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“I promise.”

She nodded, then stood and offered me her hand.

“Then take me home, Daddy.”

CHAPTER 29

Alessia

The next day…

Nikolai tied my wrists together behind my back with a strip of black rope and looked far too pleased with himself.

“This is the happiest I’ve seen you all week,” I told him.

He tested the knot, pulling it tight enough that the rope pressed firmly into my skin without cutting off my circulation. “I just enjoy sharing useful skills.”

“You enjoy tying women to chairs,” I corrected him.

Sloane, sitting on the edge of the boxing ring with a coffee in one hand, remarked. “Can confirm.”

Nikolai grinned at his wife and shook his head.

Sergei did smile, though. My husband stood six feet away, arms folded over his chest, dressed in black training pants and a fitted shirt that did nothing to soften the intimidating width of his shoulders. His green eyes remained fixed on the rope around my wrists as though he could loosen it through the power of his mind alone.

The Morozov gym occupied an old warehouse several streets from the Iron Wolf, though gym was a polite word for a building where large men trained to hurt one another more efficiently. Heavy bags hung from the ceiling. A boxing ring took up the center of the concrete floor, surrounded by mats, weights, benches, and enough medical supplies to suggest injuries were part of the membership package.

Maxim stood near the wall screen with Riley beside him. Amy and Aleksei occupied one of the benches, Amy holding the garment bag containing the outfit I would wear tomorrow night. Ivan had taken over a folding table with three devices, while Kit stood in front of a screen beside him.

Nikolai crouched in front of me, smirking. “Now get out.”

I looked down at the rope in disbelief. “You’ve got to be kidding me. That’s the whole lesson?”

“The first lesson is that men rarely give helpful instructions while restraining you.”

“Bastard,” I growled.

I pulled against the knot, and it tightened. Sergei shifted his weight slightly, as if he wanted to come to me.

“Don’t help her,” Nikolai said without looking at his brother.

“I wasn’t,” Sergei defended himself.

“You were about to tell her where the slack is.”

“I was just thinking about it.”

“Very loudly,” Nikolai commented.

I stopped pulling and examined the rope instead. Nikolai had wrapped my wrists while I held my hands close together. Before the knot tightened, he had instructed me to spread my fingers and flex my forearms as much as I could without making the movement obvious.

I relaxed them now.

A narrow pocket of space appeared beneath the rope, not much, but maybe just enough to work one of my hands out. I turned one thumb inward, worked the side of my hand against the gap, and slowly drew one wrist through. The rope scraped over my knuckles, but after several seconds, my hand came free.

Nikolai stood. “First, escape begins while the man is tying you,” he said. “Create space before he finishes. Most people panic and pull away. Pulling away only helps him.”

Sergei came closer, then stopped. “May I?” he asked.