The word lands between us, and she flinches. A tiny gesture that twists the knife in my gut deeper. “What does he want?”
I had hoped to spend a few hours of peace with my wife, but reality refuses to wait for us.
“He’s in Vegas. He’s picking me up tonight.”
“Should I be worried?” Sera tries to hide her trembling lip, lifting her chin defiantly.
“No.” I catch her shoulders in my hands, stroking my thumbs over her skin. “There’s other security around if protestors try to disrupt the opening.”
“I’m not talking about me,” she snaps, hazel eyes flashing. “I’m asking if I should worry you won’t come back. Why is he here?”
“I’ll come back.” My chest aches with the realization that her concern was for me.
“What does he want from you?”
I hesitate. “I don’t know. He says he has a job for me.”
Her eyes cloud, and I realize she’s thinking about what a ‘job’ means. She chews her lip, and as much as I want to reach for her, reassure her that what I do for the bratva won’t touch our lives, I can’t lie to her. Not about something as important as this.
Because I’m not a bodyguard. I’m bratva.
My stomach clenches when she turns from me and paces to the window to stare at the Las Vegas landscape.
I’m an asshole. Why did I think this would work?
“If you’ve changed your?—”
“It’s not a coincidence,” Sera says, turning back to face me, her brow creased, cutting me off.
“What?”
“Mikhail showing up in Vegas on one of the few nights we’re here with a mysterious last-minute job. It’s not a coincidence. It’s a test.”
“Yes.”
“Because he doesn’t trust you?” Her voice wavers.
Her worry is for me. Pressure grows in my chest, and I have to clear my throat before I can answer. “Mikhail doesn’t trust anyone. I’d say the closest who ever came was my father, and he betrayed him.” I shrug. “My loyalty will be in question for a while.”
“But you’ll be safe?”
As long as I do whatever he asks.
I nod.
She blows out a breath, her body relaxing. “Okay.”
“Okay?”
“I trust you know what you’re doing. And if you tell me not to worry, I won’t.” She scrunches her nose, a small smile breaking through. “Well, I won’t have a panic attack anyway. But if you think I’m not waiting up for you, you’re out of your mind.”
There isn’ta single doubt in my mind that the massive individual planted near the concierge desk is the man we are looking for. At least six-four, maybe taller, with shoulders broad enough to block the desk behind him, the copper-haired man glowers at everyone around him with piercing light blue eyes.
Sera’s pace picks up the moment she spots him, a wide, genuine smile breaking across her face.The mountain doesn’t smile back, but there is a small flicker at the corner of his mouth and a slight softening of the lines in his forehead when he sees her.
“Sera.” The slight Scots accent surprises me. “I hear you have something for me.”
“So nice to see you too, Callum,” she says sarcastically. “This is Liev. He’s helping with this assignment.”
