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“Bud, he’s busy,” Louisa said. “You can’t just burst up close and interrupt.” She set her hand on her son’s shoulder.

“No, it’s fine,” I told them, trying my best not to ogle her. “What is it?” I asked the boy.

Getting to know his quirks and how to talk to him was an experience I hadn’t anticipated learning yet. I enjoyed getting to know Luka and Isabel, my infant nephew and niece. I looked forward to Mila’s baby and also Wren’s. The family was growing and I treasured that. But a child? A small human who could reply to me and be engaging? That was altogether a new adventure to figure out.

“Can we go to a park?” he asked, hopeful.

I hated to disappoint him, but I wouldn’t budge. “No. You have to stay here. On the property.” I established strict routines from the beginning. Security was always heightened, but since Smithson snuck into Viktor’s house and someone had trespassed at Adrik’s mansion, and a few other incidents of close calls, I felt like I had to be extra-cautious. “It’s not safe for you or your mom to be exposed.”

“To what, though?” he asked, tilting his head to the side.

“Exposed to danger.”

“What danger?” he asked.

“The city is dangerous,” I reminded him.

“But I wanna go to a park, not the city,” he protested.

“It’s safer for you to be here, for now.” I glanced at Louisa, who stiffened at my reminder of the danger out there. The danger that kept a target on her back.

Even though I was always here and present, aside from when I had to work or check out something about the investigation, we weren’t close like roommates or friends or anything else. I was more like a landlord, a live-in bodyguard and host, but we didn’t have much time to talk alone.

“But what’s dangerous?” he asked.

“Brady, how about we head inside and clean up?” Louisa asked, steering him away. “If we are guests here, we need to follow Mr. Volkov’s rules, right?”

“Okay, Mama.” His reply was glum, but as she glanced back over her shoulder at me, all I could see in her eyes was the confusion that defined this state of limbo.

“You know, they could come to my place and swim or something sometime,” Lev said.

Wren nodded. “I could talk to her, see if she’d want to confide in me. Woman to woman.”

I sighed and shook my head. “I don’t think she’s hiding anything. And I’d rather not worry about them leaving this place. It’s secure.”

They could view this as my duty to protect a witness. But deep down, I had to admit to myself that every minute that passed with me and Louisa in close proximity only pushed me further into this mire of wanting her. To have the privilege of needing her close and wanting her closer yet in all the ways that didn’t include Bratva business.

Just the business of that passion that seemed to lurk beneath the surface every time we made eye contact. That sizzling chemistry that had my skin prickling with goosebumps if she brushed against me as we moved past each other in the kitchen or elsewhere.

I needed her safe. But I also wanted her to be mine.

12

LOUISA

Another week passed with me and Brady living in the Volkov guest house.

That was one more week of letting go of what was and trying to slide into a new sense of reality. A new feeling of being “home”.

It didn’t matter how luxurious it was here. I couldn’t release this nagging fear that this couldn’t actually last. Cinderellas only existed in fiction. An ordinary woman like me couldn’t escape her past with some gallant knight whisking in and saving her.

Yet, as I wiped the table where we’d just had dinner and I zoned out watching Brady outside with Nikolai and his brothers and cousins, I wanted to reconcile the idea of this rugged man who’d been sent to kill me with this image of him being so…

Perfect?

I shook my head, watching Viktor help show Brady the proper form to throw the basketball.

A basketball, because yesterday, Nikolai acted like it was the most natural thing in the world for a brand-new adjustable basketball hoop to show up as a delivery to be positioned in his driveway.