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I glance over. He’s pulling at his seat belt and avoiding my gaze altogether.
“Is there something bothering you?” I ask quietly.
I get nothing more than a fleeting glance and an evasive shrug before he turns his eyes back out of the window. Surreptitiously, I pull up my phone and text Emma.
RUSLAN:He’s quiet.
Emma’s call comes in almost immediately. I decide to put her on speakerphone. The moment Josh hears her voice, he perks right up. “Aunt Em?”
“Hey, buddy,” she croons, her voice staticky and indistinct. “How’re things going?”
He shoots me a wary glance. “It’s fine… When will you get off work?”
“Not for another couple of hours honey. Why do you ask?”
“It’s just—the girls are at home alone.”
“Alone?” Emma repeats. “They’re with Amelia.”
He keeps fidgeting. “Yeah, I know.”
Of course. I’m a fucking idiot.“Emma, we’ve got to go. I’ll let you know what time I’ll be dropping Josh off.”
“Uh, okay?” She seems nervous to hang up, but she does anyway. Immediately after, I call Kirill and transfer the call to speaker once again.
“‘Sup, boss?”
“I need you to drop whatever it is you’re doing and stand guard outside Hell's Kitchen until I drop Josh off this evening.”
There’s a beat of silence on Kirill’s end. “I must’ve misheard you. You want me to drop what I’m doing and…?”
“Right now.”
“Even if it’s important?”
Josh is staring at me with his mouth hanging open. “It’s not more important than this,” I say without breaking eye contact.
“Alrighty then. You’re the boss.”
The moment I hang up, Josh blurts, “Why did you do that?”
“You were worried about your sisters, weren’t you?”
He nods.
“Well, now, you don’t have to worry anymore. If your father causes problems, Kirill is right outside. He’ll make sure your sisters are safe.”
“And Aunt Emma? When she gets home?”
“Of course. Aunt Emma, too.”
He flops back against the seat and, for the first time since he got into the car, he leaves his seat belt alone. “Okay.” Then he spares me a shy sideways look. “How did you know?”
I smile. “Because that’s how I would have felt in your place. You need to know that your people are safe. It’s the hallmark of a good leader.” He sits up a little straighter and I can’t help adding, “It’s the hallmark of a good man, too.”
We spend the rest of the drive in companionable silence. It’s amusing to me that at no point has Josh asked where we’re going or what we’re going to do. It’s only when Boris parks outside the sleek Midtown gym that Josh starts asking questions.
“This is a gym?”
