AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The happiness shining in Chloe’s eyes made Alice’s heart break. If she was successful in helping to put away Alek and other key members of the Bratva, it would ruin this woman’s life. She’d be left to raise this baby on her own.
Maybe things would be better if she told Chloe about Alek’s criminal life. If she didn’t know, this would give her a chance to leave him and start over somewhere else. If she did know, at least Alice wouldn’t feel so guilty. She wasn’t as much of a victim if she knowingly chose to be with a mafia boss.
She was about to tell Chloe just how dangerous being with Alek was, despite the fact that she would be blowing her own cover, but the sound of the doorbell broke the moment.
Chloe frowned. “Would you mind getting it? I’m not really expecting anyway, and I’m not eager to walk away from these donuts just yet.”
Alice nodded and headed to the front door, already second-guessing her plan to tell Chloe anything about Alek. She was in a dangerous situation here, and it would be foolish to let her feelings - specifically, her fondness for Chloe - get in the way of her purpose here. That was a good way to end up in the Grathen River with cinder blocks tied to her feet.
As she entered the foyer, Alice caught sight of Nickolay through the window next to the door. Her heart fluttered even as dread settled in her gut. Things were so weird at the end of their date, and she wasn’t sure how to handle seeing him after that. She didn’t have much of an explanation for her distance after she learned he had a kid. She couldn’t tell him that she was freaked out by the thought of a man obviously involved in the mafia also being a loving father.
Opening the door before he could ring the bell again, she plastered a polite smile on her face and braced herself for awkwardness. Nickolay didn’t look surprised to see her, but his curt nod told her all she needed to know about whether or not he picked up on her discomfort at the end of their date.
“I’m dropping off some paperwork for Alek,” he said, showing her a brown folder in his hand.
Alice realized that she was standing in the doorway, staring. Clearing her throat, she stepped back to let him enter.
Nickolay crossed the foyer, and she watched him disappear down the hallway leading to Alek’s office. She’d already tried to get into it days ago and found it to be locked, but as she creeped to the hallway and glanced toward the office, she saw that the door was open.
Did that mean that Nickolay had a key?
She moved away from the hallway so that he wouldn’t catch her snooping around, but she was still in the foyer when he walked out, running a dust rag over a sideboard table, even though it was already clean.
Nickolay paused as he passed her, and she hated how strange it felt when his eyes met hers. Just last week, something as simple as picking up towels together had ignited a fire inside of her. Now, it felt as if there was a football field between them even though they stood three feet apart.
“How is your son?” she asked.
All of her reservations about Nickolay fled her mind as she was overcome with a need to speak to him. It was even more confusing than her affection for Chloe, but she couldn’t help herself. She hated this tension between them, no matter how wrong it was to want to be close to him.
Nickolay sighed and ran a hand through his long hair. It wasn’t tied back today, and she liked the way the dark strands looked down around his shoulders.
“He’s doing better. Turned out that he had an ear infection. A couple of days of antibiotics have made a huge difference.”
“How old is he?”
She wasn’t sure why she asked that. It was none of her business, but she couldn’t help being curious about the child. And Nickolay, even though that was even more problematic.
“Six. It’s hard to believe that he’s that old already or that he’s in first grade already.”
Alice saw the warmth in his eyes again, a softness that didn’t seem like it should have been possible in a hardened criminal. He loved his son.
“I’m glad that he feels better,” she said, meaning it.
“I’m sorry that I had to cut our date short. I guess you were right. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea.”
“No.” The word slipped out without thought, but Alice found that she didn’t like the tone of Nickolay’s voice. He sounded resigned.
He was done chasing her.
It should have been a relief. She’d been torn about her feelings for him from the beginning, and this was her out. If he didn’t keep flirting with her, she could focus on her job. Instead, her heart dropped.
“No?” he asked, arching an eyebrow. The teasing smirk pulled at his lips, and she felt a thrill at the sight of it.
“I’m just thinking…we could try again.”
This time, he gave her a full smile, and she didn’t regret her impulsive suggestion one bit.
“Oh, yeah. We can definitely try again.”
