Chapter 26
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Sasha
Ryker surges forward and grabs the guard by the collar. Before I’ve even made a sound, he’s got the man by the scruff of the neck. “Consider this your termination notice,” he spits in the man’s ear.
“Ryker, you don’t have to…”
But I don’t finish, when he punches the elevator button. “Sasha, please knock on your brother’s door. I’d like to see you inside his flat before I take this piece of shit down to the control room.”
I give a quick nod and then spin to the door, banging far more loudly than necessary.
Ava opens the door a few seconds later, her warm smile turning to a look of confusion as Ryker hauls the guard into the waiting elevator. “Everything okay?” she asks me as I step inside.
“Fine, I think,” I answer, rubbing my arm. “I was loitering in the hall, I guess, and the guard thought I shouldn’t.”
Ava frowns. “What is wrong with him?”
I really appreciate those words. But the guard may have had the right of it. “Two days ago, I considered myself a prisoner here. Apparently, the guard agrees.”
Dimitri appears, full scowl on his features. “You were never a prisoner. I was worried otets would come for you and I didn’t want him snatching you and hiding you in Russia again.”
I debate asking the question. How is my life different now from the one I lived in Russia?
But I know that it is. No one here has ever hit me or broken my bones. And I’m starting to feel like Ryker really cares about me, I’m not just some pawn he’s using to build his own future.
Anna appears, her little pigtails bouncing as she gives me a toothy smile.
I drop to a knee, opening my arms.
She rushes to me, wrapping her arms about my neck as I nuzzle her cheek. “You are the light of my life,” I whisper in her ear.
“What that mean?” she asks, wrinkling her nose as she leans back.
I laugh, realizing that I’ve spoken in Russian. I repeat the words in English, even as she buries her fingers in my hair.
“Oh,” she says with a giggle. “Pretty. Want to play dolls?”
Her English has improved even since I’ve gotten here, and I give her another squeeze. There is nothing I’d like to do more.
“Later, my love,” Dimitri touches his daughter’s head. “Aunt Sasha and I need to talk.”
Anna frowns, her brows drawing together. “But she been gone. I no like.”
“I don’t like it either,” I assure her. “I’ll come find you as soon as I’m done.”
Her frown turns into a glowing smile as she hugs me again.
That’s when Ryker appears. I hear the door open and close as I give her cheek several rapid-fire kisses.
Ava takes Anna’s hand and leads her through the kitchen and into the hall, leaving me with Dimitri and Ryker.
Slowly, I rise, wishing I could follow Ava and Anna. “What happened with the guard?” I ask my husband.
“I fired him,” Ryker says as his hand comes to my waist.
I look at him in surprise. I saw how he treated the saleswoman who was rude, but I didn’t think… “But—”
“No one touches my wife like that,” he replies with the fiercest scowl I’ve ever seen.
I feel my cheeks heating again. If his earlier words had hurt my feelings, these fill me with warmth. I’ll deal with the future, in the future. I’m going to enjoy the now. Besides, who knows what will happen in the next year?
We’re here to discuss the appearance of my father’s hitman. A year from now is practically a lifetime.
“What did you want to know about Sver?” I ask my brother, tucking my feelings away as we deal with the present problems.
He starts asking me questions. What was the relationship between my father and Sver? The other men? How did the man treat me?
“He treated all of us the same. Without a flicker of emotion.” Perhaps I’m not being generous enough. He did protect me that one time. He was gone for nearly a month after it happened. When he got back, I hardly saw him.
And I don’t think he’s spoken a single word to me since that day.
“Do you know of the sort of jobs otets had him perform?”
“Only rumors,” I shake my head. “And you know those.”
Dimitri nods. “I do. But it doesn’t help me decide if he’s here for recovery or…”
I look down the hall, toward Anna’s room. “Dimitri.”
“Yes?”
“I need you to promise me something,” I say, drawing in a ragged breath. There are so many relationships that I don’t understand, that are complicated, that I question the motives of. But there is one that is crystal clear for me.
“What’s that?”
The words clog my throat, but I say them anyway. “Promise me that you’ll sacrifice me, let me die, if it comes down to me or you. Anna needs her father.”
“What the fuck, Sasha?” he asks, sounding really pissed. Which confuses me.
If all of this has been a play to gain real estate, I’ve given him permission to sacrifice me like the insignificant piece on the chess board I’ve always known that I am. “Her needs are first. Promise.”
He scrubs his face and then runs a hand through his hair. “Sasha, I thought you understood. You married a Smith so they could help keep both you and Anna safe. I didn’t have the manpower to do it alone.”
For the first time, the words don’t sound hollow. They sound real. I look at my husband, who’s been standing silently by my side, and he returns my gaze, his features soft. “He’s right and so are you. He keeps Anna and Ava from harm. And my job is to protect you.”
“Your job is to run a casino.” I shake my head, not sure I understand how they’re confusing what I know to be true.
“I sold two casinos and kept one, Sasha. Granted, it’s the best earning, but I could have both the casinos be successful earners without otet’s interferences. I gave up the revenue for you and for Katarina.”
The words ring with a truth that steals my breath and clogs my throat with emotion. How did I not hear it sooner?
And the idea that my brother has been acting out of love, that Ryker cares about me beyond just a business deal, they are my deepest hope.
The dream I hardly dared to dream, and I feel the tears spring to my eyes.
Crap. I hate how much I cry.
Ryker wraps his other arm around me, pulling me against his chest. “Don’t cry, baby. I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”
I can’t answer as I wrap my arms around his neck, burying my face in the crook.
He holds me, stroking his hand down the curve of my back.
Dimitri clears his throat. “I don’t think there is much to do but sit tight and see what his next move is. Unless Killian wants to take a crack at locating him.”
Ryker shakes his head. “I don’t think he wants to leave Chloe to search, and I can’t blame him.”
I marvel again at how wrong my first opinion of Killian was. That man is a devoted and loving husband.
“So we sit tight. We all stay in the building.”
I guess if I’m still a prisoner, I’m no longer alone. “Any word on Katarina?”
Dimitri shakes his head. “Her driver had called in sick. We don’t know who drove her—”
I gasp. “What if he worked for otets?” Ryker’s arms stiffen around me.
Dimitri winces. “That’s my fear too. I do know that the car was spotted by a traffic camera just outside the airport.”
I don’t realize I’m digging my nails into Ryker’s neck, until my fingers relax. “That’s good. It means she likely got on a plane rather than…” I trail off, not able to say out loud that I’m worried that Sver has already killed her.
“It’s good.” Dimitri gives me a single jerk of his chin. “I’ve got security footage coming from the airport itself. We’ll track the car. And then we’ll track her. We’re not giving up.”
I relax a little to know that my brother is looking for Katarina. It’s further evidence that she wasn’t just here to marry. That Dimitri really cares about her, about both of us.
“Who has access to the security footage?” Ryker asks, his hands like stone around my waist.
“Jake Kincaid.”
That makes me relax further. I’ve trusted Jake from the first and I have to hope he can help. “Can I visit with Anna before I head back upstairs?”
“Of course,” Dimitri gives me a small smile. “You’re welcome anytime.”
I slip from Ryker’s embrace, but he catches my hand. “I’ll come with you, if it’s all right.”
The smile I give him could surely light the Vegas strip. “I’d love that.”