Should I explain it was just a job? That he’s paying me fifty thousand dollars for tonight?
My face heats, and I snatch up the glass of wine, gulping down half of it. Pronounced notes of blackberry and cracked pepper rolls over my tongue. It’s followed by a smokey heat and a hint of dark chocolate.
“This is good.” I take another sip. They probably don’t shop the discount bins for their wine.
Elana pours more into my glass before topping off her own.
A call comes through her phone, and as soon as the screen lights up, she snatches it and hurries to the far end of the kitchen to answer it.
“How’s your hand?” Megan points to my long-healed injury.
“It’s fine.” I turn it palm up to show her. “How’s…well, marriage?”
She laughs. “It’s been a roller-coaster so far.”
“And it’s not getting any better, huh?”
“He was shot! They shot him!” Elana’s voice carries over to us.
“Did you see Kaz?” I ask Megan.
“No. They brought him in and went straight downstairs before I could.”
“It’s not that bad. I mean it’s not great, but I think he’s going to be all right.” I have no idea if I’m right or wrong but being negative never helped a situation.
Not that thinking positive ever cured anyone, either. No matter how hard you wish it, sometimes it’s just not possible for the one you love to come back to you.
“How was the evening before Ivan had to come back?” Megan tries to recork the wine bottle.
I think of the kiss in the bathroom. Of Ivan’s eyes on me when he saw me wearing the dress he bought for me. How for a brief hour or two, I felt like Cinderella.
Mind blowing. Soul soaring. Like having life being breathed back into me.
“It was fine.” I hide in my glass, taking a long sip. “The food was good.”
She frowns, looking over my shoulder. Following her gaze, I find Elana with her head in her hand muttering into her phone. It’s hard to understand her, but the wordsour faultcomes through.
“Elana keeps her social life as private as she can, especially with these guys as her brothers,” Megan says as though it explains something.
“She can’t think what happened tonight is her fault?”
“She’s really close to Kaz. She’s just worried.”
Elana ends the call a moment later. Her face is twisted with torment.
“Hey. He’s going to be okay.” Megan wraps her arms around Elana, hugging her tightly. “He’s going to be fine. He’s too arrogant to let a little bullet be his downfall.”
Elana chuckles, pulling back and drawing a deep breath in through her nose.
“You’re right. He’s going to be fine.”
I slide her glass of the Shiraz toward her, and she’s half smiling by the time she picks it up.
It’s an hour before Ivan appears in the kitchen. His tuxedo tie is undone and draped around his neck. The top two buttons of his shirt are open. His thick dark hair is mussed, like he’s been dragging his hands through it for the last sixty minutes.
“How is he?” Elana jumps up from her chair but grabs onto it to steady herself.
She’s polished off the first bottle and is halfway through the second already. Her mind is probably reeling from the quick movement.
