Chapter 22
ANTON
Ican hear her talking through the door. She’s found a way to make a phone call, I think. I know she hasn’t gotten to her phone…
Shit. I do have a landline in most of these guest rooms. Dammit, I should have thought to have them taken out before setting her up here.
I knock again. “Natalya. I can hear you talking in there. Open up.” I don’t know what I’m going to have to do to get through to her. The only thing worse than a cellphone is a landline. She’s going to lead anyone who’s looking for her right to my door.
The low rumble of her voice stops and the door opens a second later. She looks up at me with her big, blue eyes, melting the ice around my heart yet again.
I focus. I can’t cave around her. Rules are rules. I spot the phone in the corner and walk over to it, unplugging it.
“Hey,” she said. “Where are you taking that?”
“Out of your reach,” I say. I go to leave and she steps in front of me. “Natalya, move.”
“No,” she says, crossing her arms. “Keeping me here without a phone is insanity, Anton. You can’t do that. What if I need to call for help? What if you’re not here and I need to call you?”
“You won’t have to worry about that anymore,” I tell her. “I’m going to ask Mikki to stay here and look after you while you’re here.”
“That’s not enough,” she says. “That… that woman came in here and threw me around like a rag doll and Mikki was a room away. If you hadn’t come home when you did—”
“Katerina wouldn’t dare try to kill you,” I say with confidence. “And she won’t dare try to hurt you again. You do not have to worry about her.”
“Excuse me for not being convinced of that. I need a phone in this room, Anton. If I’m going to stay here, I should at least have that in case of emergencies.”
“Right. Emergencies. Who were you talking to just now? Was that an emergent call?”
“I don’t see how that’s any business of yours—”
“Of course it’s my business,” I growl at her.
“When are you going to get it through your thick skull that every time you use a phone in this house, somebody could be listening? If your little friend’s phone was tapped and you told her all about where you were, then that’s it.
The wrong person just found out where you are.
No matter what, Natalya, the best way for you to stay safe is if no one knows you’re fucking here. ”
She stares me down, her jaw clenched. She’s still in my way.
“What did you tell your friend?” I ask her again.
She turns her head away from me.
“Natalya.”
“I didn’t tell her anything that would hurt you, okay? Not anything that she didn’t already know. I called her because I needed somebody to talk to after what happened. I needed my friend.”
I nod, feeling the sting from that statement. I guess I’m not safe enough for her to talk to. “That all?”
She shifts her feet uncomfortably. “My father went to see her. I needed to find out what he said to her.”
I tilt my head at her. “He’s been to her apartment?”
“Yes. That’s what I was trying to tell you before. He’s looking for me. I needed to know that she didn’t give him any clues to my whereabouts, which she couldn’t anyway because I hadn’t told her where I was.”
I nod. That’s some good news, at least. Still, one ounce of doubt and her best friend just became a liability. “You’re not to talk to her again. Not while you’re here. Not while you’re under my protection. Got it?”
She looks at me with big, hurt eyes. “I don’t understand—”
“Do you understand, Natalya, that if someone kills you, then I’m going to have to kill them?
” I tell her through clenched teeth. “And I don’t give a fuck who it is.
Kat was lucky to get out of here with her head still attached for what she did to you.
It took everything in me not to turn her into a grease spot on my front porch.
” I sigh heavily, my emotions starting to get the better of me.
“I will burn down this entire town and everyone in it if harm comes to you. Get me?”
I see the realization hit her. Finally.
“This is for your own good,” I say to her. “Don’t defy me again, Natalya.”
She gives me a reluctant nod, then she steps aside.
I take the phone and put it in the safe in my room. When Iggy’s nephews get here, I’m going to have them go through all the other rooms and get those phones too.
Over the next few days, she’s avoided me for the most part. When Iggy sent his people came to clean up the blood stains and help her with the clothing, she interacted with them but gave me a wide berth.
I can’t be upset by this. It’s all probably for the best. At least for now. I understand now why I wanted to keep things platonic between us. It all gets complicated when sex is introduced.
The job Iggy did was perfect. There’s nothing of the mess that Mikki made. The sun is starting to set and the living room still smells heavily of cleaning products, but it looks pristine. So do my front steps. Thank goodness for Iggy’s connections.
I’m in my study, sitting by my writing desk, drink in my hand. What am I going to do with Natalya… especially given everything that Nikolai told me?
I’ve spent this week being introspective about it, thinking it all over carefully.
Even if she were talking to me, I’d still be reluctant to tell her anything about the conversation until I’ve fully wrapped my mind around it.
If he’s right, then it means I started a war with his Bratva because of the workings of someone else.
And to that end, Nikolai could very well have sent his men to kill me before anyone was the wiser and someone else would be running this Bratva.
A decision like that would send everyone into chaos.
I haven’t even had time to choose a potential successor.
A knock on my wall. I look up to see Mikki standing in the doorway. I frown a little. I didn’t even know he was here.
“Natalya let me in,” he says in answer to my silent question. His eyes drift to the drink in my hand. “Drinking alone?”
“Looks like.”
“Mind some company?”
“Not at all.” I motion to the caddy across the room. “Help yourself.”
He walks over to the minibar and starts making himself a drink. “You’ve been quiet since that whole thing with Kat. Is everything all right between you and Natalya?”
“It’s as good as it could be,” I say and drink from my glass. “She’s not talking to me at the moment, which is probably the best possible thing that could happen, all things considered.”
He drops several lumps of ice into a glass and reaches under the bar for the decanter of vodka. “This is where I say I told you so, isn’t it?”
I throw him an annoyed look.
“You know I’m right. Natalya’s a sweet girl, but she’s a distraction. How long before she wants to leave?”
I sigh. “Probably. After Kat’s little temper tantrum, I wouldn’t blame her if she did ask to leave.”
“Will you let her go if she does ask?”
I scowl at him. “She’s not a prisoner, Mikki.”
“Yeah, okay, but you have put a lot of energy into this whole thing. You’ve really been determined to be protective of her. What happens when she doesn’t want to be protected?”
I sigh. It’s a valid question, one I hadn’t thought that much about since this whole thing started. “Not sure,” is all I can say as I sip from my glass.
“Hmm.” Mikki takes his drink and sits down on the corner of the end table near me. “You know, this whole obsession you have with her is getting pretty close to being a bit Medieval. If this house had a tower, I’d be wondering at this point when you were planning on locking her in it.”
I roll my eyes at him. “I’m not a monster. If she truly wanted to leave, I would have to let her go. The problem is if I did that…”
I start thinking about my conversation with Nikolai. His rather convincing argument to me that he is not responsible for the death of my mentor echoes in my mind. If it’s true, does that change whether or not Natalya is in danger? If I put a pause on this war, would it be safe for her to leave?
“Her father would surely protect her,” Mikki says. “She’s his daughter.”
“If he was going to protect her, then she would have gone to him,” I say.
“A young girl who’s definitely deeply enamored of you? I don’t know about that. Infatuation can make you do wild things.”
“No doubt. I don’t think that’s the case with her.
There’s something going on there that I can’t put my finger on.
I don’t think she has the kind of relationship with her father that speaks of safety.
All of this might be besides the point anyway.
” I set my drink down. I need to speak about this meeting with Nikolai.
I’ve put it off too long. I have to get it out of my head and examine it properly.
“My meeting with Novikoff. We need to talk about it.”
He crosses his arms, locking in as I tell him about what was said at the meeting. When I’m done, he’s scowling hard. His brow is dipping down so much that his eyebrows are knitting themselves together.
“You don’t believe him, do you?” he asks me.
“He was convincing. More importantly, he and Maksim were allies. That’s been bothering me since Maksim’s death. I was viewing it as the worst kind of betrayal instead of what Nikolai is presenting as an alibi.”
“Brothers betraying brothers is par for the course for us,” he says. “The first thing we’re ever taught is to never fully trust anyone. Not even your closest friend.”
“And the second thing we were ever taught is if you plan on betraying your brothers, you’d better have a damned good reason.
” I feel like that was my first lesson given how my father left me.
“I’ve been thinking about that meeting and there’s one thing I can’t figure out.
If Nikolai was the one to betray Maksim, what was his reason?
What did he have to gain by taking him out? ”
“Control of this Bratva, perhaps? The changing of the guard is often full of turmoil, even in the tightest run Bratvas.”
The very thing I’ve been struggling with spoken right back to me. I consider it for a moment, sipping my drink thoughtfully.
“When Maksim died,” I say, “I stayed in Russia for another two weeks to be sure that he was laid to rest in his home region.”
Mikki nods. “And as you knew, news of his death kicked up a bit of dust among the troops. Maintaining loyalty was tricky those weeks you were gone.”
I take a final sip from my glass, mulling that over.
“If I were in Nikolai’s shoes and I was looking to either take over or wipe out a Bratva, that would have been the time to strike.
An attack during all the confusion would have been decisive.
We would never have recovered from it. He could have easily wiped us all out. ”
“He could have also taken care of you too while you were in Russia. Emil was still there after Maksim passed. Passing up an opportunity to take out the king and his heir…? Unheard of.”
That’s a valid point. “Nikolai is an experienced strategist,” I say.
“And the way things have been happening… The moves he’s been making have been mostly defensive.
This campaign is worlds harder for him because he didn’t make sure that both Maksim and I didn’t make it.
It’s not like him.” We stare at each other for a long moment, sharing the same thought. Shit.
“I think he might be telling the truth.”
Mikki takes a big deep breath. “Okay. If not him, then who? One of our own?”
“It seems likely. I’m going to need you to keep your ear to the ground on that. In the meantime, I’m going to call a pause on this war. Nikolai agreed to hold off on any aggression if I pull my men back.”
Mikki frowns. “The brothers are going to be pissed.”
“Good. Maybe whoever decided to pull this shit will throw a tantrum and make themselves known. Then we can put them out of their misery. Make the arrangements. I want to see everyone early tomorrow morning.”
Mikki downs the last of his drink and stands up. “Yes, sir.”
He leaves and I look at my empty glass. The other detail that I’ve been mulling over and hadn’t mentioned to Mikki is the fact that Nikolai never mentioned Natalya or the fact that there was a stray witness to Emil’s killing.
In all likelihood, he has no idea that she saw anything.
It’s probably safe for her to go back home or wherever she likes.
But if I’m right about that… then she’d have to leave.
And as much as I would never keep her here against her will…
dammit. I don’t want her to go. I think back to that moment that we shared in the kitchen a few days back.
Teaching her to play chess… and watching her eyes light up as she tried hustling me.
Every interaction with her is a lesson for me that I didn’t know I needed.
I want the chance to know her. The little tidbits that she’s given me in such a short amount of time aren’t enough. When I think of her, I’m dangerously close to a sort of desperation that I’m deftly unfamiliar with and deeply intrigued by.
Infatuation will make you do wild things. Mikki had been referring to Natalya when he said that to me. Little does he know that knife has a double edge.
I’m compelled to ask her to stay, even though I know it’s probably best if she doesn’t. A woman as pure as she is deserves to live far from the world of violence that I live in.
And regardless of my own desires, I can’t bind her to me. She deserves something better than this.
It’s decided. Tonight, I’ll break the news to her. She can leave if she wants to once I’ve called this war off.