Page 70 of Claimed By the Pakhan

Emil will always be with me so long as I have the twins, and that makes what I’m about to do next feel easier.

25

EMIL

“It’s him.”

Those two small words are powerful enough to bring the sky down.

Anger rushes through me, tinting my vision red. I turn on my heel, ready to beeline for the front door and force Luka to eat my fist when Fia rushes down the stairs, halting me.

“Stop!” she says, her eyebrows parting in sadness. “Don’t you want to hear the rest of it?”

“I’ve heard enough.”

“Sure, I suppose youhaveheard enough, countless times from your friend. You should have listened to him,” she says, her gaze stapled on mine as she says the words I’ve been dreading. “You forced me into this.” Oddly, her voice is leveled, her face neutral. She continues staring at me, allowing those words to set, waiting for the meaning to resonate. “How dare you steal me from my own life?”

“I didn’t have a choice, Fia.”

“Yes, you did,” she sighs, shrouded in disappointment. After searching each of my eyes, failing to find the answers on my face, she asks: “Would you have ever let me leave?”

I clench my jaw, my love for Fia burning brighter than any fire.How could I ever let her out of my sight, risking the fire from going out, when the fire is what keeps me fueled?

“No,” I answer honestly, “I can never let you out of my sight.”

“You might have to try,” she says, tipping her chin, challenging me. “After you forced me to marry you.”

“The Kuzmins were closing in. You were almost killed by one of them. Remember your vision?”

“Yes,” she says, “I remember it very clearly.”

“My Bratva refused to protect you, saying you were reckless, a liability. I stuck that ring on your finger to keep you safe. My men were obliged to protect you from that day forward, as you were classed as family. It was the only way I could save you from yourself.”

“How heroic,” Fia deadpans, staring deep into my soul, making it crack down the middle. “You’re fucking lucky I survived the hit Luka planned.”

“Luka was behind the car?”

“He staged the entire thing because I knew he was leaking information, and that I was close to telling you the truth.”

“Close?” I burst, taking a minute to pace around the kitchen, on the verge of tearing the hair from my scalp. “You’re telling me this was all fucking preventative?”

Fia stands at the bottom of the stairs, blinking at me, numb.

“Why didn’t you tell me before?”

“Because I knew this is how you would react,” she says, sadness pooling in her eyes as we share eye contact.

The anger burns through me like the most uncontrollable fire. My love for Fia intensifies everything, rocking my pulse, spinning my head. My vision distorts. I see two of everything, two staircases, two Fias, and in each reality, I disappoint both. After repeatedly letting down the people I love, I’m left wondering if I was ever meant to love in the first place.

I shove a pin in those thoughts for the time being, focusing on more pressing topics.

“Where the fuck is Luka going now?”

Fia shrugs, leaning into the staircase.

Bylat,that bastard will be in for a real treat when I run him over in my car, leaving his dead body to perish in the middle of the forest.

I grab Fia’s attention, staring her dead in the eye. “I need to handle this right now.”