Dmitriy As soon as Katerina told me about her husband coming after her, I felt an overwhelming need to provide protection for her. Regardless of what happened between us in the future, I wouldn’t let that asshole get anywhere near her. After vowing to beat the life out of the bastard, I cupped Katerina’s cheek in my palm and insisted, “You didn’t deserve any of the horrible things he did to you, and I won’t let him do anything else to hurt you.” “I wish I’d never met him in the first place,” she begrudgingly commented with tears swelling under her eyelids. I used my thumb to swipe the tears away as they fell from the eye closest to my hand, then I sheepishly admitted, “I hope you never feel that way about me.” “Me, too,” Katerina whispered while searching my eyes.