Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 63786 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 319(@200wpm)___ 255(@250wpm)___ 213(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63786 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 319(@200wpm)___ 255(@250wpm)___ 213(@300wpm)
The hard lines of Lev’s handsome face soften, and he leaves his desk to walk over to me.
“This is a very intense time for us, zayka. You’re safer with me than without me.”
“You’re away from me most of the time.”
He runs his hands down my arms. “Because I’m trying to end this war.”
“Then let me go away. It’s Samantha’s birthday, and I never miss any of my friends’ birthdays. I’ll take bodyguards. Hell, I’ll even carry one of those hand cannons that all your men seem to carry.”
Feliks smiles. “I can teach her to shoot.”
Lev shoots him a warning look to stay out of this. “That won’t be necessary because she’s not going. Let me have a moment alone with Brooke.”
Once Feliks is gone, I put my hand on Lev’s chest. “I need this. I won’t be able to hide any of this from my friends for much longer. And my pregnancy is already beginning to show.” I look down at my belly and he puts a tender hand on it, and I feel his love for this baby through the layers of clothing. “This weekend could earn us a few more weeks’ grace before I have to start coming clean to my friends.”
I feel bad about lying to my friends, but the longer they are left in the dark about what is happening and who Lev really is, the safer they are.
“Please,” I whisper.
He looks pained. “I’m sorry, zayka. Now is too dangerous.”
I feel my mood plummet. “I can’t keep doing this. I need space, Lev. I need to breathe.”
“I know, but now is the worst timing. Once I’ve taken care of Vlad and my uncle, you’ll have all the freedom you want. We’ll bring your friends here. Or you can go to them. It doesn’t bring me any joy to do this, but I have to for the sake of you and the baby.” His touch is gentle. “Until the threat is neutralized, you’re safest here with me.”
Later, I will look back on this conversation and wonder if it was the beginning of the end for us, one of the moments that led me to do the things I did in the following couple of days.
12
LEV
I stare at the reports in front of me on the desk. It’s the numbers for the dementia medication trials. They look good, and I should feel happy about them, but I’m too distracted to enjoy the success. And there’s one reason why.
Brooke.
She’s pissed at me. For the last couple of days, she’s barely spoken to me. Barely looked in my direction. And when I reach for her at night, she turns away from me.
I know her friends are important to her, and I meant it when I said it brought me no joy to keep her from visiting them. But I can’t keep her safe if she isn’t with me.
Her indifference is making me uneasy. She’s pulling away from me, and there’s not a goddamn thing I can do about it. My hands are tied because she’s safest with me until Vlad is found, and I’ve smoked out the rat in the bratva.
“You’re here early,” Feliks says, waltzing into my office at ZeeMed, still wearing his suit from the night before. “Trouble in paradise?”
I send him a warning look telling him not to go there. “What are you doing here so early?”
“I was on my way home and remembered I left my little black book in my desk drawer.” He gives me a sheepish grin. “I have another number to add to it.”
His little black book is actually a phone where he keeps all the numbers and names of his hookups.
I return to looking at the reports on my desk. “Is that why you’re still dressed in yesterday’s clothes? Who was he or she?”
“They,” he says, sinking into the chair in front of me. “There were two of them. Candi and her best friend Andrew. They were quite the pair. Hungry and rapaciously naughty. I’m going to need to rest for a couple of hours just to get my strength back.” He looks at his watch. “Why are you here at seven o’clock in the morning?”
“There’s work to do.”
“There’s always work to do.”
“Well, now there is more work to do.”
He sighs. “I’ve known you all your life, Lev, and you’ve never been able to lie to me. Why start now? Is it Brooke?”
“She’s pissed.”
“And you’re surprised? You’ve cut her off from her life.”
“A necessity.”
“Maybe, but you have to expect this blowback. You could make a visit from her friends possible. Or send her out of town with security.”
“It’s too risky.”
“Hell, I’ll go with—"
“She’s pregnant.”
Feliks opens his mouth but shuts it again, then shakes his head, looking dazed. “Well, I’ll be goddamned. Since when?”
“Since the day I met her on a plane and took her back to my apartment.”