Page 248 of Sexting His Assistant

I say nothing.

She looks away first. Her voice lowers. “And now every piece of evidence points to my brother, and you’re standing there with that same look on your face.”

“What look?” I ask.

“The one that says you’ve already decided what has to be done.”

I look at the laptop.

Misha’s frozen image looks back at me.

For years, I would have answered this without hesitation. A man tied to an attack on me, tied to a break-in, tied to a missing woman, tied to a threat against someone under my protection, would be found and dealt with. The relationship would not matter. The history would not matter. If anything, betrayal by a trusted man would make the response worse.

But Misha is not only a trusted man.

He’s Nina’s brother.

He’s the man she loves more simply than she will ever love me.

And if I go after him now, even carefully, even with the intention of bringing him back alive, Nina will feel the distance between us widen with every order I give.

“I’m going to find him.”

Nina looks at me. “How?”

I say, “Every way available to me.”

Her face tightens. “That is not an answer.”

“It’s the only one I can give you.”

She stands too quickly, and her hand goes to the desk when her balance shifts.

I move forward on instinct.

She lifts her other hand. “Don’t.”

I stop.

She closes her eyes for a second, breathes through the dizziness, then opens them again.

Nina says, “If you hurt him⁠—”

“I’m not going after him to hurt him,” I say.

“You say that now,” Nina says.

My jaw tightens.

She says, “You say that while we’re standing in a study. What happens when your men find him? What happens if he runs? What happens if Pavel hands you another file and says it proves Misha did everything? What happens if Misha panics because he thinks you’ll kill him?”

I say, “Then he should not run.”

Nina stares at me.

The second the words leave my mouth, I know they were wrong.

Her face shuts down. “That’s what I mean,” Nina says.