Evgeny pulls through a gate that closes behind us and up to what looks like an exclusive apartment building in Lincoln Park. There’s a garage off to the side, and he slowly drives into it. I grip my bag and phone tightly, as though they’re the only things keeping me grounded.
All I can do is sit there as the garage door closes. Matvei and Evgeny get out of the car and begin speaking in Russian again. I look around to see we’re surrounded by several vehicles, each one costing more than I make in a year, possibly two.
The men are almost to the door before Matvei stops and turns, finally realizing I’m not following them. He says something to Evgeny and strides back to the car, opening the door and bending down to peer inside.
“What’s wrong?” His eyes are still dark, his expression forbidding and terrifying. Every time I look at him, all I can see and hear is him aiming and pulling the trigger on the gun that destroyed the guy’s head.
Instead of expressing that, all I can say is, “I can’t stop shaking.”
He remains silent for a minute as I shake so hard the soiled shopping bag rustles on the floor board. He reaches down and extends his hand, but he doesn’t touch me.
“It’s difficult seeing someone killed.”
My gaze flicks up to his face and all I can do is stare.You are the one who killed him!I watched you shoot him!I want to scream.
“It’s never easy,” he continues, “but he was trying to kill you. And I promised I would protect you. It’s in the contract.” His voice softens, and some of the darkness has fled from his eyes.
“The contract?” I question, my thoughts moving like molasses.
He leans closer. “I promised you wouldn’t be in danger when you were around me. I keep my promises.”
I can’t look away from his eyes, deep and blue. They pull me in and lock me there until I finally put my hand in his, surprised by its warmth after seeing his frozen detachment earlier, his inhuman indifference to what he’d just done.
But I knew this about him going in, didn’t I?
I knew, yet I still agreed to his plan. I still said yes of my own volition and drew up a contract. I knew exactly who he was and still allowed him into my hotel room to have wild sex.
I let Matvei pull me out of the car. He tells me to leave the bag, that someone else will take care of it. He guides me into theapartment complex with an arm around my waist, as though he’s afraid I’m going to collapse at any moment. I’m still so shaky, I just might.
“Well, you’ve seen me have a panic attack, and now you’ve seen me in shock and throwing up into a bag. Lucky you.”
Matvei only chuckles and leads me down a long hall until we reach a grand entryway and an even grander staircase. Only then do I realize this is not an apartment building but a single home. A single, enormous home. I stop and stare at the marble flooring, the dark, polished wood, the staircases on either side of the entry.
“Is this your house?” I ask, although once the words are out of my mouth, I realize house doesn’t do justice to the mansion I’m standing in.
“I think you already know the answer to that,” Matvei says. He leads me up the stairs to a full suite that has no right being called just a bedroom.
The room is the size of my entire apartment. I’m too busy gawking to realize my tremors and shock have dissipated. At least, until Matvei gently presses me down onto one of the couches by the fireplace and pushes a glass of something amber into my hand, swapping it out for my purse and phone, which he lays on a nearby table.
“Sip that.” It’s an order. A soft order, but an order nonetheless. I do as he says because I need something to settle my nerves, and this seems as good an answer as any right now.
“Thank you,” I murmur after sipping, the whiskey taking the edge off.
Matvei reclines in a plush, wing-back chair, his arms posed like he’s a king sitting on a throne. “Let me know if you need another.”
“No, I mean for today. Thank you for saving me. That was… terrifying.” I put down the glass and clasp my hands in my lap. “Why were you even there?”
“I got a tip. One of my men heard that something was going down. It made its way to Evgeny, who looked into it further.”
“There was talk about me? My—” I start shaking again, unable to process that someone was trying to kill me. My job has always been dangerous, but no one has actually made an attempt on my life before. “Do you know who it was?” I ask. “I have a few cases right now with dangerous ex-husbands and boyfriends.”
Matvei’s mouth forms a straight line. He shakes his head. “Evgeny got the man’s ID, so we have a lead. We will look into it for you.”
“Can’t the police?—”
The implacable and inhuman look on Matvei’s face stops me cold and I snap my mouth shut.
“I already told you. I gave you my word that I would keep you safe, that you wouldn’t be in danger. And I always keep my word.”