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If Kreshnik really is here, it’s not hard to understand why. The death of a loved one is a good motivator for all kinds of chaos. If I’d known Sergey was responsible for Emily’s death from the beginning, I would have destroyed him. There wouldn’t have been anything left.
Kreshnik is coming after me because I saw to it that his son was murdered for his attack on my home.
The one thing I don’t understand is, why didn’t Piper recognize him? If she’s working with the Albanians, surely she’d recognize their leader.
Instinct wants to accuse her of setting up a trap, but logic and the sight before my eyes shuts that theory up before it can fully form. She’s taking deep breaths to remain calm, but she’s shaken by the encounter. It’s in the way her fingertips tremble, the half-formed words she uses to describe everything. And why would she abandon her grandmother and Ashley after coming all this way just to find them?
I flip the bolt on the door closed and move past Piper to the window. The street below is busy. It makes sense—my hotel is in the city center. But nothing looks out of the ordinary. No lingering cars. No suspicious men loitering.
“Were you followed?”
“Huh?” Piper crosses her arms lower over her ribs. I push aside thoughts of my baby inside of her womb and focus on the moment at hand.
“Did anyone follow you?” I grit out. “How did you get from the airport to here?”
“I-I took a taxi. Should I not have done that? I didn’t have another way to get here.” She blinks and her eyes go glassy. She’s on the verge of tears.
“Where did the man go after he spoke with you?”
“He walked out of the airport,” she says. “I watched him step out onto the sidewalk and wheel his luggage away. I don’t know where he went after that. Do you think he followed me here?”
Piper walks over to the window where I am, but I throw my arm out to keep her back. “Stay away from the window.”
“Why? Is someone after us?”
“Maybe.”
Her face creases in desperation. “Talk to me, Timofey. Tell me what is going on.”
“You tell me.”
“I did!” She throws her arms wide. “That’s what I’m doing here. I came to make sure you knew you might be in danger. The second that man walked away from me, I made my way back here to warn you. I got in a taxi and…” She trails off, looking past me to the window.
“And what?” I bark.
“I took a taxi.” Her full lips tip up in a smile. “I took a taxi by myself. The windows weren’t even down.”
I’m about to snap at her to focus when I realize what she’s saying. “You didn’t have a panic attack.”
Her green eyes are clear and bright when she meets my gaze. “No, I didn’t. I was… I was so worried about you, Timofey. I guess I didn’t have room for anything else.”
I spin around and drag my hands through my hair. “Why are you here, Piper?”
“I told you. I’m here because—”
“No,” I bark, turning back to face her. “Why are you here to warn me about a threat after I flew here specifically to murder your friends and family?”
Piper just shrugs, her mouth sealed shut. I can see her mind working, but she isn’t responding.
“Why?” I demand. “I’m the monster, Piper. I’m the person you should be running from, not the man you run to. Don’t you understand that?”
“No.”
“No, as in, you don’t understand?”
“No,” she says again, “as in, you’re not the monster. You’re… You’ve done bad things, but you have your reasons. You aren’t cruel. You’re ruthless, sure. But you also make up for your mistakes, and you’ve shown your compassion and mercy more times than I can count.. Like after Ashley threatened to stab you in your eyes.”
I scoff. “I haven’t dealt with any of this the way I should have. If I acted like the don I’m supposed to be, all of you would be dead.”
