"I'm going to be in my office for a bit. Do some work," she says, pulling out her phone again.
"Okay," I say. "I'll be around."
She turns and smiles at me, then heads straight for her office, and I catch myself watching the curve of her ass as she walks.
Fuck.
I need a cold shower. Or maybe a fight. Something physical to sweat this obsession out of me.
I walk into the kitchen, grab a water bottle, and down it, wishing it was homemade ?uica, because that would give me the burn and ammo needed to forget things.
I walk outside and check the perimeter. I don't need to, but I do.
In reality, I'm trying to keep down that part of me that wants to go into her office, find an excuse to talk to her, but she'd see through that in a second. Keira's too sharp. Too perceptive. She'd probably call me on it, and I don't know what the hell I'd say.
So I walk back inside and stand in the kitchen again, hands in my pockets, jaw tight, and remind myself that I'm here to keep her alive.
Not to?—
Before I can spiral any further, my phone buzzes in my jacket pocket.
I pull it out and glance at the screen.
Nicolae Ionescu.
My uncle and Don of the most powerful mafia family in Romania.
I step into the empty guest room down the hall, closing the door behind me before answering.
"Da?"
"How's it going in America?" he asks in English, his voice deep and gravelly with age and arrogance.
"Good," I say.
"What have you learned?"
I lower my voice and move farther into the room. "You mean about the Morrígan?"
"That's what the ten million was for," he snaps.
"Nothing," I say flatly. "They set a bomb off. Almost killed her, and me."
There's a pause.
"So the threat's real, huh?"
"Yeah."
Nicolae exhales slowly.
"Well, we need something, Octavian. Like I told you before you left Romania, these Morrígans are after this Killaney family. They've been hitting them hard, leaving black feathers around. They want something. Probably power. Maybe vengeance. Doesn't matter. What matters is leverage."
"I know," I say. "Haven't seen any feathers."
"Well, find something," Nicolae snaps. "We uncover this, take care of it, and the Killaneys owe us. Enzo Bonventi signs off and brings us in. Expansion, Octavian. You know what that would mean for not just us, but you too. You're family."
I lean against the wall, staring at nothing. "I do."
