He doesn’t look mad. He doesn’t even look annoyed. If anything, he looks concerned.
“What do you mean?”
“Exactly that.” He shrugs. “If you want to know something, ask, and I’ll tell you. If you don’t want to know anything, that’s fine, too.” He looks around the room, gaze lingering on the open curtain.
We should be getting ready for another date, but he doesn’t seem to be in a rush.
“I know that Daniil kept you in the dark about everything,” he says, and again I feel like a child caught with their hand inthe cookie jar. “But I also know that you’re smart. If you want to know what’s going on with my work, then I’ll tell you.”
He paces across the room, spinning the chair so that I have no choice but to look at him.
“I trust you, Blair.” His silver eyes pin me in place, and I couldn’t look away if I wanted to. “If you want to know anything, you only have to ask.”
I hesitate, but his eyes are sincere. And though it might come back to bite me, I want to trust him, too. I want to trust him so badly.
“Who’s Luca Sotero?” I ask quietly, worried this might still be a trick.
“He was a capo for The Outfit. We did arms deals with him,” he answers easily, one corner of his lips lifting ruefully. “And apparently Maksim had him killed.”
“Why?”
“Probably because he thinks they were behind the hit on Pavel, and he wants revenge.” He shrugs again. “Maksim’s been making moves to expand into their territory for a few months, though, so maybe he was just looking for an excuse to cause trouble.”
Alarm fills me, but Andrei looks as calm as he would if we were discussing the weather.
I take a deep breath.
“But they didn’t kill Pavel. You did.”
He kisses me and nods, pressing his forehead against mine. “Da, zolotse. I did.” His face doesn’t show any regret or worry. He’s just as matter-of-fact about this as he is anything else.
I close my eyes, breathing in the scent of his cologne, and wrap my arms around his shoulders.
“Can we stay home tonight?”
I don’t want to share him with anyone else right now. I just want to be close to the man I love. He nods, lifting me effortlessly into his arms.
“Of course we can.”
Chapter 27
Andrei
“Don’t go where I can’t see you!” Blair calls as Niko races toward the mass of people crowding the dinosaur exhibit. He looks back at her with a smile, but slows down, remaining in her line of sight.
When I suggested a trip to the Field Museum, he looked at me like I was the sun in the sky, but I’m starting to understand why Blair immediately looked exhausted.
I’ve never been here before, but I think I realize why they both like it so much. Both of their faces light up when Blair reads Niko the placards in front of the displays, and all his attention is on what’s in front of him. I’m mesmerized as I watch them, looking carefree and relaxed as they stroll from exhibit to exhibit, hand in hand.
When Blair told him that he had to wait to see the dinosaurs, and they’d be the last exhibit we’d go to, I thought he would have rushed through everything to get to what he wanted, but it’s only taken a little prompting to get him to cooperate.
When he got bored and tried to wander off, I kept an eye on him while we let Blair look at whatever she wanted, sitting on a bench and playing nonsense games until she was ready to move on.
He started to flag when he asked me to tell him about everything in the gem exhibit, but now I’m pretty sure he was just conserving his strength.
His seemingly endless well of energy kicks up to another level the closer we get to the dinosaurs. This whole trip only happened because I was hoping to have a single day without having to hear theJurassic Parktheme song, but I think I bit off more than I can chew.
I level a glare at a mother that steps closer to Niko, trying to get a better view for her child, but she quickly heads in a different direction when Blair catches up with him, putting a hand on his shoulder. She looks like she’s reaching the point of buying a child leash, and if he runs off again, I’m going to beat her to it.
