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I blinked quickly, grappling with all he explained. “Oh, thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

I narrowed my eyes. “You’re a killer.”

“I didn’t kill you.”

“But you will⁠—”

“I deduced that you would be far more useful to me alive than dead. My orders to eliminate you were only founded in my brother’s wish to control the narrative of who had been supposedly killed and transported that night. To wrap up a loose end associated with an enemy of ours.”

I winced, wary of everything he said.

“And with what you’ve explained and with what you’ve shown us, not to mention the fact that others wanted you dead as well, my deduction is correct. You were—are—a target, and it would be essential for us to see who else is tracking you. It will all be relevant to the matter of that video.”

“So I’m… a hostage?” I asked.

“Consider this a vacation from the life you wanted to escape,” he taunted.

“A vacation?” I scoffed. “I wouldn’t have chosen to have a vacation with a killer, a mobster.”

He shrugged. “You’re a witness and in the pursuit of answers we need,” he said as he stood. “You will remain a witness under my protection.”

I stood too, determined to lose this sense of not knowing what to expect next except for something inevitably scary or dangerous to come at me. “For how long? Until you know who sent those men to kill me? You can’t just keep me here.”

He looked down at me, his gaze curious. “I’ll keep you here for as long as I need to.”

I shook my head, angrier by the second. “You can’t just do that. You can’t uproot my son and expect me to put my life on hold and⁠—”

He tipped his chin up, indicating for me to look at Brady. He and Paloma were laughing and having a blast in the shallow fountain. “He looks happy.”

“Mr. Volkov.” I reached for his sleeve, jerking him to look at me again.

He lowered his gaze to my hand and I released him instantly.

“I have a life that I need to go back to.”

He slowly dragged his gaze up until he reached my eyes. “Do you want to?”

I blinked once and reared back. “What?”

“Do you want to go back to that life? Alone and struggling? Unsafe and vulnerable to an asshole boss preying on you and enemies following you home to kill you?”

“No. I⁠—”

He took one step closer. His body heat radiated to me, tempting me to lean in closer. His scent reached my nose, teasing me to inhale a deeper breath.

“Then I suggest you consider stepping out of your comfort zone. Adjust. Accept that you and Brady can be here, safe, while I monitor the threats and complications that this investigation is bringing forward.”

I pressed my lips together tightly, at a loss for how I could ever be comfortable around a man like him. A walking contradiction of death and survival. Both my would-be killer and my actual hero. This sexy brute who could seem gentle and considerate.

I backed up, needing the buffer of space to clear my mind.

He could claim the need to keep me under guard, but that didn’t mean for one second that I should want to lower my guard. Being exposed to this kind of security—all because I happened to see something that was supposed to stay a secret—couldn’t be anything to get used to.

As soon as Nikolai had his answers about that night, he wouldn’t have any reason to have me or my son hanging around here. He’d tell us to leave, and I’d have to return to the lackluster life of just getting by and stressing myself to keep everything together.

I lowered my gaze, smoothing my fingertips over the fabric of my skirt. Not my skirt. It was something Paloma had found in this “guest” house.