“Fifteen—thousand?”
The quietness in his posture wasn’t the wind-up before an attack. After living with some of my mom’s ex-boyfriends as a kid, I knew what that looked like.
No, his stillness and lowered shoulders spoke of sadness, like when you’re trying not to scare a skinny, dirty kitten. “Start at twenty million.”
“Dollars?”I yelled a little. I hadn’t meant to yell.
“I’ll talk you down to fifteen, if that will make you feel better. I’m a very good negotiator.”
“I don’t think you are. You could have gotten out of this for five grand.”
Nicolai Petrovich Romanov, the almost-tsar, laughed.
His laugh was easy, and his eyes crinkled as he smiled into it, obviously making fun of me. “Maybe you’re a very good negotiator.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t try to buy a used car,” I scoffed at him. “They will see you coming a mile away and slap the glittery price tags on the cars’ windshields.”
He nodded. “Probably so. I’ll have my lawyers draw up a discreet contract for twenty-five million dollars for a settlement.”
“Twenty-five?You said you were talking me down to fifteen!”
“And you said I was a terrible negotiator. I guess you’re right.”
“This is weird, Nico. Now I’m beginning to think you’re fooling with me and have an ulterior motive. Maybe you’re not really the sort-of tsar.”
His laugh dwindled, and he checked his phone again. “Sadly, no. What happens next will convince you that I am exactly who I say I am.”
“What do you mean?—”
Multiple fists pounded on the hotel room door like they were beating a spider to death. “Mr. Romanov?Nicolai?Are you in there?Open this door!”
Nico sighed. “And that is my security team. Welcome to my world.”
PART FOUR
lexi and nico
CHAPTER 24
security arrives
LEXI BYRNE
The hotel roomdoor rattled under hard-knocking fists. “Mr. Romanov!Nico!”men shouted from outside.
Terror seized my nerves and rattled them around. I was from a small town in Nebraska andnot at allused to peoplepoundingon doors. “Who’s that?” I demanded at Nico.
Nicolai had the grace to look chagrined, discomfort lowering his chin and lifting one side of his plush lips. “My security staff. I texted them a bit over an hour ago to come pick us up.”
He padded over to the door, his long, bare legs flexing under the white towel wrapped around his waist.
If he’d sauntered any more slowly, his feet might have left dragging tracks on the hotel room’s flat carpeting.
He rested his hand on the knob, sighing again, delaying, before he twisted it.
Six men swarmed into the room, taking up positions by the window and around the walls, which made the one-bed hotelroom very crowded. They were all tall and strong-looking, and they scanned the room like robots.
Odd lumps bulged under their too-long suit jackets, especially under their arms or at their hips.
