"You disappear for three years and then come back and demand things from me? You made your interest clear a long time ago. I’ll never answer to you—get used to it already.”

Cold eyes pierced her with an arrow through the chest. “What part of ‘call me if you need anything’ did you not fucking understand?

Her pulse beats unevenly. A part of her couldn’t believe they were actually going back to that night. “Please. When a woman doesn’t hear from a man in two weeks, she gets the picture crystal clear.” Another response ricocheted on the walls in her head: You weren’t there. You weren’t there for me, just like everybody else.

Resentment wrapped around her throat.

“Or maybe it was just easier for you to accept a new husband with enough money to keep your self-indulgence supported for the rest of your life.”

{{user}} laughed and then choked on it in fury. “I despise you.”

“The feeling is mutual.”

Levi headed toward the door, and she turned to watch him go. “Tell me, Officer, were you this cold to your mother?”

He stopped in his tracks.

He turned around. If expressions could kill, she’d be dead. “Shut your goddamn mouth.”

She laughed coldly. “What are you going to do? Make me scream? Is that what you did to your mam—” The air escaped her in a rush as he grabbed her by the throat and pressed her back against the wall.

“You know nothing of my past,” he growled. His words were different, rougher, than they should have been. It took her a moment to understand the significance while she was trying to catch her breath. And when she did, she stared at him, panting.

The bastard was Russian.