Chapter 25 Sera
SERA
When Liev tells me he needs to step away because of his stomach, I know he’s lying again. I watch him as he walks swiftly towards the doors with absolutely no sign of stomach distress in his posture.
I sense movement on my left, and when I turn, I find Anton glaring at me.
Oh, yay. More testosterone fun.
“You know who the Russian really is.” It’s not a question.
I keep my eyes on Keke and the people nearest her. “Liev Kovalyov. Pretty sure you were introduced.”
I swear I hear his teeth grind. “I meant, what kind of animal he is.”
That gets my attention, and I give him an icy glare. “Liev told me the last time the two of you met it didn’t end well. I’m not interested in anything you have to say about him.”
“Didn’t end well!” He practically spits. “He killed my friends.” He reaches up swiftly to pull his comm from his ear.
My eyes go to Etienne, several feet away. His jaw works as he glares at Anton.
“You were on opposite security details.” I keep my voice calm, not letting him see how his words throw me. “I’m guessing something went wrong. Liev isn’t a cold-blooded killer.”
Anton leans close, and hisses in my face. “You don’t know anything about him.”
His phone buzzes and when he glances down his face drains of color. Without another word to me, he heads for the exit.
I glance at Etienne, who is watching his operative with narrowed eyes, lips moving quickly as he touches his earpiece. If he’s calling Anton back, the man is ignoring him.
I press my lips tightly together and refocus on Keke.
Liev and I are going to have a little chat tonight.
For a few moments, I think all the excitement is over, but the universe has other ideas.
“Sera?”
My whole body jerks. I recognize the voice even though it’s been years since I’ve heard it.
Tyler Taggert, Aaron’s younger brother, is standing only a few feet away. Tyler looks a lot like his brother, and the resemblance twists my stomach before I can hide it.
He hesitates, hands shoved in his pockets. “I wasn’t sure it was you,” he says. “I almost didn’t come over.”
“You probably shouldn’t have. I’m working.” I turn my head back to watch the crowd.
“I can see that.” He glances at Keke. “You… uh… You look good. My mom said she ran into you a while back—at a coffee shop? She told me you looked… better.”
I give an incredulous stare
He winces. “Sorry, that came out wrong.”
“You shouldn’t be talking to me at all. Your parents are suing me.”
He nods, chewing the inside of his cheek. “I know. They’re desperate.”
I cross my arms across my chest, staying silent, my eyes back on Keke though I’m not really seeing her. I need to focus.
“It’s just…”
He sighs, a sound so weary I give in. My old anger and resentment at his enabling his brother is at war with the look on his face.
“Tyler, I can’t help you. I don’t want to think about Aaron, talk about Aaron…” I deliberately pull my hair back to expose my skin.
Even though I put on makeup for the event, standing this close, the acid burn scars are easily visible. “You covered for him. Your whole family hid behind your money and let him get away with this.”
Tyler's eyes fill with remorse. “I’m so sorry. At the time…” His head falls, and when he looks up again, he looks desperate. “Look, I’m going to be honest with you. My parents would kill me if they knew I was talking to you, but this is too important.”
My forehead wrinkles. “I don’t know where your brother is.”
“No, not that.” He waves his hand in the air, then mutters under his breath, “Though it would make things a lot simpler.”
When he realizes what he said, his eyes widen.
“I mean, I want to see my brother… know that he’s okay…
but…” His eyes turn a little wild, and his entire body coils tight.
“Taggert Construction is in trouble,” he blurts out.
“A few months before he left, Aaron had another one of his brilliant get-rich-quick ideas and used one of our major reserve accounts to buy bitcoin.”
Sounds exactly like something Aaron would do.
Tyler looks at me expectantly.
“Okay?” I blink, still totally lost as to why he’s telling me all this.
“He had the only password to the bitcoin wallet,” he says, like it should mean something to me.
When I stay quiet, he continues. “We can’t get our money out without it, and we need it.
We owe a lot of money to…” He shakes his head, his agitation growing.
“The idiot didn’t leave a copy anywhere we could find it. That’s why I need your help.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, or about any bitcoin.”
“He said he left it with you.” Tyler insists, taking a step toward me.
“When I learned what he’d done—though at the time I didn’t realize how much he’d taken from the account—I told him he needed to give me the password, in case he forgot it or something happened to him.
He refused to give it to me. You, of all people, know what a control freak he was. ”
My brain recoils from the memories his words summon.
“But Aaron loved you. I know he…” Tyler takes a deep breath and looks at me seriously.
“Look, I know my brother had problems. And yeah, I should have handled it differently back then. I can’t change that.
But my family needs that money to cover loans coming due. You don’t understand what’s at stake.”
Anger burns inside my chest. “Handled it differently?”
“I’ll give you a cut... 10%. I just need you to give it to me.”
I gape at him. “Give you what?”
“The password. The numbers I need to access the bitcoin. He said he left a copy with you.”
Suddenly the extra section in the lawsuit makes sense.
“I know it will be hard for you to accept, since you’ve never believed it before but… Aaron lied.” My voice drips with sarcasm. “He didn’t give it to me.”
“No.” Tyler shakes his head like the action will erase my words. “This was before you broke up. He was serious. I argued with him, and he said you were going to be his wife, and he trusted you to be loyal. He thought I would access the money and take credit.”
“He never— “
His hand latches onto my forearm. The shock of it keeps me from reacting, long enough to realize I can’t make a scene here.
“Maybe you don’t know you have it? Maybe he left it inside something…” His tone is getting wilder, and his grip hurts.
I pivot my wrist, catching his thumb and twisting just enough to break contact and push him back a step. “I don’t want to break your wrist here in public, but I will if I have to,” I say coldly, aware that we are drawing attention from the surrounding people.
“I’m only going to say this once, so be sure to pass it along to your family when you also tell them to leave me the fuck alone.
I don’t know where Aaron is or anything about a password.
But if it’s something he left me, you’re out of luck.
While I was in the hospital, my brother threw out everything in my house associated with Aaron.
And when I moved, I got rid of the things he didn’t know about. I can’t help you. I don’t have it.”
The color drains from Tyler’s face, and his body sags.
I release his wrist. “Go home, Tyler.”
“I’m a dead man.” He stares at me with hopeless eyes for another beat, before turning and walking away.
I stay still until the crowd swallows him. I rub the spot on my arm where he touched me, then make myself let go. My stomach turns, and I can’t tell if it’s guilt—or relief.
The sensation of being watched creeps up my spine, but this time when I look around, it’s Liev’s dark eyes boring into me. He must not have seen Tyler grab me—because if he had, it would’ve ended very differently.
Liev tilts his head, dark brows drawing together.
I nod and give him a smile, letting him know that I’m good. I’m not sure when we developed this odd form of physical shorthand, or why something in me eases knowing he is nearby again. When I turn back to Keke, it’s with a genuine smile.
I am okay.
I’m better than okay, and it has a lot to do with the sexy, tattooed man standing by the door.
The first sign something is wrong is Etienne lifting a finger to his earpiece and murmuring into it, his face folding in concern. His gaze sweeps the floor, catches on mine, then slides past me to whatever is over my shoulder.
“Frenchie looks stressed.”
“We are supposed to cover different angles of the room,” I remind him, not giving him the satisfaction of looking over my shoulder at him.
“I know, but you looked too pretty standing over here. I couldn’t resist coming closer.”
I roll my lips to stop the smile threatening to break free. “Uh huh.”
“It’s true.” I can hear the grin in his tone. “Besides you like it when I’m bad.”
“Go.”
“Fine, I’ll be a good little bodyguard.” The faintest brush of his fingers ghosts across my ass as he turns
He’s incorrigible. And he’s right. I love it.
With his back to the wall by the doors, Liev presses his comm, and a deep velvety voice fills my ear. “Now I can talk to you, and no one else can hear.”
“What do you want to talk about?” I press my comm, keeping my voice low, confident the mic can still pick up my words.
“Your breasts—how fucking amazing they look in that top. Particularly the way they lift when you take a sharp breath. Like just now.”
I choke and whip around to look at him. His dark eyes lock on mine, and the wicked smile he gives me sends heat pooling between my legs.
“We’re working,” I manage.
“I know.” His voice turns teasing. “Makes it hotter. Tell me, Seraphina, how wet do you think I can make you, surrounded by all of these nice people, just by whispering in your ear?”
“Liev.” The admonishment comes out breathier than I intend. My nipples tighten under the top, and I’m grateful for the blazer that hides my response.
“It’s only fair.” He pauses, and my breath catches as I wait. “You got your hands on my chest last night. I’m only asking for the same privilege. I want to see those perfect tits in the full light. To finally know just how pink and tight your nipples look, just before I get my mouth on them.”
My cheeks burn, as does the rest of my body, as I remember how his muscles flexed under my hands. How hot his skin was against mine.
“See.” His voice is pure sin now. “Those pretty cheeks flushing. You like hearing how much I want you. Are you wet yet, malyshka?”
Holy-fucking-shit. This man is a menace.
I lick my lips and try to focus on Keke talking to people nearby, immediately regretting it when I hear a soft groan in my ear.
“That’s just cruel.” His voice sounds frayed. “You have no idea what those red lips do to me. I’ve spent days imagining them wrapped around me.”
My thighs press together instinctively, seeking friction that isn’t there. A rush of warmth slicks between my legs. No one has ever spoken to me like this before. We’re in the middle of a job, in a crowd of people for god’s sake!
I should hate it.
Instead, I’m throbbing.
“There’s a lot of fidgeting going on over there.
What’s the matter?” His voice strokes over me.
“Are you imagining yourself on your knees, my hands fisted in your hair? Or are you picturing what Keke suggested? Me, bending you over the nearest surface the second we’re back in our room…
spreading you open so I can taste how sweet you are, right now before I. .. What was her phrase?”
His dark chuckle feels like a caress. “Fuck you into oblivion.”
My heart is beating so hard I might be having a heart attack. I’m almost positive he can hear it through the mic.
“You can’t look at me like that, Seraphina. It makes me want to cross this room and—” He cuts off. “Heads up. Something’s happening.”
It takes a second for the words to register through the haze. Then I see Henri rushing toward Etienne and immediately blank my face. After a few words, Henri changes course, heading straight for me.
“There’s been an accident. We need to secure the jewels.”