"Good." I lean in closer, until our faces are inches apart. "But you're more afraid of what happens if I let you go. Aren't you?"
She nods, just barely.
"Say it. Say you want me to keep you."
"I..." She closes her eyes. "I want you to keep me."
The words hit me like a gunshot. Victory and possession and something dangerously close to joy.
"Then you're mine," I murmur against her lips. "Mine to protect. Mine to keep safe. Mine to—"
My phone vibrates in my pocket, shattering the moment. I pull back with a curse, fishing it out to check the screen.
Adrik. My oldest brother. My boss.
Fuck.
"I need to take this," I tell Ava, already moving toward the bedroom. "Stay here. Make yourself comfortable.”
I don't wait for her response. Just stride into the master bedroom and close the door, hitting the answer button.
"Yes."
"Tell me you didn't just start a war with the FBI." Adrik's voice is cold, controlled. The voice of a man who's built an empire and has no patience for threats to it.
"Two agents tried to interfere with my retrieval of the target. I neutralized the threat."
"Neutralized." He lets out a harsh laugh. "You shot federal agents, Renat. In front of the girl. What the fuck were you thinking?"
I wasn't thinking. That's the problem. The moment those agents burst through that door, the moment they pointed their weapons at Ava, something primitive took over. Something that couldn't tolerate anyone threatening what was mine.
"They're alive," I say instead. "And they can't prove it was me."
"They don't need to prove it. They know it was us." A pause. "Where is she now?"
"Secure."
"That's not an answer."
"Here. My suite. No one knows except you."
"Bring her to my office.” His words are clipped in that way that tells me shit is going to hit the fan.
Everything in me recoils at the idea. The hotel is secure, yes. But I don’t want her anywhere but here. My brothers will look at Ava and see leverage. A tool. Something to be used and discarded. Which is what she was supposed to be all along.
Fuck.
"No."
Silence on the other end. Then: "No?"
"She stays with me. I can protect her better than—"
"This isn't about protection, Renat. This is about you going soft." Adrik’s voice drops, dangerous. "I gave you this assignment because I thought you could handle it. Was I wrong?"
"I have it under control."
"Do you? Because from where I'm standing, it looks like you've compromised the entire operation for a piece of ass."
