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“Yes, I understand.”
“Good girl,” I murmured, then landed a hard kiss on her mouth.
“Okay, everybody who’s not a performer needs to exit immediately,” Belshaw yelled out again, sweat starting to dampen the collar of his douchey tuxedo. I must have really been making this asshole nervous. He caught my eye for a brief moment. His eyes widened nervously before quickly turning to help some oboe player find a reed for his instrument.Chicken shit.
“You look so sexy,” Emmy murmured, rubbing her hands on my chest. I was wearing a black suit with an open button black shirt underneath. I had to go out and buy it today. I didn’t have much reason to own a suit in my line of work. It was one of the things that really distinguished us from the Italian mafia. Those fuckers lived in suits.
I smirked. “Are you talking about my outfit or the way I just stared down your professor?”
She slid her arms around my waist and tipped her head back to stare up at me, arousal turning the gold in her eyes molten. “Definitely both,” she murmured in a throaty voice and my dick jerked in my new pants.
I cradled her face. “This is definitely not the time for those kinds of comments, but feel free to remember your admiration when I get you home because I’m going to tear this dress off you and turn your ass bright red for putting me through this whole fucking ordeal.”
Her eyes brightened with amusement. “I’m counting on it…moy lyubimyy”
My eyes widened. Her pronunciation was absolutely mangled, but the sentiment had my throat tightening—the words and the effort to learn something in Russian for me. “Your beloved, huh?”
Her face beamed with pleasure. “You understood?”
I chuckled, pulling her against me. “Yes, of course.”
“Did I pronounce it right?”
Her earnest look of excitement had me lying through my teeth. “You did great, malyshka. I’ll teach you Russian, so you’ll be speaking like a native.”
“Everyone must go!”
God, that asshole had balls. I gave him another hard look that probably had his dick crawling inside his body but gave Emmy another hard kiss. “Break a leg, baby.”
“Given what’s going on, let’s hope not literally.”
I snorted and made my way to my front row seat as the lights flickered. My seat, which looked like the only vacant one in the entire auditorium, was in a row with Hannah, Nikolai, Katya, Drago and Emmy’s mother, Jessica.
It had been challenging to hide what was going on from Emmy’s mom, given the number of barked orders into phones and terse conversations between Drago and me, but somehow, she remained oblivious, chatting with Hannah.
Delaney was also here, seated next to Katya. She kept craning her head to look at Will who was stationed at the stage left exit. I rolled my eyes, having no desire to speculate into what that was all about.
The lights dimmed and my entire focus was directed at where Emmy was going to be seated on the stage. When the curtain lifted, emotions twisted inside of me like a tempest.
She was so fucking beautiful, elegantly placed behind her harp, her face peaceful and serious as she started to play. I was mesmerized by her. As the performance wore on, I understood why she wanted to be here. Not only did she look utterly blissed out, but it was also clear that her part was essential to each piece, her harp adding just the right gentleness, lightness, or atmosphere to everything they performed. My chest tightened with pride at how utterly brilliant she was, how dedicated and accomplished a musician she was.
The concert passed in the blink of an eye. Emmy stood on the stage with the rest of the musicians, but she wasn’t like them at all. She was exceptional, spectacular.
Belshaw pushed her forward, his light touch on her arm causing my fist to clench, and the audience roared their appreciation for her talent. Possessiveness and jealousy threatened to choke me as I scanned the men in the audience staring at moya devushka with more than musical appreciation in their eyes.
Grinding my teeth, I focused back on Emmy and saw her flush with embarrassment at the effusive praise. Fuck, I loved herl.
As soon as the curtain dropped, I turned to Drago. “You have all the exits covered, right?”
“Yes. Of course, if Armstrong is here, it’s not like we can tackle him to the ground and beat the shit out of him for attending a musical concert at a local college.”
I grimaced. What he said was annoyingly accurate. No matter how much I wanted to wrap my hands around Armstrong’s throat for what he planned for Emmy, I wouldn’t be able to do it here.
“I’m going to head backstage and get Emmy, then we’re getting the fuck out of here.”
“Agreed.” I turned to leave, but Drago stopped me. “Your girl is good. I understand why you caved.”
I smirked. “You know the reason I caved had nothing to do with her playing.”