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“I—I don’t belong to anyone,” I whisper hoarsely through his grip. Even as I say the words, they ring false.
Mal smiles demonically, his eyes glittering with amusement. “Incorrect, Freya.”
Before I can respond, he reaches out with his other hand, his fingers brushing lightly against the edge of the towel.
He’s too close. Too powerful.
Too dangerous.
“Stop,” I whisper, though there’s no force behind the word. It’s more of a plea than a command.
Mal’s fingers tug gently at the towel again, threatening to pull it away. “I’ll stop when you stop lying.”
I swallow hard. “I’m not lying.”
“Really.” His voice is low, smooth as silk. “I think you’ve been lying toeveryone. About who you are. Where you come from. And most of all...” He leans in, his lips brushing against my cheek. “About the evil that flows in your fucking veins.”
My heart skips a beat, his fingers squeezing my windpipe tighter and tighter until I can barely breathe.
I want to deny it. I want to tell him he’s wrong.
But he’s right.
And in this moment, I hate him for it.
“You don’t know anything about me,” I choke, trying to pull away.
Mal just laughs softly, low and dangerous. “I knoweverythingabout you, Freya.”
Suddenly, he’s letting go of my throat. I choke, drawing in a ragged, rasping inhalation as he slowly stands up in front of me. He rolls his shoulders, taking a long, slow breath like nothing happened.
The sudden absence of his touch leaves me reeling, my body still humming with the tension he left behind.
“But your real problem isn’t whatIknow,” Mal says quietly, his eyes stabbing into me. “It’s what Kir and the rest of your little found familydoesn’tknow, isn’t it?”
The floor drops out from underneath me.
No.
No. Please, God, no…
He’s right. The worst part isn’t that Mal knows my dark secret. It’s that Kir, Damian, and Annikadon’t, despite all these years of calling me family.
Because there’s another nightmarish trophy from my father’s wall I could never, ever purge from my memory.
Two wedding rings, hanging on a bloodied chain.
Two rings, each with a name engraved on it. I always thought of it as unbelievably horrifying that my father had killed a married couple and taken theirwedding ringsas his trophy. But it wasn’t until years later, after I’d fallen in with Damian and Kir, that I finally pieced together the full story.
The names engraved on the rings were Daniil Kovalchuk…
…and PolinaNikolayev.
AKA, Kir’s sister and her husband.
Damian’sparents.
The two men who have become my family, who took me in and gave me an entirely new life?
