Page 56 of Sweet Obsession

“I already made enough sacrifice to be here and just so you know, it’s all for my sister. You do not get to threaten her.” I said defensively.

For a beat, the air crackled between us.

I hated him.

I hated how calm he was.

How in control.

I hated that he could stand there, looking like sin and violence wrapped in a tailored suit, and talk about pretending.

When some twisted, broken part of me didn’t know if he was pretending anymore.

Neither did he.

He reached into the pocket of his slacks and pulled out a simple gold ring.

Plain. Unassuming. He held it out to me.

“Wear it,” he said. “Starting today.”

I hesitated. The ring was warm from his skin. I hated how easily my fingers closed around it. Hated that I didn’t throw it across the room.

It weighed nothing and everything.

Misha turned away before I could answer, moving to the dresser, gathering files, his body tense and cold.

And I realized... He hated this just as much as I did.

But he would do it. For his empire. For the war brewing in the shadows.

And somewhere deep down, maybe, for me.

Even if he’d never admit it.

On our last night in Moscow, he stood behind me at one point, hand brushing my lower back as he reached for a document. I froze.

“Relax,” he murmured. “You flinch like I’m going to break you.”

“Maybe you already did,” I said.

He didn’t answer.

But that night, he stayed closer. Sat in the armchair near the fire after I went to bed. Didn’t speak.

But his eyes never left me.

Chapter 8

MISHA

Yakutsk, Two Days Later.

I slipped into her wing like I did every night. Quiet and uninvited, but unable to stay away. Just to make sure she was safe.

I’d seen the way she thrashed in her sleep, how her nightmares gripped her. And every time, I wished I could take it all away, whatever ghosts her past had left behind.

The room smelled like her, warm, earthy, addictive. If it were up to me, I wouldn’t ask her to move in. I’d chain myself to this room, to her scent, her silence.