“Wait.” Her voice cracks and she shakes her head, swallowing back the visible lump in her throat. “You bought my siblings a house?”
“I did.”
“Thathouse?” She points at my lap top.
“That house.”
“But… why?”
“Because they matter to you,” I say. “And they deserve better.”
Amara has to turn away and I’m not sure if I should offer her a hug or a tissue or what. In the end, I let her have her space to silently sob for all of ten seconds before she collects herself and turns back to me.
“You have no idea what this will mean to them. What it means to me.”
“I think it’s in everyone’s best interest if you’re all safe.”
Amara smiles with a nod. “Yes, sir.”
There are a million emotions behind her eyes. I don’t know when I learned to read them, or when I started to realize what to look for. Like many things about Amara, it seems this one snuck up on me too. Just like the warmth at the center of my chest. Pride, I tell myself, for a job well done.
That’s not what this is,a spicy voice just like hers whispers at the back of my mind,and you know it.
I look away, suddenly uncomfortable.
“Alright. Well, we have work to do.”
“Yes, Mr. Rozanov.”
She stands up and makes her way to the door. Then she stops, looking back over her shoulder. “Ransome?”
“Yes?”
“Thank you.”
Amara doesn’t wait for any answer. She closes the door behind her and clicks away on her heels.
I pick up my coffee. Then I shove up from my chair and stand near the window, looking down at the city.
I did it for her. And I did it for them. But there was more motive to it than that.
The city is teaming with people. All those people are up to something. Some of them are up to no good.
And I’ll be damned if anyone Amara cares about gets hurt.
The house will be wired. No hidden cameras or anything like that. But now that the Chadovichs are doubling down, I need eyes on everyone. No one is coming anywhere near Amara and her family.
Not Tristan. Not his guys.
Not even Amara’s father.
47
AMARA
The cuffs are not tight enough to hurt, but possibly tight enough to leave a mark. I guess we will find out.
“You’ve been a bad girl.” Ransome hooks the chain linking the leather and fuzzy cuffs to the bedframe and forces my hands above my head.
