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She’s clearly not satisfied with my answer, but she bites her tongue. Fear makes me angry, in my experience, so it’s best to let her calm down before I get into any details. She wouldn’t listen, anyway, and it’s more likely to freak her out further.
“Let me get you some water,” I say, springing up from the couch. I’m eager for an excuse to leave her and collect myself, and I suspect she’d be happier if I wasn’t sitting right beside her. She views me as the man who brought her trouble when she was only minding her own business.
And the sad thing is…
She’s right.
I fill up a glass with water from the filter, paying little attention until it overflows and splatters across the granite countertop and floor. “Dammit,” I mutter, pulling the glass away and wiping the bottom with a paper towel.
I’ve never been this out of my element before. It’s just as easy for me to blame Kimberly as it is for her to blame me, but if we’re both mad at each other, this relationship isn’t going to last much longer.
I came with the roses to make up with her, not to drive a wedge further between us.
“I have to get in touch with Damien,” I say as I carry the water into the living room. Kimberly is still on the couch, her arms crossed, and her eyes fixed on the shotgun contraption. I think it’s clever, but she wouldn’t realize the effort I put into it. Death is all she can see.
“You’re going to call your brother after he tried to kill us?” she asks. “Won’t that just encourage him? Shouldn’t we disappear and pretend like he succeeded in what he was trying to do?”
“I just want to ask if he knows anything about this,” I reply, handing her the glass.
“You trust him to be honest?”
Too many questions and not enough answers. I thought I knew Damien but seeing how he got involved in the Bratva after swearing he wanted nothing to do with it makes me feel like I don’t know who he is anymore. I can’t trust him, even though I want to so badly.
Maybe I shouldn’t have left him in such a hurry. Maybe I’m the one in the wrong.
“I don’t know who to trust, except for you,” I say, giving Kimberly a weak smile. It’s all I can muster at this point.
She tries to look angry, but her expression melts into sympathy. “At least we’re both on the same side. I haven’t tried to kill you or even call the police. I’m trying my best to work with the way you want to do things.”
“And you have no idea how grateful I am that you’re here,” I say, sitting down beside her again. My hand finds her thigh, and she shifts closer to me. Her warmth gives me hope that we can find a way through this together.
“You’re going to stay here for a few days. No work, no phone calls, but I do have a TV you can use,” I say softly. “And I promise I’ll figure this out and put an end to it.”
Her body stiffens, and I’m worried that she won’t be okay with my terms.
“I won’t take long. It’s just a few days,” I say quickly.
She shakes her head. “That’s not what bothers me, Avraam. I just want you to be safe. I don’t want you to end up back in jail over this, or… or dead.”
Nobody has ever cared where I ended up, and the fact that she’s telling me all this now, even after I almost got her killed, is making my heart melt. It’s a painful feeling, one that I want to push away and deny, but that wouldn’t help anything. I need Kimberly in my life, and I’m going to do everything in my power to keep her.
“Thank you,” I reply softly, squeezing her thigh. “You don’t know how much that means to me.”
She smiles and it lights up my whole world. Right here and now, I know that I have to make this right. I can’t ruin this for us, and I can’t allow her to ever be in danger again. She deserves better, so it’s time for me to reclaim my throne.
But first, I have a basement to dig up.
18
Kimberly
No phone to call Avraam with, no way to go get myself a pregnancy test, and a fucking shotgun pointed at the front door that’s going to kill the next person who tries to open it.
I try not to think of everything that can go wrong in this scenario, but my mind is racing without Avraam. He said he left to take care of business, but I don’t even know what that means. He didn’t say. I just pray he doesn’t end up dead.
I hold my belly as I pace around his apartment. It’s nicer than I thought it would be, considering he drives the same car I do, but I suspect he tries to hide his wealth. I know he’s rich because he bought the company I work for.
At least my child won’t have a broke father. He might end up in prison, but at least we won’t have to worry about the bills being paid.
