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A laugh escapes me, bright and bubbly. It feels like such a relief after so long hidden away, miserable and alone without him.
We sift through the files together, working as a team to locate Marlena and Teresa Ivanovich’s files. Finding their burial plots was one thing, but finding the paperwork that goes along with it is a trial and a half. The documents here aremostlyin alphabetical order, but it’s pretty obvious once we’re ten minutes in that whoever’s in charge of running the cemetery really couldn’t care less about organization.
“So,” Andrei says slowly as he works through the shelf at his eye-level. “How’ve you been?”
I laugh. “What kind of question is that?”
“I just want to know. I’ve missed you.”
My hands still. I tilt my chin up to get a better look at him. Andrei isn’t searching through the files but is watching me with a soft warmth in his eyes. My heart stops for a brief, beautiful second. My cheeks burn red in rare bashfulness.
“I missed you, too,” I confess softly. I’m the first to break eye contact, determined to find a lead.
He runs a hand through his hair and sighs. “You know, I’ve been thinking…”
“About what?”
“How unfair this all is.”
“What are you talking about?”
Andrei reaches down and takes my hand. He helps me rise to my feet, tenderly lacing his fingers with mine. Though his brow may be steepled together into a steep frown, he handles me with the utmost care. I lean against him, my back pressed against the shelves, drinking in the firmness of his body and the intoxicating scent of his cologne. It feelsgoodto be in his arms again.
We’re a lock and a key. The corner piece of a puzzle that makes the image whole. His embrace feels like home, and I’m starting to realize I never should have left.
I reach up and press my fingers between his brows, smoothing out his frown. “Talk to me, Andrei.”
He exhales slowly, his eyes flitting down to my lips. “I wonder what would have happened if we weren’t who we were. If you were some Plain Jane and I was an Average Joe. Do you think we could have made it work?”
To anyone else, such a notion might sound ridiculous. But to me, it’s almost heartbreaking. Our cruel luck pitted us against each other from the moment we were born. It hurts to picture our lives without the Bratva. What kind of person would I have grown up to be if Dad never left the United States to take up the mantle? What would I be doing with my life if I hadn’t had this responsibility thrust upon me from the moment of my very first breath?
I wrap my arms around his neck and pull him closer. There isn’t even an inch between us as I look deep into his eyes. “In another life, if we were normal people… How do you think we would have met?”
Andrei smiles wide, but his eyes are tinged with regret and sadness. “I would have been a taxi driver, I think.
I giggle. “Yeah?”
“And I think I would have picked you up in my taxi. You were running late for a meeting. Dispatch told me where to get you, and the moment I saw you, I suddenly realized how lucky I was to pick up the call.”
I settle against him, allowing my mind to wander as we make believe together. “What did I do in this other life?”
“You tell me, princess.”
“I think I was… a Krav Maga instructor.”
Andrei laughs. “I can definitely picture that, too.”
“And maybe we got to talking?”
“About what?” He humors me.
“Movies? We talked about movies the whole drive and—”
“And I invited you out to see one. A thriller.”
“I love thrillers.”
Andrei beams. “Figured you might.”
