Page 21 of Locked and Loaded

Her eyes filled suddenly, but she blinked the tears away before they could fall. “Then who does she work for?”

“I have no idea. I’m sure there are lots of possibilities. Be careful. Tell Nikolai to be careful as well.”

“He won’t listen to me.”

“Make him,” Dragan stated forcefully. His gut was telling him that whoever the maid worked for might be paying them a visit, and Nikolai needed to be prepared.

Katya suddenly looked sad.

“Do you want to leave here? I can take you somewhere safe.” The words were out of his mouth before he really thought about it.

She met his gaze. “I have nowhere to go.”

“I can find you somewhere.”

“But for how long? How long can you keep me safe until Nikolai or someone else finds me?”

“Maybe they won’t come for you?” Dragan offered. “Nikolai strikes me as having a healthy ego. He won’t want to chase someone who doesn’t want him.”

She snorted. “His ego is enormous, and that’s precisely why he would chase me. How could he let someone like me leave him? He would chase me to the ends of the earth, and then he would make me pay.” She shuddered.

“I can help,” Dragan tried again.

“You can’t. No one can. My fate was sealed when I went to that party. I will enjoy the life I have as long as I have it. It’s more than I thought I would have.”

Dragan stared at her. She had already resigned herself to whatever fate had in store for her. There wasn’t anything he could say that was going to change her mind.

“Is there anything else you can tell me about Lennox’s sister?”

Katya shook her head. “Nothing. I…” she stopped speaking, and cocked her head. “The Italian? His security was nervous around him.”

“Nervous how?”

Katya shrugged. “Security usually walks around with attitude. Big men, little dicks, you know? Always eager to prove they’re the toughest. These men were…serious. No attitude. They did their job. Very professional. But wary.”

Dragan tried to parse out what that could mean when Katya suddenly grabbed his arm. “Nikolai,” she hissed.

Dragan glanced up and saw Nikolai coming down the path.

“Hide,” Katya demanded. “And never come back.”

They had been standing in a secluded spot. Dragan backed further into the greenery, and Katya started down the path toward her husband.

“Where have you been?” Nikolai’s demand reached him.

“Darling,” Katya said, “I needed to get out of the villa. That maid, she watches us. I don’t like it. Let’s leave.”

“You’re being childish.”

“Darling,” Katya said again, this time in a more coaxing tone. “Your work here, it’s done, no? You’ve finished the important stuff. Let your people do the rest. We could go to your island in Greece. Just you and me. You know how much you love it there.”

The sound of kissing reached him. Dragan bit back a sigh. He did not want to be stuck listening to this shit. He turned and realized there was another path behind him on the other side of the bushes. Pushing through them as quietly as possible, Dragan came out on the other path, startling a maintenance worker. He stared, and Dragan nodded at him but quickly went down the path and worked his way back to the main check-in area.

He nodded to the security men who opened the side door, and he walked out to the street. No one took a shot at him, not that he expected them to. He turned and made his way down the sidewalk.

Now he knew what Lennox knew and what she was after. He still had no clue how it was connected with the Society, but there was no doubt that if she kept pushing, she became a threat to someone. And whoever that someone was had power.

The question was what to do about it.