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Her presence was a good sign. Right?

Ayana stood when I entered the room. Gone were the sweats and old T-shirt; in their place was an orange silk top, jeans, and heels. Gold earrings peeked out from behind lush curls.

A smile ghosted my mouth. I didn’t care what she wore; she could throw on a potato sack and still blow every woman in the city out of the water. But she loved fashion, and it was nice to see her back in fighting form.

“Hi.” She tucked a curl behind her ear. “I hope you don’t mind me dropping by. I should’ve called first, but it was a, um, last-minute thing.”

You can come by any time you want.I paused, my mind flashing to Roman’s warning.Fuck. If the Brotherhood was watching, Ayana’s visit would bolster the notion that she was my weakness. It was too late to change that, so I shelved the worry for later.I didn’t expect to hear from you so soon.

“Because of what you told me?”

I pressed my lips together and nodded.

Ayana opened her mouth. Then her gaze slid past me, and her eyes widened. “I didn’t know you had a cat.”

I whipped around in time to see Shadow trot into the room like he owned it. He ignored me and went straight to Ayana. He rubbed his head against her leg and purred when she bent to scratch him behind the ears.

“He’s not my cat.” I was getting tired of repeating myself.

Ayana picked him up and cuddled him close to her chest. “What’s his name?”

“Shadow,” I said, my tone sour.

Shadow stared straight at me while he nuzzled her breast. He let out a small meow, which she interpreted as a sign of affection and I interpreted as a big, fatfuck you.

My molars ground together, but Ayana’s next words pushed my thoughts of animal murder to the back burner.

“I’ve had time to think about what you said.” Her expression sobered. “I’ll be honest. I was…taken aback at first. And afraid. Not of you, but of the situation and the world I suddenly found myself in. I’ve seen plenty of questionable things in the fashion industry, but they’re nothing compared to hitmen and murder and torture.” She took a deep breath. “I can’t say those things don’t make me uneasy, but you had a good reason for doing what you did. If I’d been in your shoes, and joining the Brotherhood was the only way I could save my family, I would’ve done the same.”

The knot in my throat untangled fully, but it still took a moment to find my words. “Meaning?”

I didn’t care what other people thought about me, but Ayana wasn’t “other people.” She was the only one whose opinion mattered.

“Meaning if you think you’ve scared me off, you haven’t.” Ayana gave me a half-shy, half-mischievous smile. “You’re stuck with me, Markovic.”

That foreign warmth prickled my chest again. A weight slid off my shoulders, and the ensuing lightness was so disorienting I almost stumbled.

“Strong words,srce,” I said softly.

Shadow yowled, but even he couldn’t ruin this moment.

It was the closest to happiness I’d ever been.

“They’re the truth.” Ayana hugged Shadow closer to her chest and bit her lip. “But I have a confession. That’s not the only reason I’m here.”

I raised my eyebrows.

“I want to learn how to protect myself,” she said. “I’ve taken self-defense classes, but they’re not much use against guns. If I find myself in danger again, I don’t want to rely on someone else to save me.”

“When you say ‘protect yourself’…what do you have in mind?”

Ayana met my wary gaze with a sure one of her own. “I want you to teach me how to shoot.”

CHAPTER32

Ayana

To my surprise, Vuk didn’t shut down my suggestion. In fact, he seemed to embrace it, though he refused to give me details about when and where the lessons would start. He just said “after D.C.”