James smiled at her. “That includes you.”
“Nolan, Marcus, please escort our guest into the holding room and make sure he’s not bringing anything in with him,” Jordan ordered.
Levin glared when the men each snagged one of his arms and forced him toward the entry. They weren’t gentle. Nor was it in his nature to be submissive.
“Don’t be so rough with him. Please.” Karolena reached toward Levin. “He’s my—”
“Lover?” Tavish hissed. “I knew it.”
Levin whipped his head around at that, staring at Tavish as if he’d declared he really enjoyed getting punched in the nuts or something equally absurd.
“Friend.” She glared at Tavish. “I trusted you, but I guess you were never going to be able to do the same. Were you?”
Why did that hurt so much? She’d barely known him a week but somehow, she’d thought she’d already started living her future rather than having a fling to pass the time until forever came along.
Laurel gave Karolena a quick hug and whispered in her ear, “He didn’t mean that. He’s worried about losing you. Stay safe and we’ll talk later.” Then she accepted Jace’s outstretched hand and headed off with him in the direction of Sweet & Spicy with the rest of the non-Shields.
“What about my car? Is it going to get stuck in the rest of that cement and become a monument at Shields forever?” James pouted as he abandoned the wreckage so he could join Jordan at the head of the pack. After them came Karolena, who was surrounded by a living wall of assassins intent on keeping her alive instead of killing her.
Too bad one of them had already stabbed her in the heart.
14
Karolena released her held breath in a long, shaky exhale when Nolan and Marcus escorted Levin into the boardroom. They pushed him into a spot directly across the table from her where she was wedged between Legend and Tavish. Except, unlike before, she didn’t take any solace in being flanked by them.
How could she when they obviously didn’t have any faith in her despite coaxing her into depending on them?
Marcus said, “He’s clean. No weapons and no communications.”
“Good.” Jordan leaned back as if he was completely at ease with their meeting.
Well, that made one of them. Karolena’s tension was rooting mostly in anger and bitterness. Embarrassment also now that Levin kept flicking his too-astute gaze between her, Legend, and Tavish. Sure, he’d known some of her darkest secrets, about how horribly Vladimir had treated her, but she’d been forced into that relationship. What would he think if he knew what she had chosen to do with her independence, and so soon after he’d helped her break free?
After Tavish’s outburst, he’d probably think she was an idiot. And maybe she was.
Karolena shoved on the arms of their chairs, then said under her breath, without looking at either of them, “Can you give me some space here?”
Levin frowned and so did Jordan. She had to remember they were spies and damn good ones. Men who could read a hell of a lot into the barest twitches of her expression.
Tavish scooted his chair a few inches away and huffed. Did he get that he’d put the distance between them when he’d questioned her commitment?
“Stop digging your hole deeper, bro,” Ace muttered from Tavish’s other side. “Even I can see you’re not doing yourself any favors.”
“I’ve come a long way to sit here while you bicker.” Levin sneered at them.
From beside him, Aven fanned her cheeks with her hand. Was it because of the weather, the failed demonstration, or because of Levin’s fieriness?
After a lingering look at her, Levin shifted his attention to Jordan. “Who are you and why did you want me to come?”
“My name is Jordan Mikalski. Officially, I’m a retired government agent who runs a security services firm in the middle of nowhere.”
“You can say that again.” Levin glanced out the window at the pond behind the parking lot. Middletown was a far cry from Saint Petersburg. One of the reasons Karolena had already fallen in love with the place, even if it didn’t have the more sophisticated comforts of the metropolis she’d enjoyed back home. “And off the record?”
“We handle problems my old office never could considering the bureaucracy and politics involved. We don’t leave paper trails and we don’t ask permission. When someone reaches out to us, it’s always about a matter that has broad implications for society but is…messy.”
“Got it. You’re assassins with morals. That’s cute.” Levin crossed his arms and shook his head. He caught on a lot faster than she had. He flicked his stare to Karolena. “How the hell did you get mixed up with this gang when you’d barely escaped ours?”
“Pure, dumb luck.” Her shoulders slumped. At first she’d thought it had been fortuitous, now she wasn’t convinced.