Page 81 of Sweet Deception

There were people out there.

But who?

Gleb’s men? Vincenzo? Someone else entirely?

Grandma didn’t move.

Even as her men fell around her, she stood perfectly still, watching with cold calculation.

“Well, well,” she murmured. “He actually came for you.”

She turned her gaze to me, eyes narrowing slightly. “I didn’t think you mattered to him this much.”

Her lips curled into something that almost resembled a smirk. “How... interesting.”

I wanted to believe she was wrong, that Gleb had come for me because he cared. But as my vision blurred and the chaos swallowed me whole, one question echoed in my mind:

Then why did he wait?

Chapter 17

ANNA

––––––––

I looked around frantically, my vision blurring from exhaustion and panic. One by one, the men guarding me fell, their bodies hitting the ground with sickening thuds.

Someone suddenly wrapped a coat around me, shielding my body from view. My breath hitched as I felt the ropes around my wrists and ankles loosen. Then, without warning, I was lifted into strong arms. The scent of musk and cigarettes flooded my senses, familiar and unwelcome.

My head was too foggy to process anything, too drained to fight. My rescuer carried me swiftly away from the carnage, placing me in the backseat of a car. As the door shut, he shrugged off his coat and draped it over me. That’s when I finally saw his face.

My stomach twisted as I recognized him. My fists clenched, but my body was too weak to lash out. “You.” The word was thick with loathing.

His jaw tightened. “I’m so sorry, Anna.”

“Sorry?” A bitter laugh tore from my throat. “Where the hell were you? I called you. I begged.”

He said nothing. Just slid into the driver’s seat and took off.

But he didn’t drive toward the estate. Instead, we headed somewhere else, another house. One I’d never seen before.

The silence in the car was unbearable, but I refused to break it

As soon as we arrived, he made an attempt to carry me but I Jerked when he reached for me. “Don’t touch me.”

“Anna, you’re freezing.”

“I don’t care.” My voice trembled. “Just leave me alone.”

His jaw tightened. “At least let me help you clean up.”

He carried me inside, straight to the bathroom.

Staring at my reflection in the bathroom mirror, hair tangled, body smeared with dried blood. I looked... ruined.

He set me gently in the bathtub. I sat there like a lifeless doll, unresponsive, my mind replaying everything, how those men had torn my clothes, how they had seen me. It gnawed at my soul, a sickness spreading through my chest.

I barely registered Gleb as he turned on the water, bathing me with quiet care. His hands were gentle, his touch surprisingly delicate. But I felt nothing. Just cold, hollow nothing.