“It’s not fucking ownership. If I owned you, I wouldn’t give two flying fucks about you because I’d already have you in my grasp.” He clutches my hand and I wince at how hard it is. “I want you to listen to me and listen carefully. You’re part of me. That means I’m critical of you like I’m critical of myself. I see your safety as my own, sometimes even more so because you tend to think of others’ comfort more than your own. I hated it when you closed yourself behind a fortress and kept me out. I need you to understand that.”
I swallow thickly, his words demolishing a wall inside me brick by brick.
“You put me as Spare Parts in your phone when we were thirteen.”
“Because you demanded your own room. You said, and I quote, ‘I don’t want to share space with that vermin.’ I’m nothing if not petty.”
I wince. That was around the time everything started to fall apart.
All I can do is nod and pull my hand from his.
He groans when he lays his wrist on his thigh, and the anger from earlier washes over me again.
“Give me a second.”
“Where are you going?” he asks, but I lock him in the car so he doesn’t try to follow.
Then I march back to the annex house. I catch a glimpse of Killian and Mia walking toward the main house as she signs furiously and he listens with a tight expression.
Jeremy is talking to Nikolai in front of the annex where the guards are still poised nearby.
I stride toward them, but once again, I’m stopped by the blond guy.
Nikolai lifts his head and a frown appears between his brows. His hair is tied in a ponytail and he’s actually wearing a T-shirt and trousers. But then again, he wouldn’t want to get my brother’s fucking blood on him.
“Let him go, Ilya,” he tells the blond and he reluctantly releases me.
I walk forward and I drive my fist into his face. He reels back and clutches his cheek as his darkened eyes snap to mine.
Jeremy is stunned for a second. I am, too, as I resist the urge to shake my hand. That fucking hurts.
It’s worth it, though.
“Congratulations, Nikolai. You get your fucking wish.” I point a finger at his chest. “We’re over.”
Jeremy stares between us with a calculative expression, as if he’s linking patterns, but I honestly couldn’t care less anymore.
I turn to leave, but Nikolai grabs me by the arm and his hard chest presses to my back as he growls in my ear, “In your fucking dreams, baby.”
Fuck him.
I elbow him and release myself from his grip. Without looking back, I jog to where I left Lan.
Maybe it’s time I put this whole thing behind me.
For good.