And if anyone were to ever ask, I wasn’t choosing a life of crime to be here with these people.
I had simply found my place with the complicated man I cherished.
33
MIKHAIL
Roman winced and shook his head. “Sorry.”
I’d just woken from a lousy nap in my office again. “What do you mean, no one can find him?”
“He’s hiding,” he replied. “We searched everywhere for him. We questioned people from the hospital, friends, neighbors. Jack Harroun is hiding.”
Because he has to know that his friends were killed. That I killed them. And that I’ll be on the warpath to make him pay too.
“Did you check at the Giovanni businesses?” I asked.
“Of course.” He shrugged. “Our spies haven’t seen him. And if they are hiding him, they won’t leak that news.”
I stood, stretching. “Well, the fucker’s got limited time.” He would be dead, by my order. I wouldn’t allow anything else. Claire deserved to be safe—with me or away from me.
“Andre was speaking with Claire earlier, too,” Roman added.
“She’s up?” I asked, looking at the time.
“Yeah. And he’s been asking her about Harroun so we can have all the intel possible to hunt him down.”
At the news that Claire was awake, I wanted to ask if she’d told anyone her choice. If she’d made up her mind. It was possible that she’d want to think it through. With how analytical and clinical she could be, I wouldn’t be shocked if she wanted to ask questions about how she could start over with a new life somewhere else.
But I held back from asking my nephew if she’d given him an answer. If she’d given anyone a hint that she would want to stay or go.
I headed to my room to change before seeking her out. Even if she was still thinking about my offer, deciding between the two options, I couldn’t avoid the urge to check on her, to see her and make sure she was handling her trauma well.
Impatient to find her in her room, I hurried into my suite. I entered and closed the door behind me almost with a slam, too rushed to slow down and close it normally.
The slam was loud, but it was the motion in my room that grabbed my attention more.
She was here.
Claire was sitting on a chair inmyroom, as if she had been waiting for me. The slam of the door, and maybe the rush that I’d entered with, startled her and she’d jumped.
“Fuck,” she whispered, pressing her hand to her chest. “You scared me.”
Dammit.I had to remember she wasn’t as hard as us. As me. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.” I approached her, wary and wishful. “Not after all you’ve been through.”
She sighed, lowering her hand as she watched me carefully. “Don’t start acting like I’m a fragile, delicate fool now.”
“Youaredelicate.”
“If you mean that in the sense that I’m something to treasure, fine. But if you’re implying I’m a skittish wimp, don’t. I’ve never considered myself overly jumpy.”
I walked closer, not stopping until she was within my reach. The proximity seemed to be the trigger to get her to answer me, to give me the reply I was waiting for.
“And don’t you start acting like a fool, either,” she warned, almost matter-of-fact yet playful about it.
“I’m a fool?” With her, I felt like one. She mattered that much.
“Yes. A fool. Because it’s only stupid drivel for you to ever suggest that I walk away from you without the chance to ever see you again.”
