41
Chloe
My stomach churns and my pulse is sickeningly fast as he takes a seat across from me at the round table, his eyes filled with a darkness I can no longer convince myself stems solely from my imagination. No trace remains of the tender, seductive man I spoke to for so many hours over video, a man who was so open about his feelings for me. In his place is a beautiful, terrifying stranger, his face taut with fury.
The worst part is I have no idea what I’ve done, what happened to upset him so. Was it what Slava said? Or my clumsy suggestion that he praise the boy for—
“You lied to me, zaychik,” he says in a lethally soft tone, and my heart plummets to my feet.
I was wrong.
This has nothing to do with Slava.
It’s infinitely worse.
I gulp in a breath. “Nikolai, I—”
He holds up a
