Chapter Fifteen
Dmitri
Ihadn’t spent time with kids since I was one. On the few occasions that I was around children, I wasn’t exactly comfortable. I didn’t know how to talk to them, and I never cared enough to try.
But Alexis was cute, and I didn’t have to do much talking as we left the apartment because she was chattering almost nonstop. I didn’t understand everything she said because she was so young that she didn’t always talk in complete sentences. At one point, she was singing fragments of a song that Sarah informed me was from a Disney movie calledFrozen. It sounded familiar to me, but I barely watched any movies, much less cartoons.
There was something about hearing Alexis talk and sing in the backseat of my car that caused a strange warmth to take root in my chest. It was also a nice contrast to the stony silence coming from the passenger seat.
Sarah sat stiffly and stared out the window during the drive to my house. Despite her lack of communication, she was easy to read. I could practically see her working through her conflicting feelings back at her apartment before she agreed to come with me, and now I knew she had to be doubting if she made the right decision.
That was fine. She could overthink this all she wanted. It wouldn’t change anything. She and the kid were safe with me. The Italians wouldn’t dare try to attack her in my territory, but even if they did, I’d annihilate them.
“Mitri,” Alexis said, apparently unable to say my full name. I never thought something as simple as that would be adorable, but it was. “We there yet?”
“Not quite,zayka.”
“Zayka?” Sarah asked, turning away from the window and speaking to me for the first time during the drive.
“It’s Russian. I called her bunny.”
I glanced over at Sarah just in time to see a smile turn up her lips before she turned back to the window. About ten minutes later, I pulled up to my brownstone house in Brooklyn Heights.
I insisted Sarah take Alexis while I took care of their luggage, which consisted of two duffle bags that I was sure couldn’t contain more than a couple of days’ worth of clothes.
I doubted they would be back home by then. I had no long-term plan in this situation, but the threat of the Italians was real, and it wasn’t going away anytime soon. Even if they managed to get my ass locked up, I wasn’t going to let Sarah and Alexis return to their lives unguarded.
But we’d cross that bridge when we got there.
Like most brownstones, it was a narrow home, but it was three stories tall, so there was plenty of room for four bedrooms and a library inside. The ceilings were high and the floor was dark hardwood, contrasting with the white walls.
I wasn’t much of a decorator, so I hired someone to do it when I bought the place. The interior designer picked everything from the furniture to the abstract art hanging on the walls. It was all expensive, and it looked like it. My home was a statement of my status and wealth, and I’d always been proud of that.
As Sarah paused just inside the door, looking around at my open-concept kitchen and living room, the frown on her face told me she was less than impressed.
“You don’t like the place?” I asked, wondering why her opinion mattered so much to me.
“It’s nice,” she said, her voice devoid of warmth. Just like my apartment, I realized suddenly. “It’s just… not very kid friendly.”
I looked at Alexis, who was squirming, obviously wanting to be let down. I looked around my home from a different perspective, taking in the sharp table corners, the pointed pokers beside the fireplace, the glass vase on an end table, and the bookshelf that wasn’t anchored to the wall.
Shit.She was right.
“Don’t set her down,” I said, not wanting her to go wandering around the room and get hurt. “I’ll have someone come here tomorrow to child proof the place.”
The surprise on Sarah’s face matched how I felt hearing those words come out of my own mouth. Was I really going to make changes to my whole home for these two?
Alexis flashed me a grin then, and I knew the answer was yes. Yes, I was. The idea of this little girl just walking through my living room made me more nervous than I’d ever been in my life, and I’d been shot at.
It was a new experience for me because I was usually good at being calm and cool. Even on trial.
But I probably needed to get used to that. Just like her mother, Alexis was bringing to life emotions I’d never experienced before.
“Come on,” I said. “It’s late, and I’m sure you’re both tired. I’ll show you to a couple of guest rooms.”
“One guest room,” Sarah said, even as she followed me to the curved staircase. “Alexis and I will stay together.”
I stopped halfway up the stairs to turn back to her. “She’ll be safe in my home.”