Page 75 of Betrayal and Vows

“Let’s go,” I say, keeping my tone gruff. “It will rain soon.”

“I’ll expect you for tea,” Elena says before she breezes out of the room.

Lena and I walk downstairs and into the garage. I open the door for her and climb into the driver’s seat.

We say nothing as I pull down the long driveway, passing several guards. The gate opens and I speed away.

We still don’t talk. I’m almost certain the SUV is bugged.

It was way too easy to get out of the house with her.

“I—”

I stop her with a shake of my head.

Thankfully, she listens to me and doesn’t say anything else.

When we arrive at the old cottage I feel the shift in her demeanor. And then a soft gasp.

“I haven’t been here in so long,” she whispers.

I park the SUV and we both climb out.

As we approach the house, she lets out a long sigh.

“I didn’t know he was restoring the dacha,” she says.

I nod. “Apparently it’s your wedding gift.”

She doesn’t laugh. “It was the only place I ever felt safe.”

She doesn’t say the rest, but I hear it anyway. He’s poisoning her special place because he’s that big of an asshole.

Overgrown grass. Broken shutters. Vines strangling the fence. But beneath it—there’s beauty.

I scan the perimeter and have to say it’s not great. Security would be shit here.

Good. That’s what I’ll tell them.

She unlocks the door and pushes it open.

A powerful wave of dust hits us as soon as we open the door. Lena sneezes. The cutest little sound.

“Good?” I ask.

“Yes.”

We move into the house and walk through, room by room.

“I used to sit in that corner with my legs in the sun and pretend I was invisible,” Lena says with a soft smile.

“You still do that.”

She turns with a frown. “Do what?”

“Disappear. In plain sight.”

She doesn’t deny it. Just gives me a ghost of a smile.