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When I don’t immediately look at her, Jessica floats her fingers across my cheek. It takes every last fiber of discipline I have not to flinch away from her touch.
Jessica Allens doesnotbelong on my arm.
Emmadoes.
And now, I’ve lost her amongst the crowd.
“Don’t mind him, Jessica. He’s just in boss mode still.” I hate that I’m letting Vadim make my excuses, but at least someone is keeping the she-devil at ease. I can’t even muster up the energy to lie to her convincingly.
“All work and no play makes Ruslan a very dull boy,” she quips, laughing hysterically at her own bad joke. Then she gasps. “Oh my God! Lola, is that you? Excuse me for a minute, darling; I have to go say hello.”
“Take all the minutes you want,” I mutter under my breath. The moment she clears my space, I feel a hundred pounds lighter. “Thankfuckfor Lola.” I remind myself to donate something sizable to the woman’s charity later.
Fyodor fixes me with a penetrating gaze. “You’ll have to make a choice soon, my son.”
He doesn’t say anything else—but Uncle Vadim, of course, can’t leave it there. “The Allens girl has amazing connections and enough money to rival your fortune.”
I scoff. “No amount of money is worth procreating with that banshee. I’d rather lose a testicle.”
My father lets out a weary sigh. Vadim just clicks his tongue with disapproval. “Wisdom is wasted on the young.”
I’m about to tell him exactly where he can shove his wisdom when Jessica appears again, all too soon. But since the appendage she’s pulling towards me is a man I might need one day, I put on my most charming smile.
“Commissioner Allens,” I say to her father. “How nice to see you again.”
He gives me a hearty handshake. “Ruslan! Pleasure, pleasure.”
While he’s greeting Vadim and Fyodor, I spot a mirage of red off in the distance. I shift an inch to the side and catch Emma sitting by the bar.
Except she’s not alone.
The fury turns my vision spotty when I realizewhoshe’s talking to.
Adrik fucking Makarov.
If I thought I was pissed before, it doesn’t hold a candle to the inferno burning through my veins right now. I’m seconds away from going absolutely berserk if that fucker doesn’t move away from her right fuckingnow, when—
“Ruslan?” Hiram Allens’s deep voice cuts through the sharp edge of my anger.
Goddammit.I swallow hard and turn to him, forcing the smile back onto my face. “Will you excuse me for just a minute, Commissioner? I’ve got some business I need to see to.”
I’m not so blinded by rage that I don’t see the incredulous looks on Jessica’s and Vadim’s faces when I excuse myself from Hiram’s company. Even Fyodor looks mildly surprised and he rarely concerns himself with the politics anymore.
But I can’t concentrate on charming the head of the NYPD when that slimy motherfucker has his sights set onmy woman.
I start carving my way through the crowd towards the bar in the far corner. But before I can get close enough to Adrik to strangle him, Kirill inserts himself right in my path. “Whoa, let’s take a breath there, brother. I know where you’re going and, trust me—that’s not a good idea.”
“You were supposed to be taking care of Emma tonight.” I’m this fucking close to pushing him aside and just barreling my way down to that bar. “Why the fuck didn’t you run interference?”
“Because the moment I do, Adrik is gonna know that Emma is a weak spot for you.”
Those two words.
Weak spot.
Fucking hell, are they sobering.
But they get through to me. It’s bad enough that Remmy honed in on Emma. If Adrik were to do the same, that would be a hell of a lot worse. It would put Emma in danger. It would put the kids in danger. It’s the whole damn reason I couldn’t bring her as my date tonight: the moment people saw her on my arm, they’d know she was important. They’d start digging into her life, her past, her relationships.
