She was endlessly tempting as my sweet, innocent Sofia. Discovering her darker side only made her siren’s call louder. At this point in my life, being compatible with someone meek and innocent would have been a stretch. Knowing she could see me for the complex man I’d become and not run in fear made her that much more alluring.

Sofia had a little bit of devil in her angel eyes.

The problem was, her dark side was putting her in danger. The Russians were ruthless, and while we did business with them on occasion, we certainly weren’t allies. I could hardly stop her from selling forgeries—who was I to judge her for her crimes?—but working with the Russians was out of the question. I could just as easily find her the contacts and help broker her deals without the added danger of the bratva.

Convincing her of that was going to be the hard part, and it didn’t take a genius to know that now wasn’t the time. I’d pushed her as far as she was willing to go for the night. Following her upstairs was only going to make things worse. We had plenty of time to work through our issues. Sofia slipped through my fingers once before, and I wasn’t about to let it happen again.

“Everything’s such a disaster,” I told Michael once we were seated at the small breakfast place the next morning. “Nico and I were both keeping so many secrets; it’s no wonder things went south. Now that he’s back, everything’s coming to light, and it’s a hot mess.”

“I always wondered why you didn’t tell him about your family if you guys were so close. I would have asked, but you never wanted to talk about him.” He looked at me sheepishly, as if I might get mad at him for admitting his thoughts.

“I get it—it doesn’t make much sense. Nico was my happy place. It almost felt like I had two different lives—the school Sofia and the home Sofia. Put watercolor paints too close together, and they blur, becoming one. I didn’t want the purity I had with Nico to be tainted by the uglier side of my family, so I kept it all a secret. Maybe it sounds odd now, but I compartmentalized from a very young age, so it’s hard to explain.”

“Actually, that does make sense. It was clear he meant a lot to you. You were even protective of his memory. I could see not wanting to mix the two.”

“I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to be selfish by not talking about him. It just hurt so much.” I glanced down at my mug of steaming coffee. “He was trying to protect me by leaving me, but he did it in a way that broke my heart. He hoped if he hurt me badly enough, I wouldn’t bother fighting for him.”

Michael’s eyes narrowed, a malicious glint hardening his gaze. It gave me a rare glimpse of the danger others must have seen when they looked at him. “What do you mean, hurt you badly enough?”