“Yeah. He was fine.”
“Thank you,” she breathes, sounding relieved. “You have no idea how much I appreciate you helping out.” She leans down and kisses me, renewing my determination to make her fall in love with me.
“Any time,zolotse.”
Chapter 24
Andrei
Blair is skilled in a number of ways.
She can see through bullshit better than anyone I’ve ever met. She always called out Daniil on his, and I can always see it when someone around us is running their mouth just from the way she purses her lips.
She’s also unfailingly loyal to those she cares about. Even though she hasn’t known Nadya long, I don’t think there’s anything that would get her to turn her back on her. She was the same way with Daniil, even though he never deserved it. And now she’s extending that favor to me, both in what she does and doesn’t ask me.
Daniil made a point of not letting her know any particular details of his work, and I can see the way she’s biting her tongue with me, like she isn’t sure if questions would be welcome or not.
But that doesn’t change the obvious shift in the way she’s acted toward me since Pavel died.
Even if I wanted to keep it a secret from her, dangerous men and their women are just as inclined to gossip as anyone else. And the death of the pakhan’s son? That’s too juicy to pass up.
From the way she’s warmed up to me, I have a feeling Blair knows I had something to do with it. She doesn’t ask, but she also doesn’t seem offended by it. If anything, it’s the opposite.
The one skill that Blair lacks?
She has no poker face.
My phone rings on the table next to me, but I steadfastly ignore it while she practically stabs at her dinner, hand clenched on her knife hard enough that I’m starting to get a little nervous. I silence the call again, but even Niko is giving me side-eye.
I know she doesn’t want phones at the table. She wants to have some part of our day where there’s no demands from anyone else, and we’re focused on each other. Not the rest of the world.
I get it, and this is my concession. I won’t answer it. I won’t even look at it, but I need to be available in case World War III breaks out during dinner time. For a moment, silence reigns across the room and her shoulders relax a hair.
“So, Blair—”
It rings again. Her eyes cut like daggers, pinning me in place.
“Just answer it,” she snaps while Niko pokes at his broccoli.
“You’re in trouble,” he sing-songs while I pick up my phone and kiss the top of her head as I pass. He got over his cold in a few days, and now he’s acting as right as rain. And he might very well be right, but I’m sure I can find a way back into her good graces.
Stepping out of the room, I answer without looking at the caller ID as I head back to my office.
“Da?”
The word is hardly out of my mouth before Maksim’s barking at me. Just as quickly, I regret not turning the fucking phone off, repercussions be damned.
“Where the fuck are you? I need you in my office. Now.” I pinch the bridge of my nose, but before I can respond he hangs up, like I’m a trained dog that would never eventhinkto disobey an order.
It’s anyone’s guess whether he wants me there because he wants to berate me for some imagined slight, or if he did something colossally stupid that he expects me to handle.
The only time I’ve been able to spend with Blair and Niko is the little time I’ve managed to steal away from his bullshit, and it’s starting to wear to my nerves.
At least I know that Maksim’s attention is focused elsewhere, and they aren’t in his crosshairs for a while.
No one’s found out my connection to Pavel’s death, and I’m taking full advantage of it. Even if someone does suspect it, Maksim’s becoming more unstable with each passing day, and no one’s in a place to do anything about it.
That said, I miss the days when my workouts consisted of a run and weightlifting. Moving bodies around is getting tiring, and it’s even worse when I know the names of more and more of the bodies.
