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A startled laugh bursts from my lips, and Sarah perks up once again, looking around to see what I thought was so funny.
Anxiety tightens my stomach as I think about all the dead bodies littering the floor, and I try to shield her from the worst of it. “Maybe we could take this outside? I’d like to talk to Sarah about... well, you. But I want to do it somewhere she’ll feel safer.”
“Of course.” Without a moment’s hesitation, Maks shrugs out of his suit jacket and drapes it over Sarah, giving her a warm blanket that I can tuck close to help hide the graphic sight around us. Then his arm shifts around my waist to support me as he helps guide me through the maze of bodies.
“Dimitri...?” he starts as we near the doorway, and the older-looking of his two brothers rises with a momentarily serious expression.
“I’ll handle it. You do what you need to do.” His chin juts in my direction, and for a moment, sharp, intelligent eyes scrutinize me with open curiosity. Then Dimitri gives a subtle bow. “Heidi, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you,” he says. “Though the circumstances are rather unfortunate.” His eyes take in the gory scene around us.
Then Maks’s other brother rises from his crouch to elbow Dimitri in the ribs. “What he’s trying to say is we’ve heard a lot about you, and we look forward to getting to know you better. Not just any girl could work your kind of magic on the old grizzly bear here.”
He pats Maks on the shoulder and receives a shockingly bear-like growl from his older brother in response.
“I’m Alexei, by the way. The handsome Federov brother.” He gives me a playful wink.
“It’s nice to meet you both,” I say, smiling despite the grim atmosphere.
“Come on. Let’s get you two outside,” Maks says, his arm wrapping protectively around my shoulders as he moves me along.
It fills me with relief when he doesn’t take me through the same flickering maze of hallways into the parking garage. Instead, Maks walks me right through the boarded up front doors of the casino and back out into the startlingly bright day.
From the angle of the sun, I’d guess it’s late afternoon or early evening, and I’m almost shocked to realize we must still be on the same day as our abduction. It feels like a lifetime ago that I shook off that black SUV tailing me.
A thought hits me all of a sudden, and I look up at Maks. “Did you... send a car to follow me?”
Maks gives me a somewhat sheepish grin. “Yeah. Although apparently, you’re a crazier driver than a couple of Russian Bratva members.”
I chuckle at that and shake my head. “After your warning yesterday, I thought they might be the men you were talking about. They scared the daylights out of me.”
“I should have just told you about them. But I thought you might try to sneak away from them if I did.”
My lips press into a warm smile. “You’re probably right. But how about, from now on, we agree to no more secrets?”
“I can live with that,” he agrees, and he pulls me close to press a kiss to my forehead.
Outside, in the front drive of what proves to be the Starlight Casino and Lounge, I’m relieved to find that the world around us could almost be considered normal. This will do just fine to talk to Sarah about Maks.
Stooping, I set her down on the sidewalk, and Sarah leans close, not wanting to be left alone after everything she’s been through.
“I have something to tell you,” I say gently, smoothing my fingers over her delicate cheeks and chin before taking my daughter’s tiny hands. “Sarah, this is Maks. Do you remember him?”
“Yeah. We met yesterday,” she says, looking shyly up at him over my shoulder.
Even though he’s brought himself down to Sarah’s level behind me, he’s still tall enough that she has to raise her eyes, and she swings her body from side to side in a bashful dance.
“That’s right,” he agrees. “And you told me about your birthday plans to go to the zoo.”
I peek over my shoulder at Maks to find a soft, tender smile breaking across his face.
Sarah’s nodding when I turn back to her, and after a moment’s hesitation, she asks, “Do you want to come?”
My heart positively melts. It seems our daughter has already taken a shine to Maks, and I’m speechless for a moment as happy tears sting my eyes.
“I would love to come to your birthday,” Maks says, his low voice rich with emotion.
“Sarah, honey, you know how you asked me about the dads your friends at school have?” I say, trying to break into the topic gently.
“Yeah?”
