I was so engrossed that I didn’t realize Aleks and Lev had appeared. I don’t know how long they’d been standing there when I finally felt their burning stares from the doorway.
After a few moments of them tracking my erratic movement, I blurted, “Just say it, and g-get it over with.”
A few moments passed. “It’s not too late,” Aleks said.
Whirling around, I pinned him with an astonished look. “Excuse me?”
“You know, to let her go.” When I continued staring at him, he said, “I mean, she hasn’t seen your face or any of ours.”
“She knows the B-Beast,” I countered.
Lev shrugged. “That’s just an alias at a sex club.”
With a nod, Aleks added, “We could always bribe someone in the precinct to ignore the case.”
“After everything I said, you t-two still t-think I can just let her go?”
Aleks and Lev exchanged a glance before Aleks said, “Look, we know you’re under a shit-ton of stress with what happened to Dima and trying to prepare to take over.”
“T-That’s not what t-this is about,” I countered.
“Are you sure about that?”
Gritting my teeth, I growled, “Yes, I’m fucking sure.”
Aleks held up his hands. “All right,brat.You know we have your back.”
“I’m starting to wonder.”
Aleks’s dark eyes bulged. “Are you doubting our commitment to you?”
“More of your commitment t-to my p-plan.”
Cocking his brows, Aleks countered, “Excuse me for falling back on all my training.”
Even though he irritated the hell out of me, I knew he was right. It was a batshit crazy plan I’d just undertaken. If one of them had broached the same plan, I know I would’ve gone off the same way they were.
But I couldn’t let them know that.
Jabbing a finger at Lev, I ordered, “B-Bring Sarah to me.”
“Yes, bossman,” he replied.
“Watch it,” I growled.
After he left, I went over to the desk and took out the locked box I’d placed there this morning. During one of my many pacing moments, an idea came to me that involved the contents within.
“What are you doing?” Aleks questioned as I unlocked it with a code.
“Sweetening the pot.”
“Excuse me?”
“Don’t worry about it,” I replied, as I started stuffing the cash inside it into a manila envelope.
“Oh, I’m going to worry about why you just put fifty thousand dollars in some random envelope that you claim is for ‘sweetening the pot’.”
“It’s all part of my plan to ensure that Sarah agrees to treat me.”
