Cara sat at the edge of the pool, dipping her toes in the water, her eyes constantly scanning the perimeter like a deer in the headlights.
And not unlike how I was feeling.
I’d, of course, met Jemma and Fee before but not Cara. She was silent, an introvert, probably as shy as Mira who sat beside me and pressed her shoulder against mine in the same comforting way she’d done all my life.
I was the protector; she was the one helping me calm down. That had been our dynamic ever since we were kids.
I focused back on our surroundings—swept the entire pool area. I should be planning my next move—do anything more productive than sitting here. Instead, I kept glancing at the entrance, waiting for a tall figure with fiery blue eyes to appear.
“He’s not coming, you know,” Mira whispered, nudging me gently.
“Who?” I feigned ignorance, but the heat creeping up my neck betrayed me.
“Ivan. Anton told me they might be in meetings with Vince and the others all day.” Her knowing smile made me want to shove her into the pool.
But if everybody was tied up in meetings, it at least meant Grey was, as well.
“You’ve checked the entrance seventeen times in the last hour.”
“I have not.” I sounded like a petulant child, even to my own ears. “I’m just…monitoring our surroundings.”
“Mmhmm.” Mira’s eyebrows lifted in that infuriating way that told me she saw right through me.
When had I started expecting him to be nearby? When had his absence become something I noticed, something that left an odd emptiness in the space around me? It wasn’t just his protection I missed—though God knew we needed it—but his presence. The dry humor that appeared when I least expected it. The intensity in his gaze when helooked at me like I was a puzzle he was determined to solve.
“Wait.” I turned to Mira and stared at her. “Anton? When did you talk to Anton Zotov? And since when are the two of you on a first-name basis? And what else don’t I know?”
Mira stared at the pool instead of looking me in the eyes, and red tinged her ears which was all the confirmation I needed. Was there something going on between Anton Zotov and my sister, something she wasn’t ready to acknowledge…or be confronted about?
Finally Mira faced me head-on. “You’re reading too much into it. Just because you’ve got the hots for a Russian bad boy doesn’t mean everyone else has too.”
“Who’s got the hots for who?” Fee asked. Apparently, they had ended their discussions since all three of them were looking at us.
Jemma gave me a knowing look. “You know, if you stare at that gate any harder, it might actually burst into flames.”
“I’m not staring at anything,” I protested though my voice lacked conviction.
Fee snorted, not even bothering to hide her amusement. “Please. You’ve got it bad, girl.”
“Got what bad?” I challenged though my racing heart already knew the answer.
“The hots for the Russian,” Fee said bluntly, flipping a page. “Can’t say I blame you. He’s not all bad, and he’s built like a brick house…the sexy kind.”
“Fee!” Mira gasped though her scandalized expression quickly gave way to a giggle.
“Who’s built like a brick house?” Nina Zotov, who just joined us, asked.
I narrowed my eyes and glared at Fee. Not that it had any impact.
“What? I’m just stating facts. Alex is still my number one, obviously, but I’m not blind. And I got a thing for neck tattoos.”
I rolled my eyes, trying to ignore the warmth spreading through my chest at the mere mention of Ivan. “You’re all delusional. He’s a Zotov. He kidnapped me, remember? Stockholm syndrome isn’t really my thing.”
“Mmhmm,” Jemma hummed, unconvinced. “That’s why you light up like a Christmas tree whenever you square off with him. But I get it; he looks at you like he wants to devour you.”
“I do not; he does not?—”
A sudden alarm blared through the compound, making us all jump. Mila and Nina exchanged a look before jumping to their feet.
