Page 43 of Kept in the Dark

“You weren’t part of what happened at the wedding. You’re not in aBratva,” I realize suddenly. All this time, I’ve kind of been assuming that he knew what was going on that night because he was in on it, to some extent. But after what he just told me, I find it hard to believe he’d willingly involve himself with that kind of organization.

“No. And I never will be again,” he declares, voice low in a repeated promise he’s clearly made to himself.

Hope swells. Maybe he really is just trying to help me.

He makes a move that I didn’t see coming, and I take another pawn. I finger it, assessing his posture and the look on his face. He’s so stoic, he hardly ever gives anything away, but I recognize the rawness in his expression now because I was just wearing the same one.

Time to shift gears and do what I promised—make this a bit more lighthearted.

“How old are you?”

“Pass.”

Fair enough. If he won’t tell me his birthday, I guess it makes sense he’d keep this one to himself, too. “What’s your middle name?”

“Pass.”

“Oh, come on. Okay, what’s your favorite food?”

He makes a face. “How does one answer this question? Why must I prefer one above the millions of other options?”

I roll my eyes. “How did you get that scar on your face?”

“Pass.”

0 for 4.

“Well… okay…” My gaze falls into my lap for my next question. “You told me about your family, but what aboutyourfriends and job and… um, lovers?”

When I dare to peek, he’s staring. I’m pinned in place by shards of ice that somehow burn like the hottest part of a flame. “I have no lover,Nicole,” he tells me, blatantly ignoring the rest of the question and answering the only part that matters.

Nee-cole.My cheeks are suddenly really hot.

He leans forward, and I swear I am not in control of myself when I mirror his action, expecting to find our faces pressed close. Instead, his eyes drop, and he moves his queen and takes mine. “What is your opinion of law and order?”

And suddenly, I’m reeling from… fuck, I don’t know what I thought was going to happen.

Yes, I do. I’m just mortified because it didn’t.

I clear my throat and sit back as far as the wall allows. The blood is still pounding in my head, but the intense, almost sharp expectations have fizzled into hot embarrassment. Thankfully, he’s letting me save face and keeping his eyes down.

I reach for my bottle of water to give myself a moment for my brain to come back online. “Law and order? Um… I assume you don’t mean the TV show.”

“You assume correctly.”

Shaking off the lingering awkwardness, I square my shoulders. I want to give my answer carefully, because I’ve actually been considering it a fair amount since our last game. Clearly, Dimitri doesn’t exactly operate within the confines of the law. “I think… it’s easy to confuse right and wrong with lawful and unlawful, but they’re not exactly the same.”

His eyes flash, and he demands, “Explain.”

“I think the intention of the systems in place can be good, and the execution can be bad. Murderers and rapists walk; innocent people are put to death; the more money someone has the more untouchable they are… It’s not pretty, but it’s what we have.”

“You do not like it,” he surmises, and I nod in agreement. “And what is your part in it?”

“In what, the system?” I laugh once at the idea. “I don’t know; I don’t think I’m really part of it. I don’t do much other than vote… and I had jury duty once.”

“Everyone is part of the system in which they live,” he counters. “Every action has a consequence and touches the life of someone else. In my profession and yours.”

I frown, considering that. I can’t decide whether I think it’s a surprising statement, coming from a man who doesbad things to bad people. Does that mean he’s aware that it’s wrong and does it anyway, or that he doesn’t think it’s wrong?