“Good. Now go. I have work to do.”
Sergey chuckles with a nod of his head, then turns around and heads through the open garage door rather than the main entrance. “Good luck with that, Kat.”
There’s something about the way he says my name that makes my skin crawl, but also sends a thrill down my spine. Either way, I can’t focus on it.
Without another look, he disappears, leaving a few lingering notes of his cologne behind.
“Who the hell was that?”
Before I can fully gather my bearings, I glance over my shoulder to find Roland coming in again with two wrapped sandwiches in his hands. I sigh. “Just a potential customer. He’s coming by tomorrow.”
He nods absently, keeping his gaze on the garage doors for another moment. “You know him?”
“Aside from seeing him at the meet the other night, no.”
Roland hums and hands me one of the sandwiches. “Feels like trouble.”
I murmur my thanks while I accept the offering and let myself settle into break mode. “To be fair, everything feels like trouble to you.”
His blue eyes gleam with subtle amusement. “Because it’s usually the case.”
Letting go of a breath, I don’t have a suitable rebuttal, and I refrain from arguing.
In truth, he’s right.
Sergey does feel like trouble, and I have no intentions of getting caught up in whatever chaos he might bring.
Chapter 5 - Sergey
Surveillance is a relatively simple task. It’s supposed to be anyway.
In essence, it involves watching the target. Recording patterns without getting directly involved. Always staying one step ahead by standing several steps behind. Keeping a clear head and forcing emotions out of the equation.
That’s how it should be, anyway.
But as I’ve come to realize, nothing about Katya feels simple.
It’s been weeks now, and I’ve been shadowing her movements like I don’t possibly have anything better to do. From following her Ducati through Brooklyn traffic to watching the lights in her condo windows flick on and off whenever she goes to bed, I see it, and I’m there. I know her routines now, along with her usual cafe stops and the general rhythm of her days.
I see more of her than my own family now, and even then, it isn’t enough.
No matter how much I see, I want more. I need it. It’s maddening.
Initially, I told myself it was just irritation, given how Roman threw the task at me like it was the last part of the equation he needed to handle, not that it genuinely was something he thought I’d be good at.
I told myself it was about loyalty to my family and the business, and that I was only hovering to keep Yuri in check.
But that isn’t the truth, and I know it.
As much as I want to think I have no personal connection to the assignment or any skin in the game, I can’t lie to myself forever.
I think about her constantly. Even during the rare moments when I’m not trailing Kat, she’s the only person on my mind.
She’s like a plague I can’t get rid of, and at this point, I’m not so sure I want to be free of her.
When she’s locked away safely in her condo with the lights off, and it’s my turn to disappear for the night, her laugh from that night at the car meetup fills my head. The smell of her garage and the sight of her wearing those paint-speckled coveralls drive me to the brink of insanity.
No matter how hard I try to ignore it and to keep myself as detached from the situation as possible, it’s pointless. She has thoroughly worked her way under my skin, and I’m nothing more than a prisoner to those thoughts of her.
