“We’re almost there, Ivo.” Vitki waved his hand forward. “You can see the lights through the trees there.”
Ivo could. The closer they got, the brighter the lights shone. “Do they know we’re coming?”
“No.”
“But wouldn’t Max’s body have arrived by now?”
“Yes, but no one knows you have accompanied him. It is safer this way.”
A cold knot formed in Ivo’s gut. “Why? Why should anyone care?”
“You are now a very powerful man, Ivo. There are those who will want to wield that power for themselves.”
“You know, except for that nice ride in the jet, I haven’t seen the draw of having all this money. Every time I turn around, someone is warning me that I can no longer trust anyone.”
“You can trust me,” Vitki insisted.
“But how do I know that?” Ivo asked. “I don’t know you. Max never mentioned you. You’re just someone Mr. Berkshire introduced me to, and I don’t even know if I can trust him.” Ivo tossed his hand up in the air, exasperated. “I don’t know who to trust.”
Ivo blinked when Vitki grabbed him by the arms. “You can trust me, Ivo.”
“How am I supposed to believe that?” Ivo felt something thick in his throat. “Anyone can say that.”
“I have no way to prove to you that you can trust me, Ivo, merely my word.”
Ivo frowned, not knowing if that was good enough.
He jerked back when something wet landed on his cheek. He reached up and wiped it away with his finger. “What—”
“It’s starting to rain, Ivo.”
Ivo glanced up, then blinked rapidly when several water drops landed on his face. “The moon was out just a minute ago.”
Now it was all dark clouds.
“It happens that way sometimes. One minute it’s totally clear out and you can see the moon or the sun, and the next it’s overcast and raining,” Vitki said. “The Krkonose Mountains are as dangerous as they are beautiful.”
“Then why live here?”
Vitki winked at Ivo. “It’s beautiful.”
Ivo was finding that many things that were beautiful were dangerous, much like the man he was staring at. Vitki was beautiful to look at, earth-shatteringly beautiful, but there was an aura about him that put him firmly in the “hazardous” category.
Ivo didn’t know if that made him trustworthy or not, and he was afraid to find out. He didn’t think he could handle it if Vitki turned out to be someone he couldn’t trust. His world was already going topsy-turvy, and there was only so much he could take before he broke.
Ivo was starting to wish Max had never left him an inheritance.
It just wasn’t worth it.
