Desire is a liability.
“You made yourself a problem, and that’s why you’re here. That lawsuit of yours is trouble,” I told her bluntly.
“Hm, I already figured that part out,” she answered, her voice calm and devoid of the panic or denial I’d expected. “The lawsuit isn’t your typical ‘end-the-bad-guys’ attempt. Yes, any string pulled to untie the Victor Hale knot doesn’t bode well for the Bratva—the legitimate cover wing or the underworld. The legitimate cover will suffer because any stain on such a fragile reputation can make certain people start to dig deeper. And the underworld doesn’t need any drama right now, either. But it’s more intricate than that.”
What she said triggered my instincts. She spoke like someone who knew the Bratva from the inside, not like someone poking blindly at it.
“And you think public knowledge of some shell corporations will do that much before things backfire?” I questioned, pushing her harder with the mention of consequences.
I stepped closer, deliberately invading her personal space. She didn’t retreat.
“Things like this don’t see the light of day before the source is extinguished. You should also know that part. You’re playing with paper in a world of fire.”
She chuckled lightly. “The thing is, paper can be sharper than the sharpest blade if wrapped around the right throat.”
I was about to speak again but shut down the urge; I couldn’t keep the banter going. I wasn’t in the room for that. I was both annoyed and irritated that she remained steady while I had to remind myself not to unravel internally.
My irritation sharpened into something else: fascination edged with threat.
Under the guise of security, I turned to face the wall beside the bed and walked to the corner of the room. I turnedback around and, just as I moved closer to the bed, she raised her hand towards her hair and her wrist brushed mine.
I felt her steady pulse beneath my fingers. She didn’t pull away. The contact lingered for a second too long, setting off a low vibration underneath my skin, before I sharply withdrew and moved away from the bed altogether.
I was damn furious. Not with her. With myself.
“So, who are you working for? Who hired you and gave you Hale’s direction to look into?” I queried, folding my arms.
Her gaze holding mine, she answered, “I have many clients. And no one gives me any direction. I’m the lawyer, it’s my job to decide where is worth looking.”
Indirect answers, great.
“Eliminating the source is an effective solution only when the source’s death won’t bring catastrophe. You know, something messier than the initial mess you were trying to avoid,” she disclosed, her shoulder lifting in an almost nonchalant shrug before she added in a lower tone, “You don’t want to do that.”
She wasn’t begging for her life; she was warning me.
She’s not bluffing.
I turned around and left the room without a word in response.
*****
About an hour later, I was in the secure monitoring room and patched into the encrypted line. The icons for Viktor, Roman, and Konstantin flickered to life on the screen.
I had given them an update on Elena, and we were discussing what to do next.
The Lobanov brothers were divided, and having interacted with her face-to-face, I didn’t find it surprising anymore that everything about her was a tangled net of questions.
“The girl has to be silenced immediately. Time isn’t a friend of ours here,” Viktor’s voice came through, cold as a Siberian winter.
“Yeah,” I breathed.
“She’s too calm,” Roman added, his voice analytical. “That’s something we can’t disregard.”
“Right,” I agreed.
I had told them how the abduction went and how surprisingly calm she’d been. But what I didn’t tell them was how that composure unsettled me. I didn’t mention the flicker of unwanted desire I felt.
“We could hold her until we determine the extent of the legal fallout,” I suggested.
