Except she did not get far because strong arms wrapped around her and yanked her back against Ryan’s powerful body. Her hands flew down, darting over his hips. The top of his thighs. “Let me go!”
He didn’t. He did spin her around. “We are not separating.”
One of Simone’s hands shoved into one of the hidden pockets in her dress. Immediately, she realized that Alexei had not been bluffing. The broach and earrings were gone, dammit. Her gaze darted to his fallen body. Did she dare search through those blood-drenched clothes of his? Were the items she needed still on Alexei? Oh, but she bet they were.
“It will be better if we separate,” she tried to reassure Ryan. “They are going to search for us. If we split up, the odds will be higher.”
“Higher for what, Simone? Higher odds that they’ll find me and not you?”
“I was talking about the odds of our survival!” Simone sucked in a dramatic gasp of air. “I’m trying to save you!” And herself.
He leaned in closer. “You are not getting away from me.”
Had he experienced some sort of mental break? His grip was way too strong. Not painful. Just strong. “You just killed a man.”
He grunted.
“That’s probably stressful for you.” Probably? It should have been extremely stressful, but there Ryan was, acting like he had ice pumping through his veins. His voice didn’t even tremble. His hands were rock steady. “You aren’t thinking clearly. So I will spell things out for you.” With all of her might, she tried to keep her voice calm. “Bad guys are coming. Bad guys who will hurt us. The fact that you are richer than sin is not going to help you right now. You just killed Frederick’s number one goon. We are in a boat load of trouble. We have to run.”
He…shook his head.
“Ryan?”
He leaned in closer to her. “You’re not getting away from me.”
“Fine.” If he was going to be difficult about things. “Then we will run together. I, just, um, have to check the dead man. Or, the maybe not-so-dead man.”
“What?”
“I can’t leave without making sure he’s actually dead! Let me check and then we’re out of here. Done.”
His hold loosened. She darted toward Alexei. Choked down more nausea. “What did you do? Slit his throat first?” Simone risked a glance at Ryan. She needed him to be staring at her, making eye contact, while her hands were busy. At thirteen, she’d mastered the art of misdirection.
Nothing was more useful to her in this world than a skillful bit of misdirection.
She gave a pronounced heave. Such a hard, long, and despondent sigh.
A hint of worry darkened Ryan’s expression. Finally.
“You slit his throat,” she repeated. “Then you…stabbed him in the heart?”
No response.
Her fingers flew over Alexei. As if she was looking for a pulse. “I don’t want to tell you how to handle your affairs,” she mumbled, “but I think that was overkill.”
Wait—had Alexei just gurgled?
Her fingers whipped back. She jumped to her feet. “He’s still alive!” Very, very dramatic.
Ryan immediately surged down toward her. His hands went toward the knife still in Alexei’s chest.
She used that prime opportunity to scuttle back, to shoot to her feet, to leap around Ryan, and try to flee. Yet, once again, Simone got dragged back against Ryan’s chest.
“Simone.” A bit impatient. A bit sighy. “I know when I’ve killed someone and when I haven’t. That man is dead.”
Okay, there was a lot to unpack in that statement of his.
“I also know that you just swiped the broach and the earrings from his dead body, didn’t you?”
