Double damn.
I had other matters to deal with, though. Like the noises my stomach was making. My innards didn’t feel right. I wasn’t sure if I needed to rush to the bathroom or not. I was so close to getting my husband back that I wasn’t sure what to do with myself. The pull to be near him was almost excruciating.
“Mia,” Evelina said, taking my hands. She squeezed and rubbed, trying to warm them up. “Bring them home with you.”
I refused to sugarcoat anything. “I won’t be coming back,” I whispered, “if I can’t.”
My heart had already made the decision. I understood the depth of what my parents felt without each other. I understood the depth of what I’d asked of Saverio and how hard it must have been to agree.
Tears swam in her eyes. She wrapped her arms around me, pulling me in tight. I hugged her back, trying to keep my composure. It wasn’t time to lose it.Later. I could fall apart after.
We parted. Evelina took a step back while I took a step toward the door. ??? stood up and fixed his shirt, like he was used to wearing a suit and needed to straighten it after sitting. He was dressed in all black. Lev, too.
All three of us were in all black. Intentional?
“Wait!” Evelina said, her hand shooting out, barely missing ???. “You’re leaving me, too?”
He studied her face—caveman with butterfly effect again. “You will worry about me when I am gone?”
She huffed out a breath. “I amworried. My father—my brother—now my sister-in law, whoismy sister—” She stopped abruptly and wrung her hands.
That was so uncharacteristically Evelina. She was the one whoalwayshad her shit together. She was losing it a little. Or letting us see the little. Inside, she might have been in knots so tight she was having a hard time breathing.
That was me.
He stepped up to her, and she held her ground. He was taller, making her look up at him. He reached out and barely touched her face. “This will not take long. Go sightsee.”
Her mouth fell open, but she snapped it shut. “Sightsee?”
He nodded, backing away. “You are under my protection,” he said. “You are mine. No one will touch you.” In Russian he added, “I will kill them if they do.”
I wondered if the last image of Evelina I would ever see was her falling apart—wringing her hands, tears streaking down her cheeks. I knew that, without her computers and software, she felt helpless. Totally out of control.
Control.What a lie. We control what we can and the rest—we take as it comes.
??? veered off and took a different car. All black with a motor that purred. Fast.
Once we were on our own, I turned in my seat, facing Lev. Maybe because he had always been someone who seemed to weave in and out of our lives—only years later did the tapestry show his mark—I never truly noticed how handsome he was.
The dangerous and slick air around him always seemed to hide him. Not anymore.
Blonde hair, but on the darker side. Smooth tan skin. Blue eyes that were ice blue. Chiseled features.
“Is Lev your real name?” I asked.
He didn’t say anything. His eyes glistened with the lights starting to wake up in Russia.
“I need to talk.” I sighed. “I have too much anxious energy.”
“Sounds familiar,” he said.
I grinned. “Confirm or deny—Lev?”
“Confirm,” he said.
“Man.” I almost whistled. “Mamma must have done a number on you.” For an assassin to give his real name? The infatuation must have been strong. But she had that effect on people. She could get the scariest monsters to open up to her, even if they still wanted to kill her after.
“She cannot help herself,” he said.
