Vow of Deception (Deception Trilogy #1) by Rina Kent

“Yes.” I stare at Yan’s bandaged chest, finger tapping against my thigh. “Remember when Kyle got shot pretending to protect Sergei, when he was the one behind the attack?”

Kolya frowns, probably not knowing where I’m going with this, but nods.

My attention remains on Yan as I speak. “Do you know why he did it?”

“To get in Sergei’s good graces.”

“Which was basically his camouflage. His cover-up. He took a non-fatal bullet as a form of sacrifice.”

Kolya’s eyes widen, finally getting my point. “You can’t mean…you’re not accusing Yan of the same, are you?”

My tapping halts as Yan’s eyes twitch. “Hmm. Who knows?”

“With all due respect, sir, Yan has served you since he was a toddler. He’s not some unnamed assassin like Kyle, who’s trying to get in anyone’s good graces. He took two bullets for your wife!”

“Watch your tone, Kolya.”

He purses his lips, but he doesn’t apologize. After a moment, he swallows. “All I’m saying is that Yan wouldn’t do that to you.”

“You’re saying that because you’ve known him his entire life. You find it hard to suspect him because of your bond.”

“Apparently, you have no problem with that. Congratulations.”

“I said to watch your tone, and no, Kolya, I have no problem distrusting people.”

“So what now? Are you going to kill him?”

“I’m not that cruel. I wouldn’t kill him without questioning him first.”

I can tell by Kolya’s expression that he’s enraged, disappointed, and probably wants to punch me in the face. We might have been brought up together, but he knows me to be cold and calculative toward other people, not my own. So the fact that I’m directing those traits inward, at Yan, is pissing him off like nothing before.

“Am I next?” he asks quietly. “After Yan, is it my turn?”

“Don’t give me a reason.” I turn around. “Tell me when he wakes up.”

“You know,” he speaks from behind me. “As much as you hated your parents, you’re a replica of them.”

I’m not under the implication to answer him, so I don’t as I click the door shut behind me.

A replica of them.

Possibly.

After all, monsters can only birth monsters.





28





Winter





I can’t do this anymore.

I just can’t.

Today, I woke up sweating and in tears. My whole body was shaking so hard that I scared Jeremy when he came into my room.

Sometimes, I don’t remember my nightmares, but I recall this one. I recall how Adrian was fucking me on the bed, my arms and legs looped around him as Lia barged through the door with a knife. However, this time, no shadow saved me from her as she slit my throat.

Adrian didn’t look at me twice when she was in the room. As I was clutching my bleeding neck, he pulled out of me and went to her.

He hugged her from the front in a way that he’s never hugged me. He breathed in her scent and kissed her temples.

“I’ve missed you, Lenochka,” he whispered to her while she was holding the bloodied knife that slit my throat.

“You’re finally home,” he murmured between kisses to her cheek, her mouth, and her throat as I lay there, gurgling, thrashing, crying.

Help! I screamed in my head. Adrian, help me!

He didn’t.

All of his attention was on Lia, on her face, her cheeks, her throat, her mouth. She looked at me, though. Her eyes met my identical ones, and she smirked as she hugged Adrian back and mouthed, “Mine.”

That’s when I died.

But then I was shoved into another nightmare, where a man wrapped his hand around mine and forced me to pull the trigger. Blood covered my skin as I shrieked at the top of my lungs.

Then it was over.

Jeremy was the one trying to wake me, standing by my bed, holding one of his toy soldiers. He jerked back when I startled into a sitting position.

He’s now standing near the dresser, his face pale and his lips trembling. “Are you a ghost, Mommy?”

My breathing immediately calms and a different type of worry takes over me. Jeremy seems like he’s scared of me and that hurts more than I like to admit.

I extend a hand toward him. “I’m so sorry, Jer. Mommy just had a nightmare. It’s over now.”

“Really?” he doesn’t seem convinced, even as he stares at my hand.

“Really.”

“You’re not gonna be Ghost Mommy?”

“Of course not, my angel.”

He cautiously takes a step forward and places his tiny hand in mine. I smile and he grins back. “You’re my mommy.”

“I am.”

He climbs on top of the bed and wraps his small arms around me. “Can you always be my mommy?”

The desperation and exasperation from earlier sticks to my throat as I think of what to tell him.

I’m not staying here anymore.

I don’t care if the police lock me up. I just can’t, under any circumstances, remain in a house that gives me the creeps with a man who’s erasing me from existence.

It’s been a week since the attack. A whole seven days since he first fucked me.