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“What you are dying to ask.”
“That man.”
“Alexei.” I stare at him with a hard expression.
“What are your feelings for him?”
He doesn’t waste words and I shrug. “He helped me. I’m grateful, that is all.”
He leans forward. “Are you telling me or yourself because I’m not buying it?”
For some reason, it makes me laugh, and I lean back and stare at him fondly. “Thanks for coming.” I say with a grateful smile, and he nods. “I will always come for you, princess. You can be assured of that.”
The flight attendant brings us some refreshment. A coffee for me and Shade’s customary bourbon.
It momentarily distracts us and as we lean back with our drinks in hand, I stare at the disappearing country and sigh inside. It feels wrong leaving Alexei, although it shouldn’t. I should be more concerned about what’s waiting for me and so I say with a heavy sigh, “Mrs. Romanov told me a story you may be interested in.”
He says nothing, but his eyes flash as I fill him in, and I wait for his reaction.
If anything, I don’t get one except his eyes darken and he says roughly, “Do you believe her?”
“She had no reason to lie, Shade. She was warning me.”
He leans back and says with a ragged breath, “Fuck.”
“Do you think nonno knows?”
I am fearful of that, and he shakes his head. “I guess not. We both witnessed his reaction to our own father when he betrayed us all. I’m guessing Aunt Giselle would suffer the same fate.”
“This is terrible. Why would she try to bring down her own family? It doesn’t make sense.”
I am so angry and my eyes flash as I stare at my brother, who has settled into his usual cold rage and says in an emotionless voice.
“Before we say anything to him, I’m guessing we should pay our dear aunt a visit.”
“What about my visit to mom?”
Shade shrugs. “The choice is yours. Visit mom and discover the facts from her first and risk Stoner alerting Aunt Giselle and taking away our element of surprise, or charter a different course and head to the Hamptons and pay our dear aunt an unexpected visit.”
I weigh up the options, knowing I have a difficult choice to make. I want to do both, but realize if this is to play out properly, we should turn this bird around and head back home. However, mom is my priority now and I say firmly, “My trip continues. They have no idea we know anything about this and won’t be on their guard. I will gather information and report back and when my trip is over, I will return home and we can deal with Aunt Giselle as a family.”
“If that is your wish, princess, I agree.”
He appears thoughtful. “I’ll return home after a few days. Mom has been told you missed your flight because I decided to visit. She won’t think anything of that, it makes sense, and I will occupy Stoner with a business deal he would be a fool to refuse.”
Shade taps his fingers on the armrest and is thinking hard. Then he says with a grin, “I’ll fill Killian in on the situation. He will gather the information we need on Aunt Giselle and investigate the facts. It's up to him to decide if nonno needs to be informed.”
He stretches out and yawns. “Fuck, I need to sleep. I suggest you take advantage of this journey and do the same. You look as if you could use it.”
He winks and I growl, “Fuck you, Shade.”
I move away and head to one of the bedrooms with a stupid grin on my face. Is it that obvious? Apparently so, because sleep hasn’t really featured much in my journey so far and he is right, I could sure use some now.
* * *
I must passout because the first thing I’m aware of is when the bed dips and my first thought is Alexei.
Sadly, it’s just my maniacal brother, and he tickles me awake.
