Page 133 of Stolen Empire

My head spins for a moment, but I make myself stand. "So, what happens now? You lock me in this apartment forever? You marry me off to secure some alliance? You kill me to eliminate the problem?"

"Katya," he groans, and he moves toward me.

"I told you last night that you're mine. That hasn’t changed."

"What does that mean?" I ask hesitantly.

I want to hear him say it with his own mouth so I can stop wondering.

I need him to tell me he cares about me.

"It means I know exactly what you are."

He approaches and stands close enough that I'm forced to raise my head to look him in the eye.

"I don't risk my life to save assets."

I want to ask him what he means by that, what he expects from me now that he knows who I really am.

I want to tell him that I feel the same impossible pull toward him, that being near him makes me feel both safer and more reckless than I’ve ever felt in my life.

But the words stick in my throat, too big and too dangerous to speak out loud.

I reach up and touch his face.

My fingers trace the hard line of his jaw, feeling the tension that lives just beneath his skin.

"I swear to you I didn't know," I say quietly.

"I came to Moscow because I wanted a life that was mine. Not my father's. Not my mother's. Mine."

He covers my hand with his own, pressing my palm flat against his cheek.

Then he draws it over his lips and kisses it tenderly.

"I believe you."

I lean forward, and he comforts me with an arm around my waist.

His other hand cups the back of my head, careful of my injuries, and he holds me against his chest with a gentleness that contradicts everything I know about who he is in the world outside this apartment.

"You need to rest," he says into my hair before kissing the crown of my head.

"I have to meet with my men, but I’ll be back in an hour. Don’t leave this apartment. Don’t open the door for anyone. Don’t even look out the windows."

"I'm not helpless."

"I know."

He pulls back just enough to look at me.

"But right now, every man in Moscow who wants to hurt me will be looking for ways to do it. You're the most obvious target. So you stay here where I know you're safe, and let me handle the rest."

I want to argue, but the exhaustion stops me.

"Okay. I'll stay."

He kisses my forehead and then he's gone.