I put my hand on the barrel of her gun and lowered it. Amalia didn’t resist, but she was on edge, the tension evident in her shoulders. As I scanned the vast courtyard, I concluded we were too deep inside the property to gauge any possible weak areas or unmanned entry points.
“Are we safe here?”
“Why? You need to hide again?”
With an eye roll, I tilted my head. I thought I saw her crack a smile for a second, but I must have imagined the gesture because her deep red lips pulled into a frown as she took two steps back and holstered her weapon.
“I can’t give you a concrete answer. But to ease your nerves, yes, we’re safe here.”
“To ease my nerves?”
I ate the space between us. Amalia, similar to Eva in height, craned her neck to meet my eyes. She wasn’t the least bit fazed by my closeness, though I wasn’t surprised.
“I think you forget who I am. I don’t scare easily.”
She chuckled almost tauntingly. “Ah, the younger Cain brother. Cute.”
Choosing to ignore her dig, I pressed for more answers.
“Are you on someone’s hit list?”
“Look around you. A woman like me, like my family, we’re always on someone’s roster. You don’t get wealthy on blood money without gaining a few enemies. If anyone knows that, it’s you.”
She turned away from me, and as uncalled for as it was, my eyes strayed to her ass.
I’d heard of Amalia through Leni several years ago, but it wasn’t until Eva’s capture that I’d seen her in person. My first impression of the woman was, of course, her striking beauty and signature red lips. But there was more to her than surface-level beauty. Amalia was a professional in every sense of the word. She carried herself as if she owned every space she occupied. I’d taken notice, though at the time, it seemed she only had eyes for Derek.
That night, she had all but taken over the operation, equipped with blueprints of the Belov compound, and had even spoken over Derek, damn near telling him to shut up and sit the fuck down. Between everything that happened, finding Eva, and Derek almost dying, Amalia’s presence in my memories had become obsolete—until the day she came to collect.
“So I ask you again: Is it safe here? And this isn’t about me. Eva and my niece are here. Today was too close.”
She sighed and seemed to relax, her slightly accented voice softer..
“Your niece is safe. We have security and safe rooms.”
Amalia still had her back to me, and I dared to reach out. “What about you? Are you okay?” My fingers brushed her elbow, and she immediately recoiled and whirled to face me. Her expression was harsh again, her smile cynical.
“There’s no need to pretend. You and I both know what this is. You don’t give a damn about me, just as I don’t about you.”
“It’s a question I’d ask a random stranger on the street if they’d tripped over their own feet.”
She crossed her arms. “And you’d ask said stranger this while checking out their tits?”
If she thought she’d caught me in some embarrassing situation, she was dead wrong.
“Only if they look as good as yours.”
Amalia’s plump lips opened as if she were about to respond, but she closed them instead, releasing a small huff of air.
The wordadorablerolled around in my thoughts, and I didn’t know what to make of it, mainly because the woman standing before me was anything but. She was feral, with claws and a sharp tongue—and like a chambered bullet, ready to tear someone’s head off.
Vicious.
Again, she turned away from me. “My staff will show you to your quarters. When you’re settled, you and I can discuss the terms of this arrangement.”
My quarters.Not ours. Just mine.
Not that I’d arrived with the expectations of reaping the benefits of a husband, but she couldn’t possibly expect me to live shackled to a woman I couldn’t touch for the next three years.
