Page 153 of The Bratva Sinner

“Then Damien would get you to Portugal. You know that.”

She’s quiet as she processes. “You should have told me.”

I smile. “As if you would have accepted the plan.”

“Maksim.” She uncrosses her arms and moves to the side of the bed. I can see how much she’s been holding herself together by sheer willpower. Something in her is still shaking that her face won't show. She reaches out and then stops just short of touching my face, like she’s not sure which part of me is safe to touch. “Never do that again.”

“If you promise you’ll never come back for me.”

She stares at me. “No.”

“Lila.”

She finally touches my face, and her fingers are incredibly gentle against my tender cheek. “That’s not a promise I’m making. Don’t ask me to do it because I know you will do the same thing again and again.”

I catch her hand and hold it there. She looks at me with burning eyes as more tears fall.

“I’m sorry.”

She nods. I pull her hand. “Lie with me.”

“The bed is too small.”

“Lie with me.”

“You’re so stubborn.”

She carefully climbs onto the bed. It should probably hurt more than it does when her elbow brushes against my torso, but the drugs running through my system dull the pain. I lean my head against her shoulder and inhale.

Every hit was worth it to hold her again.

The door opens. Nikolai looks at us in the bed and shakes his head. His left side is bandaged under his open shirt. He looks pissed, but that’s not anything out of the ordinary.

“Stop getting in trouble,” he says. “I have my own shit. I don’t have time for this.”

He took a bullet tonight because I called, and he came without hesitation. The same way he’s always come. He steps forward and looks at Lila. I feel her coiled behind me. My littlevoinitsawill jump him if she thinks he’s going to hurt me.

She’d lose, but she’d go down swinging.

I reach out and grab his arm before he can step back. I pull him forward and put my arm around him, pressing my forehead briefly against the side of his head the way we did as boys when things were bad, and we didn’t have the words to express how bad.

He lets me.

“Thank you,” I say.

He pulls back. “Don’t thank me,” he says. “Just stop.”

He leaves without another word.

“Gee, I felt the love,” Lila murmurs.

“Nikolai isn’t known for a lot of emotion,” I tell her, “but once you get to know him, you’ll understand.”

I’m on the verge of passing out when Sergei steps into the room.

He looks composed and bored, as usual. He’s a man who could walk through hell unscathed, but I see the exhaustion. The worry has taken its toll tonight.

His gaze moves to Lila next to me, with her body slightly over mine, ready to shield me again. She holds his stare and doesn’t flinch.