“Jesus,” Reino mumbles.
Exactly my thought. “I’m taking extra precautions with Tatiana and Noah’s safety, especially when we go back to New York.”
“When are you planning on telling Teszner you have her?” Reino asks.
Already deriving pleasure from that prospect, I smile. “The element of surprise is a powerful weapon. I’ll inform him when Tatiana has signed all the contracts.”
Kent looks at me, but he doesn’t ask the question he wants to, which is when I’m going to confront Tatiana about the necklace.
“First things first,” I say. “Once the shares are mine, Teszner won’t have a motivation to kill his sister when he finds out she’s alive. That’s the priority.”
Ulysses looks at a car that drives past. “Good decision.”
He follows the vehicle with his gaze until it turns into the neighbor’s driveway. An old lady gets out. She smiles and waves.
Only Ulysses waves back.
“I want the men who came after Tatiana found.” I don’t like going into a fight blindly. “If they’re Teszner’s men, I’ll deal with him. If someone else sent them, I want to know who and why. Am I clear?”
The men nod, their expressions serious. They know what I mean. I want those bastards alive so I can question them, and I’ll use any method necessary to get my answers.
I push off the balustrade and drop my arms to my sides. “Check in with the bounty hunters I briefed, see if anyone knows anything. I want a full report by morning.”
Reino salutes. “Yes, boss.”
Movement appears behind the window with its one half dirty and its other half sparkling clean. The men fall quiet when Tatiana enters the lounge from the hallway. They scatter when she walks through the front door onto the porch.
We face each other for a moment, neither of us saying anything.
Finally, she breaks the silence. “What was that about?”
“Nothing you need to worry yourself over.”
“Right.” Her laugh is condescending. “I don’t know why I still ask. You never told me anything. You’re not going to start now.”
Quoting her words from earlier, I ask, “Is there something you wanted?” Only, my question is genuine and not sarcastic.
Shaking her head, she says with a dismissive smile, “Noah is tired. He’s been running all day. I’d like to finish early if that’s all right with you.”
“Of course.” I take her in, how tired she looks. “Whenever you’re ready.”
She turns around without saying a word.
I watch her as she walks away. She’s still my Tatiana, yet she’s also different. She was only nineteen when I last saw her in New York. So young, innocent, and full of love. So bubbly and filled with dreams. She turned twenty a short month after she ran. The thought of a twenty-year old inexperienced woman on her own in the city, a woman who was pregnant and grieving her mother, still turns my gut inside-out. I wish I could change that, but it is what it is. Water under the bridge.
At twenty-four, she’s not that much older, but circumstances forced her to grow up quickly. Instead of optimistic and shy, she’s scared and bitter. Tough. Strong. She had to be to survive.
That’s what gives me hope.
If she survived everything she did, she may just have a chance of surviving me.
Chapter
Nine
Tatiana
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