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“True.”
He smiled again. She did too. His father took note.
This time, Dmitri ignored it. She was talking as though she was going to say yes. Or was she talking like that because she actually knew what was going on and was beginning to feel more secure in what the final outcome would be?
Fuck.
Was this the endgame?
Had it all been a setup after all?
He grew quiet, watching her as she stretched her arms over her head, cracked her neck, rolled her shoulders back, let her arms fall with a satisfied sigh.
She seemed okay. Too okay?
The silence remained. No more gunshots.
He could hardly believe that he’d let his guard down to such an extent with her that the red flag had taken this long to begin waving in front of his eyes. Had she staged this? Had she charmed him to lull him into a sense of security? All that talk of wanting to feel safe and craving control and benign things only turning deadly if you handled them incorrectly.
Could she turn deadly if handled incorrectly?
The door unlocked, Misha walking in with two of the others in tow. Guns drawn put kept pointed to the floor. Misha jerked his head to the door, signaling for them to head through it.
“Well?” Dmitri demanded, reaching out a hand to Alina to get her to walk with him.
She did, Misha at their backs as they headed through the door. The other two bodyguards flanking his father. They entered the deserted hallway.
It was too quiet.
“We don’t know,” Misha admitted, aggravation in each word. “The only person who saw the perp is dead.”
Fuck.
“Who?”
“Ivan.”
Fuck.
“Okay. There were two shots?”
“Yes. I’ll show you. Just…” he glanced over his shoulder at Vasili.
Dmitri gave an almost imperceptible nod that he understood. They’d address it when his father wasn’t present, whatever it was. Misha clearly didn’t want the ruling head to hear it.
“Keep up,” Dmitri encouraged Alina, reaching out a hand to gently grasp her upper arm to usher her along. He moved the touch between her shoulder blades to seem a little less possessive, but the truth was he’d wanted to see how hot she was running.
Her inner dragon was fired up. Either from fear, or adrenaline. He couldn’t tell which and it clarified to him how he wanted it to be fear. He wanted to be able to trust her. He didn’t want her to be behind this or have any part in it.
She didn’t move away from his touch. In fact, she seemed to welcome it.
Intriguing.
They moved through the hallways swiftly and effectively, down a staircase, into the basement. To the saferoom.
“Good,” Dmitri said when he saw that the rest of the family had already gathered. “All of you stay here. You too,” he told Alina. “This is the best place for you. Trust me.”
She smiled then.
