Page 24 of The Promise

• • •

Eventually, Roman and Demyan made their way to the large, glass dining table. His father sat at one end, and he remained at the other. In the silence that stretched between their conversation, the occasional sound echoed from the large bathroom down the hall.

Roman couldn’t help but wonder if Karine was giving Masha a hard time—he doubted it wasn’t anything she couldn’t handle. Otherwise, he would have known about it by now. For a second, he dared to relax.

“Has she settled here?” Demyan asked, drawing Roman away from his thoughts.

“We’ve been here a single night. She’s as settled as she can be, considering.”

“Who’s the other woman with her?”

“Masha, she’s ... Karine’s caretaker. As far as I can tell, she’s one of the Yazov slaves who had been assigned to her. I get the impression they’ve been together for a while—so they’re close. Masha is probably one of the few people who can actually handle her, no matter what condition she’s in. She’s not scared of her, and Karine usually responds well to her most of the time.”

“You handled her pretty well,” Demyan remarked.

Roman’s gaze darted away to hide the thrill racing through his veins. It was disturbing that he could like the way Karine clung to him and depended on him—but since he didn’t pretend to be a fucking saint, there it was.

Demyan still watched him closely, searching for all those signs that would give away the truth about Karine. All the things that Roman wasn’t telling him.

“You can’t stay here,” he said abruptly.

Roman’s head snapped back at that. “What? This is my—”

Demyan was shaking his head. “You can’t stay here, or in any of our properties in the state. Those are the first places they’ll look, Roman. And they will look.”

“Maxim made the deal. He wanted Karine gone, and she is. He never said anything about telling anyone else.”

“But he broke a more important agreement with Leonid and the man’s son. And we’re saying this while ignoring the fact one of those men were plotting against him. Who’s to say they didn’t still want her? What if Maxim was too late to get a handle on his problems? You are the one who has the bride. She was promised to him—why do I have to fucking explain this to you? They’re going to come for your head, and then drag her right back to where she rightfully belongs.”

Roman’s rage was instant.

Hot in his gut.

Like poison.

Demyan lifted a brow when Roman grinded his teeth before muttering, “Karine’s safety is most important, I know.”

“Then, you need to figure out a way to keep her in one piece. This is not the place for it.”

The frustration was building inside him. He knew his father was right, but habit and stupid pride meant he didn’t want to admit it. It was yet one more thing that he didn’t have under control.

Karine needed to be kept safe, and he didn’t know how—so, wasn’t this bigger than him, now?

“Asking for help isn’t a sign of weakness, son,” Demyan spoke up, reminding his son in an instant how easily he could read Roman. “Especially not when you ask it from someone who understands. Who doesn’t consider feeling something as a weakness. I don’t need to know the whys around what you’ve done to understand what you must do now. Those are different things. And regardless, I’ll get my answers eventually.”

He breathed in deeply, leaning back in the chair and pushed his hands into his pockets, eyeing Demyan from across the table.

“So, does that mean you’re going to help me?” he asked his father.

Demyan shrugged lazily, smirking. “I guess so.”

• • •

“How is she today?”

Roman hid the smile daring to creep across his lips as he slipped into the chair across from his father’s at the table. Four days ago, Demyan encountered Karine for the first time, and already, had developed a soft spot for her. Not that he would want his son to point it out, but the fact he asked about her before even saying hello to Roman said more than he needed to.

Maybe it was her helplessness, and her dependency on the people around her—those she trusted, her innocent aura. He had no idea how her own father could spend even a second degrading her, nevermind keeping her locked away from the world. He could also better understand why Masha was so devoted to her—he swore the woman didn’t know anything but watching over Karine. She was her first thought in the morning, and seemingly the last at night.