Page 77
“Let me guess,” she started. “You’re sending us home without you.”
“The warehouse was found.”
Hearing the news at least piqued her interest. Her mouth twisted and she looked away. “Are you certain?”
“Yes, Sergei is certain.”
“Are you positive it’s not a trap?”
“Even a traitor wouldn’t dare try and assassinate the Pakhan in front of his men.”
“Unless there’s more than one traitor in your midst.”
“I highly doubt that, sweet angel. Are you worried about my safety?”
She shrugged, but I could tell she was. “Not at all. You can take care of yourself, but you have a daughter who went through yet another ordeal. She needs her father.”
When I reached out to touch her face, she recoiled, leaving me to curl my fingers. “I’ll be back later today.”
“Another promise?”
“Absolutely.”
She slowly removed her sunglasses. “One day you aren’t going to be able to keep your promise, Maxsim. What then?”
“I’m not going to allow anything to happen, Isabel.”
“While I appreciate your confidence and realize I mentioned you needed to be a hero, I wasn’t talking about being a superhero. You aren’t infallible and you won’t come back from the dead. You act as if you have nothing to lose when you have everything that should matter on the line. Just come back in one piece.” She closed the distance, rising onto her toes and kissing me softly on the lips.
Without another word, she climbed into the back of the SUV, closing the door herself.
“Take them home, Mario. And stay with them until I return.”
“Is everything alright?” he asked.
“Not really, but it will be.” I waited until he’d climbed into the front seat and pulled away before heading toward Damen. “Change of plans. We’re headed to North Carolina.”
“Yes, sir.”
I watched until the taillights disappeared before getting in, immediately pulling my phone into my hand. I had a personal attorney I’d used for years. He was damn good at his job including keeping my personal affairs private.
As I dialed the number, I thought about what she’d told me. She was right. I was putting everything I cared about in a tidy box while determined to exact revenge. However, what she couldn’t understand was that situations like this didn’t simply go away.
They festered, following you no matter how hard you tried to run from or ignore them. In this case, I had no intention of allowing another incident to occur because I knew what would happen if I dared relax.
The next time the perpetrator would succeed.
“John. It’s Maxsim. I need you to put together a legal document.”
“Absolutely. What are we talking about?”
“I need to add a guardian designation to my will.”
He made a sound that I couldn’t distinguish. “I’m glad you decided to take my advice. I’ll take care of it. Who is the person you want as guardian of Mina?”
“Her name is Isabel Dayne.”
* * *
