“A ‘guest of the family’ has arrived,” one guard reported wryly, implying anything but what he said.
“Who?” I leaned past Maksim to address the guard. Already, I had a strong hunch. Only one person came to mind. And only one person could be so deluded as to think he could show up here and call himself a guest of the family.
Maksim frowned at me before facing the men.
“Garcia,” the other guard said. “The men at the gate called it in and alerted the house patrol. They’re keeping him at the gate.”
I shook my head. “No. We’re not dragging this out.”
“Carina,” Maksim argued.
“No. I want this done. I can’t look forward to bringing this baby into a world wherehecould still play games like this.” I didn’t flinch, no matter how fast my heart raced. “I know what’s coming, Maksim.” I swallowed hard. “Just… do it.”
He watched me closely, that worry creeping in again. Not that he’d be killing anyone, but how it would impactme.
“Tell him that I will speak to him out back,” I told the guards. Off to the side of the ornamental gardens, near the pool, ample security could lie in wait. “I mean, you’ll pat him down first.”
The guards volleyed their gazes between me and Maksim, unsure.
“Go on.” He gestured for them to go and do as I asked. Then he turned to me.
“I will?—”
“You will wait from a distance. If he came here as a supposed guest of the family, he meansmyfamily. He’s not here to see you.”
“I—”
I stepped forward and cupped his face, feeling how his jaw was so tense. “You will protect me,” I finished for him. “No one will let him harm me. And then we can…” I licked my lips. “Then whatever needs to be done for closure will be done.”
I walked away from him, unable to spend another secondtalkingabout the possibility that my brother would be killed today.
By the time I reached the outdoor area that I’d dictated to greet him in, a tension headache had crept in.
Before, when I first got here to this estate, I had to convince myself to play along and act like a properly arranged wife. Now, I was sick of playing at anything, and I didn’t bother to hide my disgust and anger when I faced my brother.
He paced on the patio, shaking his head and muttering curses that couldn’t reach me yet. The second he heard me stepping close, though, he stopped and scowled at me.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” he hissed.
I stayed put, my back straight, and crossed my arms. “How rich. I’ve askedyouthat countless times, yet now you expect me to answer that for you?”
“Don’t play games with me,” he warned.
I narrowed my eyes, debating how mad Maksim would be if I punched my brother. I wouldn’t. I couldn’t risk getting in an actual physical fight while I carried this baby.
“Did you know that handoff was a fucking trap? Huh?” He paced angrily again. “Did you? Did you know that your fucking husband was trying to set me up last night with that request for a shipment like that?”
I tipped my chin up, letting him stew and boil over with his fury. I didn’t owe him a single word. When I walked down here, I tried to talk myself out of clinging to some stupid morsel of hope that he could redeem himself, that he’d be worthy of any redemption or forgiveness. Five seconds into being in his company again and I realized how futile that was.
They didn’t try to set you up.
They did.
And you failed the test.
“You…” He growled, fisting his hand in the air as he punched it. “You fucking let these Volkov assholes set a trap like that? Onme? Your brother?”
“You ceased being my brother a long time ago.” Fuck, did it hurt to admit it, but it was true.
