Lev draws back. “Milo?”
I smile. “Yes, Milo too. He’ll be here every day.”
He seems satisfied with that, sinking all the way down under the blanket, then reaches over and clicks off his lamp, leaving the room wrapped in darkness.
Kirill and I stay there another moment, neither of us in a hurry to leave, before we finally step back and pull the door shut. We make it down the hall in silence, and when his hand slips into mine, it’s like stepping into the forever I’ve always been too afraid to hope for.
But now that it’s here, I can’t stop fearing how easily it could be taken away.
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
SLOANE
With the boysalready dropped off at school the next day, I pace through the den, waiting for Kirill’s brothers to arrive. The wedding is happening tonight with only his family here, but that isn’t why they’re coming.
Kirill told me he has a plan for Eli, and that he needs his brothers to help carry it out. He’s already told them who I am and what I’ve been running from, but he wanted to go over everything in person.
No matter how hard I try to calm myself, I can’t shake this sense that something is going to go horribly wrong. Maybe it’s fear. Maybe it’s instinct. Either way, the dread sitting in my chest won’t go away.
He comes up behind me, his hands settling on my arms before moving gently up and down. “Everything will be okay.”
“I don’t know.” I turn to him and let out a strained exhale. “You have no idea what Eli is capable of.”
He cups my chin, making me look at him. “And I assure you, what my brothers and I are capable of will make anything he does look like child’s play.”
“I want to believe you, I do, but…”
The doorbell rings before I can finish, and my pulse jumps.
They’re here.
“Don’t worry.” His thumb brushes my jaw. “They’ll love you. And you already met Aleksei that time at the diner. I’m sure you remember.”
Of course I remember. But that doesn’t stop the nerves from skittering through me. It’s not every day you meet the head of the Russian Mob, and I’m almost positiveterrifyingdoesn’t begin to cover it.
When the three of them roll in, I’m not even sure where to look first. The tallest one reaches first, a surprisingly warm grin on his face as he takes my hand and lifts it to his mouth.
“I’m Konstantin.”
Well…he doesn’t seem nearly as terrifying as I expected.
“Watch where you put your mouth, bratik,” Kirill teases, though I swear his face tenses.
Konstantin chuckles. “I am just very happy to finally meet the famous Sloane. I have heard so much about you from Aleksei here.”
He gestures toward the dark-haired man I already met, while Aleksei’s cunning brown eyes assess me.
“I didn’t realize you already knew about me,” I tell Konstantin.
“Of course,” Aleksei says this time. “I told him as soon as I met you. It’s not every day Kirill starts chasing a waitress.”
Kirill’s nostril flare. “Ignore him. He talks too much.”
“I only speak the truth.”
“And you’re about to stop speaking altogether if you keep it up.”
Before Aleksei can answer, Kirill motions toward the last brother, the one who’s been standing there in silence, watching everything with an expression that makes me instantly uneasy.
