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“Do you mind if I come to the trampoline park with you guys? If you’d rather have some father/son bonding time, I understand.”
“Are you kidding? You promised him some fun. I’m afraid that you’re stuck with us for the day.”
Alice grabbed his hand, intertwining their fingers. “Good. There’s nowhere else that I’d rather be.”
As they left Aunt gina’s house, it struck Nickolay that his feelings for Alice were already growing stronger, and he had a feeling that would keep happening the more that he saw her interact with Max. for someone that seemed nervous on the way here, she was a natural with him. If he wasn’t careful, he could really fall for this woman.
Andmaybethat wouldn’t even be such a bad thing.
11
ALICE
She wasanxious as she waited for Roberts to arrive at her apartment. The man was growing impatient, she could tell that much by the tone of his voice during their last brief phone call, and that was just going to get worse when he got here.
She had nothing for him. So far, her undercover operation was a bust. In fact, she’d gone completely off the rails by sleeping with Nickolay. And spending time with his son. And worst of all, she was starting to really care about the man.
She couldn’t exactly give that excuse to Roberts though. If she ever wanted to be taken seriously by the FBI again after her previous relationship with her boss, she couldn’t let anyone know that she fucked a suspect.
Not that she thought of Nickolay that way anymore. She should, but she didn’t.
A knock on the door made her get to her feet, but she paused just long enough to take a deep shaky breath before answering.
Roberts hurried inside, not wanting to take the risk of being seen. He seemed less put-together than usual as he turned to face her. His tie was loosened, and he had stubble on his face. It seemed that the stress was getting to him.
“Report,” he said, an eagerness in his eyes that brought some life back to his drawn features.
“I’ve kept you updated through the reports I’ve given over the phone. You already know that I haven’t found anything.”
“That’s what you reported three days ago, but I hoped you would have found something since then. Don’t you understand how important this is? They are this close to shutting down this investigation.”
He held up his fingers just an inch apart, and Alice had to fight the urge to roll her eyes.
“What would you have me do? Endanger myself by breaking into Alek’s office? Or better yet, his bedroom?”
“Of course not,” Robert’s said, sinking into an armchair with a sigh. “I’m sorry. I’m just worried. We’ve been given an official deadline now. We have three weeks to find something to nail these guys with. Or at the very least, a lead. If not, we’re finished.”
The pressure to find something sat like a weight on Alice’s chest, but the worst part was the guilt she felt at the idea of succeeding in her task. If she found something substantial on the Bratva, it would hurt Chloe and Nickolay. Ultimately, he could hurt Max.
She’d only spent a little time with the boy, but he’d wormed his way into her heart almost immediately. He was a sweet kid, with an innocent openness that only children seemed to have.
That innocent nature was sure to disappear if his father ended up in prison.
“I’ll do what I can,” she said. She couldn’t promise anything else.
“Agent Calloway deserves justice. Iknowthat these people killed him.”
The guilt on Robert’s face was plain to see. Alice’s heart went out to him. There was nothing wrong with him taking time off when his father died, but everyone knew that he blamed himself for not having his partner’s back when he disappeared.
But it had always struck Alice as odd that Agent Calloway was investigating the Bratva the way that he was. He barely documented anything, so they had very little to go on when Roberts started his own investigation. In fact, it was suspected that Agent Calloway had an informant, but they’d never found any information about who it might have been.
“I’ll try to find out what happened to him, I promise,” she said.
Roberts didn’t seem to be encouraged by that, but she couldn’t offer him anything else. All she could do was try.
He stood, scrubbing his hand down his face as he headed for the door. Just before he reached it, he stopped and turned back to her.
“By the way, I looked into that man you mentioned. Nickolay Kazak.”
