Cruel Paradise - A Mafia Romance Chapter 108

I probably have a few days before Ben realizes that the kids and I are not coming back. In that short window of opportunity, I need to exchange the car for another so that he won’t be able to track the license plate number.

Before I know it, I’m on my feet, adrenaline pulsing through my body. I could pack up the car right now. We could leave this very night. Then the kids could sleep while I drive us out of New York and into another state. By tomorrow night, we could have a different car.

We could have a different life.

I spend the next hour hustling back and forth between the motel room and the Chevy. I load her up, praying that she’s got a couple of hours of heavy driving left in her. We’re only a three-hour drive from the Pennsylvania border. Putting New York behind us would be a huge emotional relief, if not necessarily a logistical one.

A car cruises past, its headlights blinding me for a moment. It strikes me as strange that it’s moving so slowly.

Strange or suspicious?

The car goes past. A dark car. Maybe blue, maybe black—I can’t tell in the darkness. It seems suspect. But then again, so am I.

I probably look shady as all hell, prowling the motel in the dead of night, clearly trying to make a quick getaway.

Just add this to the list of things to talk about in therapy.

By the time I’ve got the last of the bags packed up, I feel just a little bit steadier. Now, I just need to get the kids in the backseat and off we go.

I shut the trunk. Is that…?

I freeze, fear pooling in my stomach. There’s a tall silhouette standing not five feet from me. Oh, God, the keys. I left them on the roof of the car.

He raises his hand and the keys dangle from his fingers. “Looking for these?”

I know that voice.

I move around the car, my eyes going wide with disbelief when I see who’s standing there.

“Good evening, Ms. Carson,” Ruslan says casually. “Funny running into you here.”

6

RUSLAN

I can tell the moment she thinks about running from me.

Emma’s gaze darts to the right. Then to the left. When I move towards her, she takes a step back. I try not to take it personally but it’s strange how that thorn under my skin just gets wedged in deeper.

How can she be so wary of me?

Me, the man who saved her.

Me, the fool who loved her.

“You’ve been following me,” she accuses.

“Your powers of deception aren’t quite as honed as you might think, kiska,” I drawl sarcastically.

“I’m not quite as good of a liar and con artist as you are? Gee, don’t flatter me,” she fires back with just as much venom.

Grimacing, I glance over her shoulder at the decrepit shithole she chose to house the children. “Of all the places you could have taken them, you chose to bring them here.”

She bristles. “I did what I had to do. I did my best.”

“And this is your best?”

She tries not to react apart from a subtle flinch, but I know I’m getting to her. I’m just voicing all the doubts she’s already got banging around in that stubborn little head of hers. Her forehead vein is telling me so.

“What are you doing here, Ruslan?”

“I could ask you the same thing.”

She stiffens. “I want a change.”

“One hell of a change you picked.”

Her eyes flare with anger. “What the hell do you care? You’re done with me, remember? You want me out of your life. Were those not your words?”

The fucking nerve of this woman. To betray me and then have the gall to be pissed off that I reacted, that I found out.

“And I meant every single one,” I hiss back. “But I do still care about those kids. And, considering you seem intent on dragging them out of the city in the dead of the night, I have every reason to be concerned.”

“You are not their father.” There’s pure poison in every word she spits. “You are not their guardian. You are not their anything. You want me out of your life? Well, right back atcha, buddy.”

I take a step towards her, trapping her between me and the passenger side door. “Let me remind you again.” I’m whispering at this point but she cringes back as though I’m screaming at her. “I’m not here for you.”

She looks away from me pointedly but I still catch the glossy sheen of tears in her eyes. She tries to get away but I only press my body in tighter.

“Ruslan,” she pants, “let me go.”

“Trust me: there’s nothing I would like better.” Thank God my powers of deception are much better honed than hers because otherwise, she would see right through my bullshit. I don’t want to let her go anywhere. “But unfortunately, my world has gotten entangled with yours. I have to make sure that’s corrected before I can let you go.”

I adjust my position carefully so that she won’t notice the throbbing erection that pinning her against the car has caused.

I’m gonna need to find a way to kill this particular beast. It doesn’t want to die easily.

“W-what does that mean?” she stammers.

“It means that someone has their eye on Josh. And if they’ve noticed Josh, they’ve noticed you and the girls, too. You’ve got a target on your back, Emma, and I need to take out the motherfucker who’s holding the gun.”

Her bottom lip trembles. “That’ll take too long.”

“What are you in such a hurry to get away from?”

“You!”

My scowl deepens. “I’m flattered—but I’m also not buying it.”

“It’s not so hard to believe,” she insists. “When relationships end, people want fresh starts.”

“What relationship?” I snarl.

There’s that flinch again. There’s that throbbing vein. As titillating as our proximity is right now, I don’t enjoy hurting her. Every time I do, the beast in me roars in protest. It goes against the grain, to hurt someone you feel you were born to protect.

“Yeah,” she says softly. “You’re right. We never had a relationship. You were paying me to sleep with you and I was desperate enough to say yes. I was your whore—that’s it.”