Page 125 of Beautiful Secrets

Derek is making coffee. He turns and gives me a quick scan before handing me a cup of tea. I can smell the rich aroma of coffee wafting from his cup, but I could not be bothered to ask for something different.

“Not yet.”

“You called the hotel again.”

Instead of answering that, he asks, “What happened yesterday, Mika?”

I look away, blow over my tea. Then I pull up a stool and perch on it. “I asked him to take me to the airport.”

“Why?”

“So I could go home to Russia.” I swing my feet a few times. “I was going to live with my grandparents.”

“And what about your father? Did he speak to Dimitri?”

I shake my head.

He makes an unhappy sound, and then sips at his coffee. “That’s it? Nothing else? Because if there’s something you’re hiding—”

“Morning,” Sarah cuts in behind me.

I glance over my shoulder and give her a tentative smile. She spoke much too brightly for the look of her—especially with those dark smudges under her eyes.

“Hear anything yet?” she asks Derek.

He shakes his head, but his eyes are still on me. Why is he so suspicious of me? Does he really think I concocted some plan to get rid of Cole and then came back here to rub it in their faces or something?

“I’ll try the hotel again.” Sarah walks up to her husband and holds out her hand. “Maybe he checked in.”

“I don’t think—”

He cuts off when his cell phone rings. Then he glances at the screen and sighs. “Kill,” he mutters before answering with a despondent, “Haul.”

His eyes dart to Sarah, then to me. There’s something flickering in them, but I don’t know if it’s hope or unease. “Aye. Aye. Okay.”

He ends the call.

I am practically crawling over the countertop toward him. “What has happened?” I demand.

Derek puts the phone down, and places his hands on either side, staring at it as if he’s willing something to happen.

“Hon?” Sarah murmurs.

“Cillian got a call from Dimitri.” His eyes flick up to mine. The suspicion is back, and it seems worse this time. “They want a meeting.”

“A…meeting?”

“The whole clan. Theoldclan. Me, Cillian, the Connollys, the boys from Dundee.”

“About what?”

Derek glances at Sarah. “They didn’t say.” Then his eyes are back on me. “But I can guess.”

45

Cole

Ihave never been more terrified in my fucking life than right at this moment. It’s got nothing to do with the fact that if my plan fails, Yuri promised to put a bullet through my skull. Has even less to do with the fact that I’m standing in front of the heads of some of the most powerful families and clans in Scotland like they’re judge, jury, and executioner—and I’m the only one standing trial.