Chapter 10: Aftermath
619 Words
Later—minutes or hours, she couldn't tell—they lay tangled in the sheets, the rain a soft patter against the window. His arm was wrapped around her, her head on his chest, listening to the steady thump of his heart beneath the scars.
"We shouldn't have done that," he said quietly.
Mila smiled against his skin. "Was that your version of pillow talk?"
"I'm serious." His hand traced lazy circles on her shoulder. "It complicates things."
"What things? We're already hiding from a killer together. How much more complicated can it get?"
He was quiet for a long moment. When he spoke, his voice was different. Heavier.
"There's something you need to know."
Mila lifted her head, looking at him. His expression was guarded again, the walls sliding back into place.
"I didn't tell you everything."
A cold trickle of dread slid down her spine. She sat up, pulling the sheet with her. "What do you mean?"
Kael sat up too, running a hand through his hair. He wouldn't look at her.
"The dossier Volkov hired me to build. It wasn't just for him."
"Then who?"
He finally met her eyes. "There were two copies. One for Volkov. One for someone else."
Mila's blood chilled. "Who else?"
"A man named Sokolov. Volkov's boss. The man who actually runs things."
"I don't understand."
Kael's jaw tightened. "Volkov didn't hire me to find you because he wanted you. He hired me because Sokolov wanted to know where Volkov's attention was. Volkov has a pattern. He gets obsessed. He gets sloppy. Sokolov has been looking for a reason to put him down for years. You were supposed to be that reason."
Mila stared at him, her mind racing. "So I was bait?"
"Yes."
"And you knew this?"
"Yes."
The word hit her like a slap. She pulled away from him, wrapping the sheet tighter around herself.
"Get out."
"Mila—"
"Get. Out."
He didn't move. His eyes held hers, steady and unflinching. "I'm telling you the truth now. I could have lied. I could have let you believe—"
"You did let me believe! You let me believe you were helping me because you felt guilty about Lena. Because you wanted to protect me. But I was just a job. A piece in someone else's game."
"It started that way." His voice was low, urgent. "It didn't stay that way."
She laughed, and it sounded hollow even to her own ears. "Right. Because now you have feelings? How convenient."
Kael stood. Naked, scarred, dangerous, and for the first time since she'd met him, he looked vulnerable.
"I don't expect you to forgive me. I don't expect you to trust me. But you need to understand something." He moved closer, and she let him. "When Volkov killed Anna, everything changed. Not because of Sokolov. Not because of the job. Because I looked at your face when you ran through my door, and I couldn't do it. I couldn't deliver you."
"Pretty words."
"Then look at me and tell me you don't feel this."
He reached out and took her hand, placing it flat on his chest, over his heart. It was pounding. Hard and fast and real.
"I've killed people," he said quietly. "I've done things that would make you sick. I don't deserve you. I don't deserve anyone. But I'm standing here, naked and stupid, telling you the truth because you asked for it. That's all I have."
Mila looked at him. At the scars. At the eyes that had thawed completely now, showing her everything. The fear. The hope. The desperate, terrified need for her to stay.
She should leave. She should run.
Instead, she kissed him.
- Writer
