Page 36 of Forbidden Forget-Me-Not

“What else,” she asked.

“He said to tell you he’s sorry.”

She didn’t react at first. Just stared.

“Sorry doesn’t erase what he did,” she said, fury in every word. “He hit me. Left a handprint on my face. He treated me like a thing, a possession.” She pointed to the faint bruising on her cheek. “Sorry doesn’t erase any of that.”

Lani turned away, and the distance between us slammed into place like a wall.

“What should I do?”

I ran my hand through my hair. “Until we have a plan we’re at his mercy.”

“So you think I should go,” she said and swore. “God, I hate this.”

Before I could say anything else, she marched into the bathroom and slammed the door, leaving me alone.

My heart wanted her, but deep down, I knew the likelihood of keeping this reality was somewhere between never and impossible. Princesses didn’t marry foot soldiers. This wasn’t a fairytale, and I was not a frog waiting for a kiss to turn me into her Prince Charming.

Our moment was over.

The world was back.

And Dimitri Mikhailov had made his next move.

Chapter

Twelve

GORAN

The drive was quiet, heavy like a funeral procession. There was no peace, only the aftermath.

The sky was slate, the coastal air damp against my skin. A low fog hovered over everything, a physical representation of the secret we couldn’t let into the light of day. Somewhere beyond the ocean was freedom. But not here.

Kaylani sat in the back of the SUV, her expression guarded. When she stepped out of the shower earlier, it was clear she had tried to wash last night from her skin and realized trauma didn’t rinse away that easily.

We made a pit stop at the Mikhailov home so she could change while I stood outside her door, a statue in a black suit like all the others.

She wore oversized dark sunglasses, even though the sun refused to show itself. The bruise on her cheek was hidden beneath makeup, but I knew exactly where it was. Her hair was swept up into a messy twist. She had chosen a white pantsuit with a bright pink blouse buttoned up to hide the golden ring that hung around her neck.

I watched her through the rearview mirror. Not because she required babysitting, but because she was deathly quiet and I needed to know she was still here. Still fighting.

Kaylani had married me, but she could be ripped away at any moment. To Dimitri, an inconvenient marriage is nothing more than a piece of paper to be burned.

The knowledge settled into a dull, aching panic under my ribcage.

My phone buzzed on the console. Nathaniel.

I answered, forcing my voice to sound normal. “Boss.”

“Tell me you didn’t get a fucking call from my father ordering you to do his bidding,” Nathaniel growled.

“I did.”

A sharp exhale and string of curses filled the car. I glanced back at Kaylani. A shadow of a smirk crossed her lips.

“Of course you did. Dimitri can’t stand not being in control. He didn’t even bother to see if I needed you today. My head of security. Un-fucking-believable. If you weren’t protecting my sister, I’d make you turn around and tell him to go fuck himself.”