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He stepped forward, turning to me. “Why weren’t you at home?” he asked.
I bristled, taking it to mean I wasn’t there to protect Karine. I didn’t bother to explain because I wouldn’t be able to keep my voice low enough with the rage that bubbled just below the surface. I didn’t want to wake Karine.
I motioned toward the hall. “Let’s go outside so we don’t disturb her,” I murmured.
As I stood up to step away, I noticed Karine stir in her sleep, reaching out her hand to me. I took it, sitting back down and giving Feliks a hard look.
“What do you know?” he asked.
“Gas leak,” I told him in a low voice. “Nothing but a freak accident.”
“I don’t think so,” he said. “This was an attack. It had to be the Morozovs.”
“Impossible. No way,” I said immediately. Feliks gave me a long, dark stare. Oh, shit. It sounded like I was defending them, because how could I possibly be so certain it wasn’t them? “Why would they escalate?” I asked, trying to sound reasonable.
“We are bringing weapons and more men in soon,” he said.
My blood froze, but I didn’t blink, didn’t waver. “How can they know that, though? You don’t think they’re psychotic enough to burn down my house because I kicked Ivan’s ass, do you?”
I didn’t want Feliks thinking I was to blame in any way, but better to bring up the unfortunate nightclub incident than have him think I was a mole feeding the Morozovs information. It felt like forever before he shook his head, and I realized I was holding my breath. I let it out slowly.
“You never know,” Feliks said with a shrug. “You two will stay with me until the house is renovated.”
There was a slight pressure from Karine’s hand, and when I glanced down at her, she very subtly shook her head, even though her face was still slack as if she was fast asleep. It seemed like this idea was as unsavory to her as it was to me.
“No, that’s okay,” I said. “I still have my beach apartment. We’ll stay there. No one knows about it since I’ve only been using it for my investment business. If this is really the Morozovs, we’ll be safer there.”
Another gentle pressure from Karine’s fingers told me I’d said the right thing, and I squeezed back. But even as I said the words, I wasn’t sure who to trust. My damn house had just been blown to shreds. A house I just as easily could have been in when it happened. I had thrown myself headlong into this life based on a biological tie, but in truth, I knew very little about my so-called father. What if the Morozovs had been behind the attack?
Had they grown impatient with the spy game and gone ahead and tried to kill a Dryga to make a point? Had they tried to murder my wife?
I almost forgot I was in the middle of a conversation with Feliks and saw he didn’t care much for my suggestion. Despite reeling from my confused thoughts, I squared my shoulders.
“Karine’s safety is my first priority,” I said. “If the Morozovs are after us, I won’t have her be a sitting duck in a place where everyone knows you live. Nobody knows about my apartment.”
He grumbled for a solid thirty seconds before reluctantly agreeing. “I’ll have some guards placed discreetly nearby while I look into who was behind this,” he said, turning to leave.
“Start with the gas company,” I called after him.
I sat back down beside Karine and scraped my fingers through my hair, waiting for her to explain why she hadn’t wanted to stay at her father’s house. Her hand had loosened around mine and she really seemed to be asleep now, and I couldn’t bear to wake her just to ask unimportant questions. I also couldn’t bear to face my feelings, but they crowded in on me anyway.
There was no way the attack was from the Morozovs. It couldn’t be them. But if I found out it was…
What then?
Would I retaliate? And why would I do that?
Looking over at Karine’s sleeping face, still smudged with soot around the edges of her jaw, I saw how small and helpless she looked in the oversized hospital gown. Rage danced around the edges of my consciousness, looking for a reason to break free. Looking for a chance to take revenge on whoever put her in that position. Not exactly the revenge I signed up for, was it?
This wasn’t possible. Not just the Morozovs being behind the attack, but the strength of my urge to keep her safe. But why? She was my wife in name only. The wedding had been a setup, a ruse, from the very start. I wasn’t the sort to fall for someone so fast, let alone fall at all. I was the quintessential love ‘em and leave ‘em kind of guy, and I very specifically looked for the type of women who also had no use for attachments.
But this felt like an attachment. Maybe something stronger than that.
Had I actually started to care about Karine Dryga, daughter of my father’s enemy? Damn it. Had I started to fall in love with my wife?
Chapter 20 - Karine
I slept straight through the night despite the constant beeping from outside my room, the flickering exit sign over my door, and Roman continuously checking on me. I needed to recover, but my sleep was plagued with dreams that tried to put pieces of a puzzle together. None of the pieces fit. Nothing made sense.
