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“Don’t you dare make me a widow, Andrei.”
He looks at me. “What do you want? Do you want to leave? Find the accounts and sneak out in the middle of the night? I can see the thought in your head, Paige.”
“It’s not that,” I reply softly. “I want my baby to be safe.”
“Maybe I can’t protect you anymore,” he says.
A cold chill races down my back. “What do you mean?”
“My sister isn’t the person I thought she was. And she has good reason to hate me. Somedays I hate myself. Can I shoot her? No. Should I shoot her? I will have to if I want to survive. Now several Bratvas have turned against me, and it will take a show of power to put them back in their place. The feat can only be accomplished if I’m willing to end the Bratvas that were once loyal to Vasily. Igor is still playing the game from the grave.”
“It’s not him,” I reply bitterly. “It’sTalia. She will keep trying until she has you. What can we do about it?”
His eyebrow tilts, and he pushes away his laptop. “So, you’ve decided to stay?”
I look away, embarrassed that my thoughts are so easy to read.
“Talia played her hand well by sending my sister,” he continues. “She proved that I’m torn between my loyalty to the Bratva and my love for family. Now, Eva’s death means nothing. It’s seen for what it is … an accident. I’ll be condemned for not shooting Sonya when I had the chance.”
I see the internal struggle he’s going through, and my determination to leave is crumbling like an ancient wall of stone. I’m the rat searching for a way off a sinking ship. But I have to leave to save my baby from this man, and to do that, I have to work with him first.
I hug my body closely. “I’ll go with you to the wedding.”
Andrei’s tone is sharp. “You shouldn’t.”
“I have to,” I insist. “We made an agreement to see this through to the end. I’m keeping my part of our deal.”
His face is unreadable, no doubt unimpressed by my less than romantic oath to stay by his side through thick and thin.
I smile. “Besides, someone has to be there to patch you up.”
Andrei stands up and walks around the desk, stopping a few feet from me. I sense the strength of his body and ache for him to hold me and help me make a decision. “The only way I can protect you is to stay focused on the Bratva.”
“I understand,” I reply softly, staring hard at the floor. I don’t want to look him in the eye and see if he’s sincere. If he is, it will only sway me to stay.
“Paige …” He moves toward me.
I hold up my hand to stop him from moving closer. “We both have things we need to do.”
As if on cue, Dmitri enters the office without knocking. He doesn’t notice that Andrei and I are in the middle of a conversation. He never does.
“Andrei Vasilyevich, have you heard?” he asks.
Andrei picks up the invitation and tosses it toward Dmitri. It lands on the edge of the desk as I slip out of the room.
“Paige?” Andrei raises his voice before I can shut the door. “Dmitri, wait a moment.”
Dmitri leaves the office as I step back inside. I’m shocked, if not a little stunned to beat out Bratva business. Andrei pulls me into his arms. I’m suddenly reassured by the comforting gesture, but I’m bracing myself for everything to turn on its head.
“Believe me,” he says. “The less you’re involved, the better. Things are so unstable that we can’t take a chance of someone giving away anything vital. I can’t stop you from searching, but you’ll get hurt if it’s known you have the account numbers.” He pauses for emphasis. “And if you uncover something else, don’t follow it up without telling me.”
I inhale, holding onto him tightly to keep myself from shaking. “What else is there?”
“Nothing, but if you find something,” he says. “Tell me.”
He gives me a hard look, and I wonder what’s going through his mind. Why do I keep thinking that everyone in the world is somehow connected to my problems?
“I need to take a walk.” I hurry out of the office, leaving the door open for Dmitri.
