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She just had to make sure she never saw him again.
34
ADAM
Adam waited in the foyer of the grand entry, his gaze traveling over the expensive art and furniture, the sweeping staircase that led to the second and third floors.
So this was how the other half lived. He’d always wondered.
He slipped a finger between the collar of his uniform shirt and his neck, wondering if it was his imagination that the house was warm. He hadn’t been sure whether to wear his uniform or not — whether it was an advantage or a disadvantage — but in the end he’d decided it would work in his favor.
It never hurt to have the cops on your side, especially when your business was of a questionably legal nature.
He’d been angry after his conversation with Ruby outside of Roasted. He’d thought she would be grateful to him for bringing her the news about Roman Kalashnik, that she would see him as her knight in shining armor, the way she had when they’d first met and she’d been an innocent nineteen-year-old scared of her own shadow.
He even thought she might be scared enough to ask him to stay with her and Olivia for a while. It would be a rekindling of their love, a new beginning.
But she’d changed.
Now she was no innocent. She was a fucking cunt-whore who’d let another man into her bed after reciting vows to Adam, after promising in a fuckingchurchthat she would honor and cherish himuntil death do they fucking part.
Clearly she needed a reminder that the world was a scary place. That she and Olivia needed Adam’s protection.
His presence.
Especially with men like Roman Kalashnik doing business in the city.
And Adam had to act fast, because there was one piece of information he’d gotten from his buddies at the OCTF that he hadn’t shared with Ruby: there were indications that Roman Kalashnik might be preparing to make a play for his father’s seat at the head of the table.
A door closed somewhere in the vast house and the beefy guard who’d frisked Adam on arrival gestured for Adam to follow him.
They made their way down a long hall and stopped at a set of mahogany double doors.
The guard opened them and ushered Adam inside a wood-paneled study lined with bookshelves and a state-of-the-art sound system that looked out of place amid the room’s antiques and old books.
He assumed the guard would leave. Instead he closed the doors and remained inside the study, arms crossed in front of him, gaze trained on something in the middle distance of the room.
Adam looked at the man seated behind the big desk, his gray hair thick over bushy eyebrows and steely eyes.
The man studied him for a long moment. When he spoke, his voice was laced with the remnants of a Russian accent.
“You said you had something to tell me about my son?”
35
OLIVIA
Olivia was playing hopscotch when Ms. Guzman, one of the TAs, waved her over.
Olivia looked suspiciously at the woman, because it was recess and Olivia looked forward to recess all day. Sometimes there was snow on the ground in winter, and then they didn’t get to play hopscotch, but there was no snow on the ground today, which was why Olivia didn’t want to give up any of her recess talking to Ms. Guzman.
But she had to go because now Ms. Guzman was waving even more and she was the boss at recess when Ms. Moretti, Olivia’s teacher, stayed inside to go to the bathroom and talk to the other teachers.
Olivia picked up the rock she was playing with because it was hard to find a good rock, one that stayed put when it landed instead of bouncing or rolling out of the chalky outline of the hopscotch grid.
“Where are you going?” Tasha shouted at her as she hurried toward Ms. Guzman.
Tasha was playing hopscotch next to Olivia. Olivia hadn’t been trying to win because her mom said it was fun just to play but she’d still been going to finish first.
