor.” I wave my hand through the air. “He was trying to sell me a new vacuum or something.”

Emilio doesn’t reply, only taps his fingers along the leather steering wheel as we drive back toour home.

The one I just tried to escape.

But what will happen when I’m back there?

Rumors have said my husband kills his enemies.

He took the life of his own father.

Will he do the same with his disobedient wife?

16

My father used to say,“A threat without action is just noise.”

He also used to say, “Talk is cheap, and pain speaks louder.”

I was raised on both of those mentalities and use them regularly.

Threats and violence get you what you want.

But it’s not so simple when it comes to my new wife.

So far, she’s given no fucks about my threats, even when they’ve included violence. I’ve also not followed through with a single one—a rarity for me.

What happened tonight further proves my threats aren’t working.

It doesn’t matter how many toes I threaten; she’ll run on nine if she has to.

Neither of us speaks for the rest of the ride home as I consider what I’ll do with her when we get there. I’ve checked to make sure her door is locked a few times. I don’t trust her not to attempt to roll out of the SUV and flee, and I’m not in the mood to chase her down again.

She chews on her nails as I turn into the drive and open the gate.

I park near the front door, and she jumps at the sound of the door unlocking. With no hesitation, she steps out of the SUV.

I’m quickly behind her. Her body straightens when I hold my Glock barrel against the back of her head.

Maybe the problem is, my wife doesn’t believe how merciless I can be.