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“Of course they’re more comfortable at your house; they grew up here. But we need to push Lev’s boundaries, encourage him to step outside of his comfort zone.”
“I’ve done that by giving him a room upstairs in the main house.”
“You rarely make him use it.”
“Because he has fucking meltdowns if I push him too hard!” I growl. “I’m not gonna risk traumatizing him in the name of curing him. We both know that’s not gonna happen.”
Nikolai snaps his teeth together. “He’s been regressing recently and you know it. If we take it easy, he’s gonna backslide back into his cocoon phase.”
“I already said I’m handling it,brat.”
“Like you’re ‘handling’ your next door neighbor?” Nikolai asks with a skeptically arched eyebrow. “Tell me, little brother: how attractive is she?”
That’s the other thing about siblings—they know you all too well.
He chuckles when I don’t answer. “Petite? Blonde?” When I still don’t reply, he throws his hands up in disgust. “Whatever you do, donotsleep with her.”
I can’t help it; a snort of laughter bursts through my lips. “You’re several hours too late, brother.”
Niko’s eyes bug out. “Goddammit, Uri! Why can’t you keep it in your fucking pants for once?”
I shrug nonchalantly. “She was trespassing on my property. I needed to find out why.”
“And you couldn’t have justaskedher?”
My grin gets wider. “That would have been a whole lot less fun.”
“You have a problem.”
Instantly, Alyssa’s accusing words pop into my head. I push them right back out. “I’ll deal with my little blonde problem and you deal with that finger.”
Nikolai nods but his eyes are fixed on me in warning. Sometimes, he looks so much like our father that it makes my skin crawl. “Don’t fuck her again.”
“You know my rule: I don’t do repeats.”
That much is easy to lie about. It’s true: I don’t do repeats…
For now.
“Do me a favor,” Niko drawls. “Let me be there when you explain this rule of yours to Polly one day.”
I give him the middle finger. “Get off my property.”
Smirking, he starts sauntering back to his car. His house is less than a mile down the road, but he drove here in his vintage Aston Martin. Nikolai always did have a hunger for the finer things.
I step into the house, making an on-the-spot decision about what to do with my unexpected houseguest. My options are limited. I can’t let her go now that I know she’s seen the finger. There’s a chance she’ll go to the cops and, despite my best efforts, not all of them are in my pocket just yet.
And even if I could scare her into silence, I have no idea how long that silence would hold. She might tell a friend one day. Aboyfriend, even. It’s strange how quickly my stomach sours at the thought of her with another man.
I don’t fucking like it.
Grimacing, I ring up Svetlana. She’s one of the live-in maids who’s paid three times as much as the others because she’s on call twenty-four-seven and she understands the meaning of discretion. It doesn’t take her long to find me in the foyer.
“Sir?” She’s still got sleep creases on the side of her face, but her eyes are bright and observant.
“I need you to change the linens in the basement. And while you’re down there, tidy it up a bit, will you?”
She seems slightly confused but she doesn’t ask questions. “Of course, sir. Right away.”
