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* * *
By the time I get back to the penthouse, it’s well after midnight. I find Nikita passed out on the living room couch, curled up in a blanket. The television is on, but the volume is muted. She’s managed to hook up her phone to my Smart TV and was in the middle of watching an old recording ofThe Nutcrackerballet taken several years ago. The only reason I can tell it’s old is because the footage is grainy and the costumes look incredibly dated, though beautiful, in its own classical way.
I watch Nikita for a moment, more than a little amused at how easily she’s acclimated to her surroundings. I love that she’s already comfortable here. She looksgoodlaying on my couch, wrapped up in my throw blanket.
There’s almost a sense of pride swelling in me, my caveman brain coming to the forefront. I’m territorial, suddenly eager to build her a home from scratch with my two bare hands. I want to scoop her up and put her in my bed where I can keep her safe and warm.
For now, though, I’ll settle for carrying her to the bedroom where she can get a proper night’s rest. Now that we’ve gotten her problem squared away and her role has finally and rightfully been returned to her, I doubt she wants to dance with a kink in her neck.
Nikita yawns and holds onto me as I pick her up, one arm braced around her back and the other beneath her knees. “Did you take care of business?” she mumbles against my chest sleepily.
“Not quite. I have to make a quick trip out of the city.”
Thiswakes her up, her eyes suddenly wide open. There are sleep lines on her face from where her cheek was smushed against the couch cushion. “Really?”
“Don’t worry. I won’t be gone long. I’ll be back in time to see you dance.”
She runs her hand over my chest, smoothing the wrinkles on my shirt. “You’ll be safe, right? It’s not dangerous?”
I kiss her forehead. “No, sweetheart. It’s not dangerous. It’s just a… talk.”
I can tell by the look she gives me that she isn’t quite convinced, but she doesn’t press the issue. “Just promise to be safe.”
“You have nothing to worry about, Nikita.”
“Promiseme.”
I kiss her tenderly as I lay her down in my bed—our bed now, I suppose with growing glee—before looking deep into her brilliant blue eyes.
“I promise.”
Chapter 29
Leo
“Ah, road trips,” Roman says with a mischievous grin. “When was the last time we went on a vacation together, just you and me?”
I get into the car with a grunt. “This isn’t a vacation.”
“Do I get to pick the music since I’m in the passenger seat?”
“I prefer to drive in silence.”
“AndIprefer not to spend the next couple of hours driving with a psychopath. You don’t listen to anythingat all?”
I sigh heavily. Why couldn’t Andrei send Samuil or Damien with me? At least Samuil’s quiet, and Damien and I don’t get along well enough to bother having meaningful conversation. Of all my brothers, why did I have to be stuck with the chatterbox of the family?
“There’s duct tape in the trunk,” I tell my brother.
“What for?”
“To seal your mouth shut.”
Instead of getting offended, Roman just laughs. “Dear God have mercy, this is going to be alongtrip.”
* * *
It’s roughly seven hours from Moscow to St. Petersburg. I suppose we could have sent one of our lieutenants to retrieve the funds, but this needs to be kept under wraps. We don’t need anybody knowing that an employee managed to pull a fast one over on the Bratva. This is a get-in, get-out kind of mission. Clean and precise.
