I’m still not sold on claiming her because I’m not confident she’d pass the loyalty test, but I’m convinced I can’t live without her, so that’s a problem we need to solve. As it is, the only thing that’s been keeping me sane has been following her on the security cameras—catching glimpses of her laughing or confidently navigating a conversation with an employee or member she was likely trying to extract intel from.
She’s enchanting. A perplexing blend of warmth and glacial determination. Even on this duplicitous mission, she’s authentically compassionate in her interactions. I haven’t been able to take my eyes off her, searching for the smallest of gestures. The way she subtly plays with her hair when she thinks no one is watching, or her inability to stay out of the libraries no matter how busy her day is, or how she wrinkles her adorable celestial nose when she’s translating—her mind somewhere far away as her polyglot reasoning is put to work.
I’ve turned into a stalker. Like fucking Ryker.
Speaking of the obsessed man, his attention ping-pongs between Zara and me with rapt interest. Maddox and Cash are seconds away from bursting into hysteria. And Jax soaks it all in, somehow looking both anxious and content.
I spin my watch, feigning disinterest in this discussion—for their benefit and hers—as I explain myself, something I rarely do. “He hurt and manipulated someone I care about, so he earned being torn limb from limb for that alone. He was shown far more mercy than he deserved, if that’s your concern.”
“Someone you care about?” Her gorgeous green eyes drift around the room, gauging how my brothers react to that.
They give her nothing. Not outside their sheer amusement. This is a tennis match for them, so their interest lies with who has the next serve, which is me.
“That’s what I said. Is there a question in there, Zara?”
She nearly knocked me over with that crawling stunt she pulled earlier. It was brilliant and bratty and had me instantly hard in the middle of my resort. I wanted to ignore everyone and take her right there, to spank her ass in front of the whole goddamn city and shout that she was mine. It wouldn’t have even been a punishment because the flush on her cheeks made it clear she’d enjoy it as much as I would.
So, while I intend to devote all the tender reassurance she needs, I’m going to play for a minute.
Taking a gold coin out of my pocket, I twirl it on the table, like a top. Her lips pop open with either levity or indignation.
“Since you don’t seem to have a question, I’ll go.” I pause for the coin’s whirring to morph into a purling and eventually to a rattle as it peters out. “Do you trust me?”
She crosses her arms, still standing at the other end of the table for our boardroom war. “You destroyed my career. No one will hire me after this, which is only one of the many issues I’m facing because of your hasty actions. Why would I trust you?”
Her father informed her about the order of protection, and he’s pissed. Good. He should have killed that asshole ten years ago.
I’d been waiting for them to speak, assuming it would be him who delivered the blow. That was suspected when I heard a bit of emotion seeping into her tone, but confirmed when she called himTato—Dad in Ukrainian. I’m not fluent in as many languages as Zara, but I have pieces of well over a dozen to pull from. And I’d been watching, worried. I didn’t listen until she snuck into the pool area and pulled out her burner, and even then, I only understood tidbits. This wasn’t about invading her privacy—something I won’t make a habit of. I expected this to be painful, and I detest seeing her in pain, but there’s a bigger picture she doesn’t have.
She asked me to find a solution, and I did. Her client might still be threatening to neutralize her, but now they know it means war.
“Nothing I do is hasty. I didn’t destroy your career. You can complete jobs for anyone I do business with. That’s arguably a far larger pool to gain clients from than your father has access to. If anything, you’ve been granted a promotion.”
We’ve never discussed his training camp, but she’s realizing I know that too. I don’t want her to be intimidated, but I do want her to understand that there is no one I can’t go up against. And for her, that will include anyone in existence. We’ll take on the world if we must, as soon as I know she’s in. But it will be treacherous.
“My brothers and I have been discussing a greater promotion for you too. We will need a president of operations for our satellite facilities, someone to devise the full conception of those sites, someone who understands our clientele.”
She battles her curiosity about my offer and instead scoffs, her eyes glazed with righteous fury. “You’ve turned me into a double agent against my will.”
“Against your will is debatable.” I shrug one shoulder and remove my glasses. “You never answered my question. Do you trust me?”
Her well-crafted, impervious veneer begins to crack—wrath and fear and deeper wounds seeping through.
She shakes her head in despondency. “After you brutally murdered my ex from a decade ago? And your reasoning is vengeance, which makes no sense. I was the one he did it to, and, yes, I resented him. But he actually made it out. Why go after him?”
She’s upset because his death represents what all assassins must accept—that their sins always come for them. Despite her hatred, his peaceful life was a symbol of hope.
I didn’t factor that in. It nearly has me insisting that she climb onto my lap, but we aren’t there yet.
“I’m not like your father, Zara—be that good or bad. Caring about someone or loving them …” I stall there, holding her gaze, but then I amend the insinuation so I don’t scare her off or inadvertently use my feelings to manipulate her. “Like I do my family. That’s why I do everything. And anyone who fucks withthe people under my care—regardless of what they’ve done—will be burned to ash.”
That’s my life story in a nutshell, and even if she missed the relevance to my father’s death at first, the solemnness that has fallen over my brothers should drive it home. I did it for them. I’ll do it for her.
This is what sets her apart from other assassins. That’s what I need her to see. I bring an insurmountable danger to her life with my KORT seat, but I will lay mine down for hers. With any luck, they’ll cancel each other out.
But aside from me, she’ll have my family. How could we not come out ahead? That was what I was hoping she’d sense during breakfast with them yesterday. I couldn’t be with her, but they could. She never has to be alone again.
“It’s intense,” I acknowledge, mindful that a relationship with me still isn’t ideal. “Being the object of my …careis probably more of a burden than a gift, but it’s who I am.”
