Page 24 of The Enforcer's Vow


Font Size:

She glances up at me, and for a moment, the performance slips. There's genuine curiosity in her expression, maybe even longing. "I've never been anywhere. Never had a reason to leave Moscow."

"Maybe that will change."

"Maybe." She returns to her meal, but I can see her thinking, processing. "Do you ever get tired of it? The constant movement, the... business obligations?"

"Sometimes. But it's the life I was born into. Family obligations don't disappear because you find them inconvenient."

"No, they don't." There's something in her voice, a note of understanding that makes me wince internally as I realize I've pointed this back toward her brother and the way she protects him. "But there has to be more than obligation. There has to be something you want for yourself."

The question surprises me with its directness. Most people don't ask what I want. They assume they know, or they're too afraid to care. "What makes you think I don't already have what I want?"

"Because you don't seem... settled. You seem like someone who's waiting for something."

Perceptive. Dangerously so. "And what am I waiting for?"

"I don't know. Maybe for someone to see past the surface. Maybe for a reason to stop moving."

The conversation is getting deeper than I expected, venturing into territory that feels too real, too honest. I reach across the table and take her hand, turning the moment physical instead of emotional. "Is that what you're offering? A reason to stop moving?" I have to stick to my purpose of extracting information from her and not getting sidetracked.

Her breath catches, and she looks down at our joined hands. "I don't know what I'm offering. This is all new to me."

"What part?"

"All of it. The attention, the gifts, the way you look at me. Men don't usually..." She trails off, shaking her head.

"Don't usually what?" I'm getting to her, just like Grisha told me to. If I push a little harder, she'll be eating out of my hand and when I ask her to tell me where her brother is, she will tell me anything, do anything to keep him safe. My promise toprotect Damir will have her spilling her guts and lead me right to the man I'm hunting.

"Notice me. I'm good at being invisible, at staying in the background. It's safer that way." Zoya sighs softly and flicks a glance away from me. She's feeling uncomfortable, but it's because I think even she realizes how intimate this conversation got so quickly.

"Safer from what?"

She meets my eyes, and for a moment, I see something raw and vulnerable in her expression. "From getting hurt. From getting involved in things that are bigger than me."

"And yet here you are."

"Here I am."

I lift her hand to my lips and kiss her knuckles, watching her reaction. Her pupils dilate slightly, and she doesn't pull away. The gesture is calculated, designed to blur the line between business and pleasure, but there's something genuine in the way she responds to my touch.

"I have a room upstairs," I tell her quietly. "If you'd like to get away from the crowd."

She hesitates, and I can see her weighing options, calculating risks. "I don't know if that's a good idea."

"Why not?"

"Because things will change between us." Her shoulders tense. She tries to pull away, but I hold her hand tightly.

"Things have already changed between us."

Instead of answering, she nods slowly. "All right. But just... be patient with me."

I take her hand, and we stand and head out of the dining room. The elevator ride to the fifteenth floor is quiet, tension crackling between us. She stands close enough that I can smell her perfume, feel the warmth radiating from her skin. When thedoors open, I place my hand on the small of her back, guiding her down the hallway to the suite I booked this afternoon.

The room is elegant without being ostentatious—cream walls, dark wood furniture, floor-to-ceiling windows that look out over the city. I've stayed in places more luxurious, but this feels intimate, private. A place where barriers can come down.

"This is beautiful," she says, moving to the window. Moscow sparkles below us, lights stretching to the horizon. "I've never seen the city from this high up."

"It looks different from here, doesn't it? Less overwhelming."