When Sasha stepped into a room, it felt like the entire space aligned around him, like something inevitable had just arrived.
When I walked into a room, it felt more like someone had misplaced a golden retriever and now everyone was trying to figure out how it got there.
And yet, the guards no longer looked at me like I was a strange thing out of place. They looked at me like I was … part of this place now.
Which was both flattering and mildly alarming. It shouldn’t have felt this pleasant to be surrounded by hardened criminals, yet I couldn’t help but feel right at home. Like I was always meant to end up here.
I sat up when I heard raised voices from inside. Whoever it was wasn’t yelling exactly, but there was a sharp edge to the hum of the conversation. The kind of tone that meant something inconvenient was happening.
A few minutes later, Sasha stepped out onto the terrace above the pool, still holding his phone, his expression carved from something harder than usual.
He spotted me immediately. He always did.
His hard gaze flickered over the guards, then back to me, assessing, cataloging, making sure nothing had changed in the ten minutes since his last check.
I lifted a hand and gave him a fingerwave. “Hi.”
Sasha didn’t smile, but something in his posture loosened. Warmth spread through my chest. I liked thethought of being a small beacon of happiness in his dark world.
At least I hoped that’s what I was.
He said something brief in Russian to the men upstairs, then descended the stairs connecting our room to the pool. My guards straightened slightly.
I sat up fully and smiled at his approaching form. “Okay, you have your ‘there’s a problem but I’m pretending it’s minor’ face on.”
“There is a problem,” he said calmly.
“I knew it.” I snapped my fingers. “I should’ve worn a different swimsuit.”
His eyes dropped, just for a second, and darkened before snapping back to my face.
“Notthatkind of problem.”
“Shame.”
He stopped a few feet away from my chair, close enough for the guards to subtly redirect their attention outward and give us some privacy without actually leaving.
I glanced between him and the house. “What’s going on?”
“A territorial disagreement.” He pursed his lips. “It’s … irritating to say the least.”
“Irritating like paperwork, or irritating like someone’s about to get shot in the kneecap?”
Look at me embracing my new lifestyle. Here I was making jokes about the Eric incident already.
Sasha snorted and shook his head slightly. “Somewhere between.”
I quirked a brow. “Okay. What’s the issue?”
“Curiosity killed the donkey, baby.” Sasha booped my nose.
“What?” I snorted. “You mean curiosity killed the cat?”
He shrugged. “Sure. Donkey, cat, whatever. They’re both stubborn animals doing whatever they want. The bottom line is, curiosity gets you killed.”
The irony. I wonder how many lives I had left at this point?
I rolled my eyes. “You’re making it sound like I’m about to march down there with a peace treaty.”