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I wouldn’t be surprised if my whole face is red. Itfeelsserious, but I’m not sure if I’m ready to have this conversation. Especially not with so many people in the room. “I should really get going,” I say with a nervous giggle. “I have to get to practice.”
“Practice?” Sandra inquires.
“I’m a ballerina with the Bolshoi.”
Charlotte turns and pumps her brows at Leo. “The ballet, you say? Goodness, and here I thought Leo didn’t enjoy the arts.”
“Quite the contrary,” I reply. “He made a massive sponsorship donation only a few weeks ago. He’s one of our biggest patrons.”
Leo clears his throat, uncomfortable about something. He makes his way to me and places his hand on the small of my back to guide me towards the elevator. “You don’t want to be late,” he mutters, his words unusually tight.
“It was nice to meet you all.”
He presses the button, calls for the car. “Sorry about them. It’s just business.”
“It sounds serious.”
“I have to deal with it. Otherwise, I’d drop you off myself.”
I press my hand to his chest and smile. “It’s okay. I understand. Truly.”
“Can I text you later?”
“Of course.” I hop up on my toes and press a kiss to his lips. “I’ll see you later, handsome.”
Leo places his hands on my hips and kisses me once before the elevator finally arrives. I get the idea he doesn’t want me to go, and I frankly don’t want to go either. But time isn’t on our side, and we both have pressing matters to attend to.
I get into the elevator and wave goodbye as the doors slide closed. When I catch a glint off the bracelet he gifted me, my smile falls. Something isn’t adding up, but I don’t even know where to begin to look for answers. There’s more to Leo than meets the eye. More than he’s letting on.
And if I’m being honest, it’s starting to worry me.
Chapter 18
Leo
“Cute,” Andrei says as he takes a seat at my kitchen table, steepling his fingers together and resting his elbows on the surface. “She doesn’t exactly fit your type.”
“Let’s cut to the chase here,” I interject. “You said the butcher’s on the run?”
Roman nods. “Samuil and I followed up in person like you asked. When we arrived, the whole place was shuttered.”
A flicker of annoyance licks at the nape of my neck. Not good. “Any sign of them?”
Samuil crosses his arms. “If we knew where they were, we would have dealt with them.”
Sandra sighs as she takes a seat across her husband’s lap. Outside, the two of them are fierce pakhans. They rule Moscow together with an iron fist and unwavering loyalty to one another. But inside, they’re lovey dovey as hell and it’s frankly too much for me to stomach so early in the morning.
“You did a good job of running things while we were away,” she says, “but now that we’re back, we need to tighten our leash on Moscow. It’s not your fault, of course. Andrei and I expected people to get a little brave in our absence. But it’s time to crack down on this misbehavior. If the butcher is skimming off the top, we need to make an example of them.”
I nod. “I agree.”
“The three of you will go and investigate,” Andrei says without missing a beat. He and Sandra are always so in tune, always on the same wavelength. It’s no wonder they make one hell of a team. “Charlotte, put some feelers out. There will be a monetary reward for any information provided that will lead to their capture. Although I’d ideally like to handle this as quietly as possible. We don't need our enemies knowing we’ve got trouble within our ranks.”
“I’ll get dressed,” I say. “This could have been a phone call, you know.”
Roman laughs. “Oh, we’re sorry. We just figured you’d have breakfast ready by now.”
I sneer. “Who said I’d feed you?”
