Rai: You and Ruslan follow me from afar. I need to go back with Kirill and Damien.
My guard nods and retreats to join Ruslan.
“Auntie!”
I freeze, the phone nearly clattering to the ground at the small voice. My head jerks to the left and my gaze lands on my nephew’s little face. On his dreamy green eyes and soft features.
Gareth.
He’s a few feet away, smiling up at me with pure innocence, showing his baby teeth.
Shit. Fuck.
My eyes frantically search around. If he’s here, Reina is too. Kirill and Damien cannot, under any circumstances, know she exists. Especially Kirill. He would destroy me and her.
My fingers tremble when Kirill’s closest guard, Aleksander, stops. He stares at me over his shoulder, his critical gaze sliding to Gareth.
There’s nothing I want to do more than shoot Aleksander in the face, grab Gareth, and run away, but that will only hurt him and his parents.
“Auntie?” he repeats, tone unsure.
Aleksander stops walking and turns around fully to watch the scene. Any move from my side will cause a disaster. If I talk to Gareth, Aleksander will make it his job to find out exactly who he is, and that will lead him straight to Reina.
If I leave, my baby nephew will be all alone and unprotected in this place.
I can’t even tell Katia and Ruslan to take care of it because that will lead back to me.
A man crouches and picks Gareth up. “There you are, troublemaker. I told you not to call strangers auntie.”
A breath heaves out of me at seeing Asher. He gives me an impersonal smile as if it’s the first time he’s seeing me and nails the role so well. “Sorry about that.”
“Don’t worry about it.” I make sure Aleksander sees my fake smile.
Seeming to lose interest, he turns and joins his boss.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper to Asher, who nods in understanding before he takes a protesting Gareth inside.
My chest aches at the inability to hold my nephew or kiss him. It’s better this way, for his sake.
Once again, I type in the group chat.
Rai: Gareth and Asher are in this restaurant, and Reina must be here, too. Follow them from afar and make sure they get home safe and no one suspects anything. Do not under any circumstances make direct contact unless they’re in danger.
Ruslan: Yes, boss.
Katia: On it.
I half-jog to Kirill’s car just before Aleksander closes the door. I push past him and sit beside Damien.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Kirill watches me as if I grew a second head.
“Take me back with you.”
“You have your own car.”
“It’s broken down. Ruslan is trying to fix it.”
“Do I look like a taxi to you?”
“Well, you could be one.”
“Leave, Rai.” Damien sips from his vodka. “Kirill and I have a meeting.”
I’m well aware, but if they think they can get rid of me this easily, they’re mistaken.
“Then do it after you drop me off.”
Kirill shrugs a shoulder. “Or I can just throw you out.”
“You just wasted a minute. We would’ve arrived faster if we’d taken off already, besides…Abe told me something after you left.”
“Who cares what that delusional old man says?” Damien mocks.
Kirill does because he motions at his driver to go. Aleksander gives me a peculiar glance from the passenger seat, then immediately conceals it. Please tell me he doesn’t suspect anything about Asher and Gareth.
As soon as the car rolls out of the parking lot, followed by another vehicle that’s full of Kirill and Damien’s guards, I try to get comfy. As comfy as it gets with two large men dwarfing the back seat.
“What did Abe say?” Kirill asks.
“It’s about Damien,” I say, slowly gauging his reaction, but he appears completely uninterested. “Don’t you want to know?”
“I do want to know why you said I’ll think about it. You want to marry me off, Rai?”
“If it benefits the brotherhood, why not settle down?”
“Settle down? What are you, my mother?”
“First of all, eww. Second of all, just go with it.”
“Just like you went with your own marriage? It’s so boring if we’re all so sacrificial like you, Rayenka.”
“Does that mean you won’t do it?”
“I don’t see why I should.”
“You can’t disrespect Abe that way, Damien. He’s one of the strongest allies we can have.”
Kirill readjusts his glasses. “And he will become our worst enemy if this bull kills his daughter in one of his violent episodes.”
“You hurt women?” I snap at Damien.
He continues sipping from his vodka before he lowers his mouth to my ear. “When they get close, yes. Why? You want to test it?”
I push him away, glaring. “You will control that side of you and treat Abe’s daughter well, and if I find out you hurt any woman, you’ll have me to answer to.”
He grins. “Will it be kinky?”
I’m about to gouge his eyes out when the car swerves and comes to a screeching halt. The force is so strong that I bump against the back of Aleksander’s seat.