The right thing to do to help her relax.
That’s what he said, unless I’m hearing things. I’m about to follow after, when my phone rings.
I’m fully ready to ignore it, but it’s rare for my sister to call me.
My attention remains on Sasha disappearing with Maksim into the annex house as I pick up. “What can I do for you, Kara?”
“I told you to stop calling me that!”
“Fine, fine. What seems to be the problem?”
“Do I need a problem to call you?”
“No, but there must be a reason.” And she hasn’t threatened to kill me in my sleep yet.
“I need a favor—no, I need you to do something for me.”
“I refuse.”
“What…but why? You don’t even know what I was going to ask.”
“You want Sasha as your personal bodyguard, no?”
“How did you…? Anyway, yeah, and you’re gonna give him to me.”
“He’s not a toy, Kara.”
“Don’t care. I want him to be my bodyguard.”
“My answer is still the same.”
“But…but you have, like, a thousand of them. Why can’t you spare Sasha?”
I wish I knew the answer to that. “Still a no.”
“I voted for you the other day. You owe me a favor, you fucking bastard!”
“I didn’t ask for a favor, and I certainly never agreed to owe you one.”
“You fucking manipulative, Machiavellian, psychopathic asshole with no moral compass. I swear to fuck—”
“I’ll ask Anna to bring you some herbal tea. Helps with the agitation.” Then I hang up.
I can almost imagine her throwing the nearest object against the wall, and while I don’t want her to injure herself, I also won’t go check on her.
Karina’s problem is being spoiled, sheltered, and out of touch with the outside world.
I might have left her to her own devices before, but there will be no more getting what she wants just because she asks for it.
After she developed her chronic anxiety due to Roman’s brutal parenting methods, he spoiled her rotten, probably out of guilt. He also didn’t think that she mattered in the great scheme of things because she’s a girl.
I’m not making his mistake.
Although I have a thousand documents lying on my desk, waiting to be reviewed, I make the very ‘logical’ choice to follow Sasha and Maksim.
I’ve never liked how close they’ve gotten since the army. Yuri, too, even though that fucker is smarter and knows how and when to keep his distance.
Maksim has little to no sense of self-preservation and might—will—accidentally end up with a chopped-off head pretty soon.