Bodhi’s eyes zone in on where his boss touches me, and for a second, they brighten, glowing in the murky room. It must be a trick of the light.
“Just doing my job,” Bodhi replies, dragging his focus back to Kozlov’s face. “I know you don’t want some fool putting marks on your assets.”
“Stunning, isn’t she?” Kozlov says to Bodhi, watching his reaction. “I expect she’ll fetch a very high price.”
Bodhi barely glances at me.
“Not my type.” He shrugs, bored. “Looks like more trouble than she’s worth.”
The dismissal is so casual, so complete, that it takes a moment for me to register.
Well, screw him.
“You might be right.” Kozlov laughs. “But for some, that’s the appeal.” Kozlov looks over to where Dimitri’s leaning on the long bar, still flirting and completely oblivious to what’s even happened. “Dimitri?”
Kozlov’s impatient tone slices through the music. His second-in-command finally acknowledges his mistake and hurries over, face darkening, as he looks at Bodhi, then back at his boss, and realises something is going on.
“I was?—”
Kozlov cuts him off with a mere flick of his fingers.
“Flirting while you were supposed to be protecting my investment. While Lennox did your job.” Kozlov’s tone could freeze vodka. If we weren’t in such a public place, I’d be worried for Dimitri’s safety.
The look Dimitri shoots Bodhi promises retribution, but Bodhi just tips his head to Kozlov when he spots three men waiting by the ropes, then returns to his post by the door as if nothing ever happened. As he moves around me, his fingers ghost along my lower back, and heat pools low in my abdomen from that simple touch.
Am I so desperate for a hero that I’m lusting after the man who just referred to me as an asset?
With a withering look at Dimitri, Kozlov pulls his phone from his inside pocket and turns his back, speaking in rapid Russian. When he turns back around, smug satisfaction radiates from him, and he nods toward one of his men, who’s stationed by a heavy black curtain on the far wall that I hadn’t noticed before.
“You’re lucky I’m still pleased with you for finding this one,” Kozlov mutters to Dimitri. “But don’t get complacent, brother.”
A tall, slim man flanked by two security guards enters through the ropes and walks straight to the curtain, which is held open just long enough for him to slip through.
Behind it, I catch a glimpse of a semi-circular booth that’s surrounded by guards, with one woman sitting alone, staring straight ahead with a look of fiery determination on her face. As the man slides into a booth beside her, she looks at him with red-hot rage shining in her eyes, and a flicker of recognition tickles my brain before the curtain falls, and they’re shut off from view once more.
Kozlov pockets his phone and rubs his hands together as Dimitri stands by his side, staring at where the men disappearedfrom, a twisted smile on his scarred face. “It’s been a good night. Very promising.”
His smile turns predatory as he signals someone on the far side of the room and points at me. “Time for you to go.”
My stomach drops.
“Lennox, escort us out.”
Bodhi falls into step at my side as we exit through a secret door that looks like a mirror, down a concrete corridor that’s dull and unglamorous, like a service hallway and not a private entrance. When we emerge, it’s into a nondescript dark section of the car park, far from the glamorous red carpet we walked down when we first arrived.
Two black sedans are waiting at the curb.
Here in the dark, crisp night air and without the comforting thrum of people and music all around, I instantly feel vulnerable again. Every survival instinct is telling me not to get into those cars, to flee, but then common sense kicks in, and I realise I don’t have a chance of getting away, not here, not now. Not without getting Jake killed.
So instead, I give Kozlov a tight nod as he ushers me inside. I slide across to the far side of the black leather seat, hating how cold it feels against my bare skin.
“Dimitri, you stay with me.” Kozlov barks, hand still on the door, as he holds it wide. “We still need to discuss tomorrow’s arrangements.” He turns to Bodhi. “You will escort Miss Wilson. The driver knows where to go.” He steps away then, making room for Bodhi to pass, before adding, “And he’ll report back to me if you try anything stupid.”
Dimitri mutters something in Russian but does as he’s told before tossing a final warning glare at the man mountain currently folding his huge frame into the seat beside me, filling up the rear of the vehicle and making the car dip beneath his weight.
Shuffling over further, suddenly aware that I’m trapped in this tiny space with a man who’s got a violent reputation, my heart pounds.
“Am I going back to the apartment?” I ask.
