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Not another word was spoken. He didn’t elaborate on how she died or when.
“I’m sorry.” I had meant it; whether he realized it or not, losing a sibling was hell. I hadn’t lost my sister, not physically but emotionally we’d fallen apart. I’d lost a child, and that had been heart-wrenching.
He stared at me long and hard before giving a once-over nod. “Yeah. Me too. Cost of being in the family business,” Nikolai said. He gave a shrug as if it didn’t matter anymore and was all in the past.
“There doesn’t have to be a cost. You don’t have to keep killing people,” I whispered.
His feet slammed against the floor as he whipped out his gun and pointed it at my head. “Shut it!”
I’d gone too far.
I closed my lips and let my gaze fall down to the floor. I held Izzie asleep in my arms. “Let me put her upstairs in bed.”
“No.”
I needed to protect her, but I couldn’t do that with the barrel of a gun against my forehead. If I died, who would protect Izzie? Jaxson would when he arrived, but how much longer until that happened? I couldn’t let her get hurt. I wouldn’t. Jaxson had been there for me, rescued me. I owed him my life. Now I was repaying the favor.
“She doesn’t need to be involved in this, Nikolai. This is between you and me.”
He rolled his eyes and cocked the safety off on the gun. “No.”
A single word. That’s all he said, and I could argue until my last breath. But what good would that do Izzie?
“Fine.” I didn’t argue. It wouldn’t do any good. I needed to get him to continue to open up to me. He wasn’t going to do that with his gun poised and ready to shoot. “I’m sorry,” I said, apologizing. “You’re in charge.”
“Damn right, I’m in charge!” he growled.
I didn’t move. I didn’t flinch. I needed him to see that I wasn’t a threat, and maybe then he’d put away the gun.
Silence enveloped the room.
My heart pounded against my chest. Could he hear the fear, the adrenaline coursing through my veins?
His breathing was heavy and loud, filling the quiet space.
After several minutes he pulled his gun away from my forehead, put the safety back on, and shoved the weapon into the waistband of his pants.
My eyes shut, relieved he wasn’t pointing his pistol at me. We still weren’t done. I wasn’t safe until he was in handcuffs and carted off to jail. Had Jaxson phoned the local sheriff?
I hadn’t heard sirens, but maybe they were smart enough not to alert us of their presence?
My voice soft and timid; I needed answers. “What’s going to happen to Hazel?” Nikolai had made it clear that he wanted his sister returned to him. While I didn’t think he’d let Izzie or I go, I wasn’t sure what he planned to do with his sister.
“Why do you care?” He paced the length of the living room again, glancing every so often out the window. When he seemed satisfied that it was still just the three of us in the house, he returned his attention to me.
“I consider Hazel a friend.” The truth was, I didn’t have many friends. I’d alienated everyone in New York when my ex-husband had been convicted on multiple felony counts for embezzlement and fraud. Emma had been a friend, but that had been short-lived.
Nikolai strode over to the fireplace, examining the photographs on the mantle. “She doesn’t have any friends.”
I didn’t know if that was true or not, but she seemed close to Mason, a secret I would take to my grave. There was no reason that Nikolai needed to know about him. “I saved her life at the resort,” I said.
“You were at the resort when those bastards came in and took hostages?” Nikolai rushed at me, the gun back out of his pants and now in his hand. He shoved it up under my jaw.
“I was a hostage, same as Hazel,” I said. Did he think I was involved? Would he kill me because I spoke about the situation? He appeared unhinged. Should I have been surprised?
“But you got her out?”
“It wasn’t just me. I had help from the Eagle Tactical team.” I didn’t point out that I was employed by them. I wasn’t sure whether he’d kiss me or kill me.
He snorted. “Those bastards betrayed me. When they show up with Hazel, they’re dead. Every last one of them, including the little girl.”
“No one is touching my little girl,” Jaxson’s voice echoed through the house, loud and clear.
I glanced over my shoulder for Jaxson. I could have sworn he was behind me, but he wasn’t in the house.
Nikolai backed away from me and glanced out the window, satisfied that Jaxson hadn’t arrived yet. “Nice try!” he shouted. His gun poised at the alarm speaker system, he fired off a round, blowing the plastic into tiny shards that shattered around the room.
