We glare at each other for what seems like hours. I’m not sure which of us will be the first to break.
“I can station myself outside of your apartment, and I can escort you to work,” Evgeny offers.
We both glance at him, and I swear, if looks could kill, Matvei’s would have ended the big man. He takes a deep breath and closes his eyes, as if counting back from ten to keep his temper in check.
“Does that suit you?” he mumbles as soon as he opens his eyes.
“Yes.”
“Fine. Wait here.”
Matvei snaps an order in Russian at Evgeny, who follows his boss.
The foyer falls quiet, save for the distant hum of a car going past. I take a seat on the edge of an ornate bench beneath the staircase. My posture is rigid, and I realize my hands are still trembling slightly. I clasp them tightly in my lap, my gaze following the hallway down which Matvei and Evgeny disappeared.
I hate to admit it, especially after what I said to Matvei, but I’m still shaken. Badly. My pulse skips every time a floorboard creaks or a shadow moves behind the frosted glass on either side of the door.
Yet somehow, I am comforted by Matvei’s voice, low and full of fury, echoing from somewhere in the mansion. He’s like a storm barely contained. Evgeny’s rumbling bass follows, although more measured, the anchor to his boss’s rage.
I have to admit I’m glad Matvei is forcing me to take Evgeny’s protection. I already feel better knowing the big bull of a man is going to be watching over me.
Despite the fear, I’m still steaming mad at Matvei’s high-handedness, and the way my body is urging me to drag him upstairs so we can do unspeakable things to each other.
I want his presence, the safety I feel in his arms.
I wanthim.
What the hell is wrong with me?
14
MATVEI
“You’re going to wear out the floor if you keep pacing like that.”
Evgeny leans against the door frame of my study, his massive stature taking up the entire space. His dark eyes follow me as I pace the knotty pine hardwood, my fists so tightly balled my knuckles burn.
So does the place where the bullet grazed me, but at least it stopped bleeding.
“Who the fuck thinks they can come for us like this?” I slam my fist onto the desk, scattering papers across the floor.
Evgeny remains silent, watching me absorb the rage.
I turn, pinning my right-hand man with a glare. “She should never have been a part of this. Damn it, Evgeny. I gave her my word she would be safe.”
“And your word is all you care about right now?”
Evgeny’s expression has softened, a rare flicker of empathy igniting my anger further. He’s waiting, letting me burn through the fury. He knows rage is sometimes just fear in disguise.
I rub my face, take a shaky breath, and look to the darkness outside the window.As soon as the wedding was finished, that would be it. I would be done.Her words echo in my head. I felt an odd pang when she said them and I don’t know why. This was never a relationship; it was a deal with some sex on the side. What about this is bothering me?
“She stays alive,” I growl to the darkness and Evgeny’s reflection in the glass. “You hear me? Guard her like you would guard me. No mistakes. No lapses. Until we figure this out, until it’s finished, she’s to be treated as family—no less.”
“She’s strong, you know,” he replies. “Not many could have held it together after all that, but she recovered well.”
He’s right, she did. To panic when you’re shot at is customary, especially for those who live outside my world. But she bounced back quickly, at least on the surface. The fear faded from her eyes, and she pulled herself together enough to argue with me about staying here, where she knows she’s safest.
Sonya has seen many sides of me. I saw the look in her eyes when she realized who I was in Prague. I saw the fear tonight when she saw the monster come out with Samson. She witnessed me kill someone. At many points in the short time I’ve known her, I expected her to run.
