She studied my face as though deciding whether to believe me. “You’ll do that?” she asked.
I nodded.
“Is there anything I can do?” Her voice tightened. “I want to help this once.”
“There’s actually something you can do.”
She straightened immediately, her eyes sharpening with purpose. “Tell me. I’ll do whatever it takes.”
I almost smiled. “Your online store is moving too slowly because you’re producing one piece at a time. Build a proper inventory first. It changes how you market everything. Right now, you’re selling ideas instead of products. Also, your marketing still has gaps you haven’t closed.” The glare she gave me could have killed a lesser man. “You’ll need a laptop. So get one while you’re out.”
“That’s your idea of helping?” she asked.
“It makes you happy, doesn’t it?”
She scoffed. “I’m telling you something serious about mymother, and you’re giving me a business lecture.”
“This is the full extent of my knowledge on marriage. The husband protects, the wife smiles, and they live well. Don’t complicate the theory.” I barely finished the sentence before a punch landed on my chest. “Take Cole with you. He hasn’t been out of the mansion in a while. Iker is no longer a problem, but that doesn’t mean the guards stay home. Wherever you go, they go. Is that clear?”
She bit her lower lip and looked down at her hands. When she lifted her gaze again, her eyes were wet. “She’ll be okay, right?”
“She will.”
She nodded and let out a breath. “Okay. I’ll trust you.” She leaned in and kissed me. The moment I tried to deepen it, she pulled away and rose to her feet. “Maybe spending your money will actually help. I’ll see you later.”
I reached up, caught her wrist, and pulled her back down before she managed a single step. She landed in my lap with a startled groan and grabbed my shoulders for balance. My hand slid to the back of her neck and drew her mouth back to mine.
I gave her a proper kiss and took my time with it, my hand moving from her neck down her back while she gradually melted into me. Whatever protest she intended to make disappeared somewhere between one breath and the next. Her fingers slipped into my hair as she shifted closer, and I settled my hands at her hips, feeling the subtle reaction that ran through her body beneath my palms. Needy.
She broke the kiss and looked at me, breathing a little faster, her eyes carrying that familiar warmth. “I missed you,” she whispered against my lips.
I kissed her again, but she pulled back a second time.
“We can’t,” she whispered. “I want our first time to be special.”
“First time?” I stared at her. “Have you erased your memory somehow?”
She laughed and bit her lip as if trying to contain it. “We were faking before, remember? Now that it’s official, this will be our first real time.”
“That’s the most ridiculous thing you’ve ever said to me,” I said, and her smile only widened.
She held her ground, looking at me with bright, wicked amusement. She knew exactly what she was doing to me and seemed to find the entire situation entertaining.
I would wait. Apparently, she was the only person on this earth who ranked above me in any hierarchy, which was an arrangement I never planned for and was choosing to accept.
But she would pay for every second of this wait. She knew that damn well.
Once Inna left the room to find Cole, I pulled out my phone and texted Akim. We had no time to waste. Whatever was coming had already started moving, which meant we needed to move fast.
Inna smiled before she left. For now, that was enough.
The emergency was to keep her mother alive.
I went back to the office downstairs and picked up the documents her mother left behind. The flash drive mattered most. Knowing the names on that list was the first step toward keeping her alive. She was prepared to put herself between her children and whatever came next. I recognized that particular kind of resolve. I’d seen it in men who walked into operations fully aware they might never walk back out.
We left the mansion and headed to DK Holdings.
As Akim and I crossed the lobby, I spotted Inna’s father sitting in the waiting area. He rose to his feet the moment he saw me and started toward us.
