Page 94

The next night I make up an excuse that I’m going out, that I need a drink, and to decompress from the missions, from my two kills the night before. Kane buys it, nodding and telling me to be careful, before returning to his reading in his study. I throw on jeans and a T-shirt, my hair pulled back into a ponytail as I head to the rendezvous point that Konstantin and I decided on.

We chose a small café in a neighborhood that’s not near where either of us typically go. Konstantin is already there when I arrive, sitting in a spot that allows him to see the entrances and exits. He clocks me immediately, and I think I see a glimmer of pleasure in his eyes. It makes my pulse beat faster. My heart does something strange when I see him—a quick, hard squeeze that leaves me momentarily breathless. It's been two days since we parted, but it feels like weeks.

I slide into the chair across from him, careful to keep my expression neutral for any watching eyes. "It's done," I say simply.

He nods, studying my face. "You okay?"

The question catches me off guard. No one has ever asked me that after a mission before. Not 'Was it successful?' or 'Were you seen?' but 'Are you okay?'

"I'm fine," I say automatically. Then, more quietly, “I was glad to take them out, honestly. Now you’re safe from them, too. It made the kill—easier. Different.”

Konstantin’s gaze holds mine, and I can tell that there are things he wants to say but isn’t. I want to pry them out of him, but the truth is, I don’t know how. Not in the way that I should in a healthy relationship, anyway. I’ve never had one.

“My father still doesn’t know about you,” he says finally. “He asked when you’d come for family dinner, and I said you weren’t feeling well. He perked up at that—I think he thought I meant you were pregnant.”

I swallow hard. The thought of Konstantin getting me pregnant feels different now. I see a flash of heat in his eyes, and I know he’s thinking the same thing.

“I have my own men that are loyal to me,” Konstantin says. “Two days. Forty-eight hours from now, that night, me and my men will breach Kane’s security and get onto the grounds. You need to be ready to help us. We’ll back you up while you take him out. I have cleaners who can take care of the evidence.”

I nod, my heart rate picking up at the thought. “I have to be the one to do it.HoweverI want to do it.”

“Of course.” Konstantin’s eyes meet mine, and he reaches across the table, his fingers brushing the back of my hand. “Whatever you want to do with him,volchitsa. I’ll be there to back you up.”

Unexpectedly, tears prick the back of my eyes. This man is nothing that I ever expected, and everything that I didn’t dare imagine for myself. My heart aches at the thought of losing him, of him walking away at the end of all of this, and yet…

I don’t know how to say what’s in my head and in my heart. I’ve spent my entire life blocking out my emotions, stuffing them down, bottling them up.Feelinggets you killed, in my line of work. I learned long ago how not to feel.

But I think Konstantin understands that, too.

“And after?” I ask, testing the waters. Konstantin’s eyebrows rise, ever so slightly.

“We’ll figure it out,” he says simply. “Do you know what you want, Valentina?”

“I—no,” I admit, as much as I don’t want it to be the truth. “I haven’t ever had a chance to imagine what my life would be, after it was done. After I got my revenge. And now that it’s close?—”

His fingers squeeze mine. “When it’s done,” he says quietly. “Then you figure it out.”

I don’t know what kind of future two people like us have together. What we could be, outside of what I’ve been and who Konstantin is. But I can’t help hoping that we’ll get the chance to find out.

“When it’s done,” I echo, tightening my fingers ever so slightly around his, too. The moment stretches between us, fragile and precious. For a few heartbeats, we're just a man and a woman in a café, touching hands across a table, full of a tentative hope for a future that neither of us had envisioned before this.

Then I see it—a reflection in the window behind Konstantin. A familiar face among the pedestrians outside. One of Kane’s men. He doesn’t keep active security at the mansion—he has alarms and cameras and everything else except actual bodiesthere to protect him—but he has his goons, and I recognize one of them.

"We need to go," I say, pulling my hand away. "Now."

Konstantin doesn't question me, immediately alert. "Back exit?"

I nod, already rising. "Meet me at your car. If I'm not there in three minutes, go without me."

He looks like he wants to argue, but there's no time. We split up, him heading for the back, me making for the front door as if I haven't noticed anything amiss. My hope is that Kane’s man didn’t see me with Konstantin yet. That my cover story for the night isn’t completely blown.

Outside, I scan the street, trying to spot Kane's man again. He's gone from his previous position, melted into the crowd. Not good. He could be calling for backup or circling around to the back exit. He might have seen Konstantin. He might be calling Kane, telling him about my lie.

My heart beats rabbit-fast in my chest as I cut through the gelato shop next door, pushing past startled patrons as I head toward their rear exit, which opens onto the same alley Konstantin should be using. I burst through the door just in time to see him engaged in a silent, vicious struggle with the man I spied outside. The man who must have circled around, intending to cut me off.

My blood runs cold as I break into a run toward them. They're evenly matched—both big men, both skilled fighters. But Kane's man has a knife, and he's maneuvering it toward Konstantin's throat with terrifying precision. Konstantin is trying to reach for his gun, but the other man has him in a vise grip, the two of them struggling to break loose of each other.

I don't hesitate. Three quick strides and I'm on them, drawing my own knife and going for the other man’s kidney. He lets out a cry of pain, his grip on Konstantin loosening justenough for Konstantin to break free and deliver a crushing blow to his temple. The man crumples to the ground, bleeding out rapidly.