Page 74 of Betrayal and Vows

“I don’t have anything on my calendar today,” Lena says. “We’ll go today. I want to move in right away.”

And that’s definitely bullshit. But she sees an escape.

“I’ll arrange transportation,” I say.

“My car is free,” Vadim said.

Mikhail shoots his father a dirty look, but when Vadim stares him down, he quickly wipes it away.

Mikhail just got beat at his own game.

“I’ll go with you,” Elena says.

Once again, she looks at me.

It's not the usual assessment women give me. The one that starts at my shoulders and works its way down to my crotch like they have x-ray vision. This is something else. Something that makes my skin crawl with recognition.

She's studying my face.

Not my body.

My face.

The way she tilts her head, the slight narrowing of her eyes makes it look like she's trying to solve a puzzle. Like she's seeing something familiar in features that shouldn't be familiar to anyone from this life.

My blood turns to ice water.

Elena would have been around thirty years ago.

She would have been young, maybe early twenties, but she would have been part of this world. Part of the inner circle. She would have known the players, the families, the tragedies.

She would have known my mother.

I force myself to remain still, to keep my expression neutral, but my mind is racing. There's no way.

I was five when I disappeared. I've changed completely.

I’m no longer that little boy that had no idea how evil the world was.

But the eyes. Fuck, the eyes are the same.

The same blue that stared back at me from my mother's face every morning. The same blue that she used to tell me were angel eyes.

She finishes her breakfast, and I walk her to her bedroom to change for the outing. I remind her not to leave until I return.

It takes a few minutes to secure one of Vadim’s SUVs that are outfitted with bulletproof glass.

When I go to collect Lena, Elena is there.

And Lena is smiling.

Well, she’s trying not to smile but failing miserably.

“Unfortunately, my mother has had something come up,” Lena says coolly. “She won’t be able to come along.”

And now I know why she’s smiling.

My eyes go to Elena whose expression gives away nothing.