“As I said, she’s enchanting.” He shrugs as he slathers a thick slice of brown bread with butter. “Are you threatening her family to keep her with a beast like you?”
That repeated word,enchanting, ruffles me further.
“Stay away from her, Vasya,” I warn, the growl back in my voice. “She’s working for me and nothing more.”
“And how long will that be? What happens when you’re done with her?”
I can’t tell if Vasya’s interest is harmless curiosity or if there is something more to his questions. The odd brightness, the earnestness in his eyes, puzzles me.
Either way, Eva is not his for the taking.
She’s mine.
The thought forces its way into my head, and for a moment it’s all I can think about. I have to shake my head to banish it and the unwelcome feelings that come with it.
“Stay away from her, Vasya.” Another warning, my growl punctuated with a glare. “She is here to do one job and one job only. After that, she’s dispensable, a security risk we cannot afford.”
I say the words, but I realize the threat behind them isn’t there. And the implications of my reluctance to do what has to be done bother me.
Something flashes in the blue eyes locked on mine, but it’s gone as quickly as it came. Instead, Vasya shakes his head. “Do you think she knows she’ll never make it home? One way or the other?”
“It’s not my job to care,” I snap, done with this line of questioning. “My job is to keep the Bratva safe, which means taking care of threats when I must. You know that. You know what happens to her once she has lived out her usefulness.”
Vasya knows. He’s often the one who ties up loose ends for me. I may be the Kucherov Demon, but the man across the table from me can be the devil incarnate when he puts his mind to it.
“Why this woman? Why now?” His blue eyes drop to the bread for a moment, and he picks at the crust before his gaze flicks back up to me. “We know what it is to lose a parent, you and I, do we not?”
“We are far from the only ones,” I scoff.
“She has kids relying on her, brother.” Vasya drops his voice and leans further across the table, his eyes oddly intent again. “We are like brothers, are we not, Ev? Your father took me in after my parents were killed. We grew up together. You taught me English when all I knew was Russian. We saved each other from boyhood scuffles and got into trouble together, and your dad beat our asses together. Even before you becamepakhan,I was doing your dirty work so you could hide your scars in the shadows. Can you do this one favor for me? Go easy on the girl, she’s scared out of her mind.”
I watch Vasya for a long moment, wondering what the hell brought this on. Is he bargaining for Eva? Does he have feelings for her?
“She made her bed.” The practiced answer leaves my lips as I lean back again and close my eyes, dismissing the subject.
But Vasya won’t let it go. “I’m pretty sure that’s what she’s doing, yeah?” he says. “She’s locked up in your palace, surrounded by armed guards, and separated from her family who don’t even know if she’s safe…”
“I had the tech team call them with her voice telling them she’s safe and she’ll get in touch when she can.” I cut him off. We didn’t want her family to call the police and cause problems. “Don’t tell me you’ve fallen for her sob story, Vasya. Don’t fall for her tricks.”
“Okay, so maybe they think she’s safe, but she’s still locked up tight.”
My annoyance gets the best of me, and I glare at my oldest friend. “I gave her the run of the house. What more does she need?”
“Maybe you can stop growling at her? Stop trying to scare her?”
“She should be scared,” Dmitri mutters from my other side as he returns to the table. I answer with a tight nod of agreement.
“Why are you defending her? I’ve never seen you take interest in anyone like this.”
Vasya shrugs as if waving off the implications of my question. “I know you were lurking in the shadows listening to us. You heard her. She did it to save her family, not because she was trying to take you down. Maybe that deserves a little bit of leniency, if not respect. You and I both know what it’s like to lose a parent and have all those expectations on your shoulders, people who arerelying on you. You do what you have to. We go after bad guys, Ev. She’s not one of them.”
Vasya’s blue eyes are as intense as I’ve ever seen them, and my hackles rise again in response to something in their depths.
I don’t have a moment to figure it out. Out of the corner of my eye, I see the door open, letting light into the restaurant’s dim interior. Vasya’s gaze flicks to the door, and he hisses. He and I are both on our feet the next moment.
The sound in the room, every clatter and whisper, grinds to a halt, and all eyes are on the men who have entered.
“What the hell are you doing here?”
