Page 95 of Married to My Sis’s Bratva Fiancé

The elevator doors sealed between us.

I leaned against the cold metal and dragged in a shaking breath.

My palm still remembered his heartbeat. My waist still held his warmth.

I told myself it was just my body. Old reflexes left behind by loving him too much.

I was done with him.

Then a heavy thud hit deep in my chest.

My hand went to my stomach without thinking.

And in that moment, I knew—

My heart was betraying me.

Chapter 23

Kiryan

The second she looked back, I knew I'd been made.

Elena sat on a little folding stool by the riverbank, her easel aimed upstream on the Hudson. The wind messed up her hazel hair, and she tucked it behind her ear like it was nothing. Her eyes didn't go to the ridge or the water. They cut straight across two hundred yards and pinned my car in place.

I didn't duck.

That "date" hadn't fixed a damn thing. She'd watched me kneel. She'd heard me out. And she'd still left me with one sentence. "Stay the hell out of my life."

So I hadn't called again. I hadn't shown up under her apartment. I hadn't tried to drag her back to me. I'd only swapped out the obvious security and followed her myself out here.

That didn't exactly count as keeping my word.

For the past two weeks, I'd used a handful of unrelated accounts to buy every painting she was willing to sell, paying obscene prices, hanging them all over the manor. She didn't know. She also didn't know I'd been at every show she'd done.

I used to care about one thing—what it cost. Now I caught myself studying composition, brushwork, why she left blue hiding inside gray, why she pressed shadow over the brightest spots.

I wanted into her world. But what I did best was still command and take.

I learned respect too late.

Elena set her brush down and stood.

A few minutes later, someone knocked on the driver-side window.

I lowered the glass. She was breathing a little hard from walking fast. Her freckles looked sharper in the sun. Her eyes looked dead cold.

"Why are you following me?"

"To make sure you are safe."

"I didn't ask you to."

"I know."

"You promised you wouldn't force me again."

"I am not going to get close. I am not going to bother you." I kept both hands on the wheel. "If you don't want me here, I'll leave. Right now."