“Obviously not. I gave him a fake name and everything.”
“Good,” Avgust muttered.
Iosif studied me for a long moment. “Make sure that you don’t see him again and especially don’t see him again at a place where he finds out your real identity,” he said calmly.
It wasn’t an order but an expectation that came with Iosif wanting me to be careful. Something in me resisted immediately, even though I knew he meant well. He wanted the best for me. My entire family did.
“You don’t know that,” I replied instead, meeting his gaze. My brothers didn’t scare me and never made me feel as if I couldn’t be myself around them. I already knew I only neededto call their name and they would stand beside me through everything.
His gaze sharpened.
“Elisse.”
“I’m not announcing an engagement,” I said. “It was just one night.”
“And that one night can become leverage for the right enemy,” Avgust said.
“I wasn’t followed, and I am pretty certain he wasn’t from our world.”
“How do you know?” Timofey asked quietly.
The question lodged under my skin. I thought of the elevator and the penthouse. The way he’d held me afterward and allowed me to fall asleep in his arms. He hadn’t felt like a threat at all. He was controlled and had seemed dangerous, but not in the way most bratva men did. He had just been different.
“He wasn’t interested in my name or knowing anything personal about me,” I said softly.
Iosif’s eyes darkened slightly. “That makes him either very smart or very reckless.”
“Or honest,” Ilana said gently.
Everyone looked at her. She met Avgust’s gaze without flinching.
“I didn’t fall in love with a name either. Not everyone is always interested in last names and who a person is or can be. Sometimes, it really is just about hearts and chemistry,” she added.
The room shifted, but no one argued. Even Avgust nodded at her and simply exhaled slowly. Iosif rubbed a hand over his jaw, taking a seat at the table beside Clara.
“Elisse,” he said carefully, “if this man resurfaces, you tell us. If he comes after you, finds out who you are, or tries to do anything rash, you will not indulge in it yourself and tell me at once. I will handle the rest.”
“I can handle myself, Iosif. Have some faith in me.”
“I know you can, but that’s not the point.”
“It never is,” I murmured.
Clara’s gaze softened slightly. “We’re not trying to cage you.”
“I know.”
“But we will always protect you. You know damned well it is my duty to protect you and keep you safe, so please don’t make my job harder than it should be,” Iosif finished.
There was no arguing with that. Protection and surveillance wore the same face in this family, and dating was never just dating, just like interest was never just attraction. Anyone who got too close to a Chernykh risked becoming collateral damage or a weapon. That is exactly why I had left him that day, even when he hadn’t wanted me to go. I could see how much he had wanted me to stay for breakfast, and I had clearly said no.
Because I couldn’t afford to get attached to someone I didn’t know. And someone who might not be a part of this world. It would be a cruelty to drag him into this. This mess.
I pushed my chair back gently.
“I have to leave now,” I said.
“For what?” Zhenya asked.
