Total pages in book: 108
Estimated words: 100416 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 502(@200wpm)___ 402(@250wpm)___ 335(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100416 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 502(@200wpm)___ 402(@250wpm)___ 335(@300wpm)
“Gladly.” He didn’t hesitate this time, leading her to the table they’d set up with blueprints of the house. She had to wonder why Pavel didn’t seem too worried that she might use the information to sneak out or maybe smuggle it to her brother, but that was something to address later.
Right now, she had a bitch to catch.
They went over the placement of the men and how they would ensure no one uninvited got past them. With Keira’s family attending, most of the power players in Boston would be in one place. It was practically inviting their enemies to attack, but her siblings and their spouses couldn’t skip attending any more than Keira and Dmitri could skip making the invitation in the first place. Power was a funny thing. They only had it as long as they had the perception of it. Sometimes that meant taking reckless risks instead of bunkering down to hunt their enemies to the ends of the earth.
If the people in their respective territories thought the Romanovs were afraid of the Eldridges, the people bold enough to attack would multiply.
She got it. She just thought it was silly.
Dmitri thought Alethea was going to try to leverage an invitation to the party. The more Keira thought about it, the less sense it made. Alethea might have the utmost faith in Dmitri’s word—and rightfully so—but Aiden hadn’t made any promises about her safety. If given half a chance, Keira’s brother would put a bullet into both Eldridge women if only to save Charlie a future of uncertainty. Keira didn’t blame him for that, and Dmitri likely wouldn’t, either.
So, no, Alethea had something else up her sleeve. The question was what.
Keira tapped a finger to her lip. “Pavel, I have a question for you.”
“Da?”
“Did Dmitri assign you to me because you’re being punished or rewarded?” She’d seen no indication that Dmitri operated his household that much differently from her brother, which meant that his men shared a lot of the duties. Keira knew for a fact that they rotated through whose turn it was to leave the house for various reasons. Pavel had been designated her personal bodyguard for a reason, and she wanted to know why.
For all his talk, is he still looking at me as a possession to be protected?
She hated how the thought grated. So much so, she almost missed Pavel’s hesitation. Keira zeroed in on him. “Don’t even think about lying to me. It won’t go over well, and I’ll find out the truth regardless.”
He took a slow breath. “My father was Mr. Romanov’s father’s second in command. I grew up in this business, and he’s known me since I was a child. He trusts me.”
Which meant he didn’t trust someone else. Anyone else. She nodded, and the relief on Pavel’s face would have made her laugh under other circumstances. As it was, she was too busy thinking about the implications of Dmitri not trusting his men. From what she understood, many of them had been with him for years, and he wasn’t the type to keep people under his roof—and give them access to Keira—if he didn’t trust them beyond a shadow of a doubt.
The only reason she could think that he would do that was if he didn’t know who he could trust and who he couldn’t.
Shit.
She faked a smile and put a bit of brightness into her tone. “Thanks, Pavel. We’ll walk through it once more with Dmitri tomorrow and then put everything into motion.”
He nodded. “It’s a good plan.”
This time, her smile was closer to the real thing. Their plan might be good, but it depended upon the enemy being outside the house. If one of Dmitri’s men was a threat, keeping watch on the exits wouldn’t do them a damn bit of good. “Thanks.” She strode out of the room, already considering how best to corner Dmitri and convince him to tell her what the hell was going on. The good mood she’d captured from the superior fucking she’d experienced last night and this morning slipped through her fingers.
It’s more than fucking, and no matter how many times I think of it that way, it doesn’t change the truth.
She didn’t know what the truth was, but things had changed between her and Dmitri. He’d teased her last night, and when she’d trusted him, he rewarded her for it. And this morning, waking up and lying there in bed talking about their plans was such a married thing to do. For the first time, she actually felt married—and she liked it a whole hell of a lot.
Movement at the turn in the hallway caught her eye, and she stopped short, her heart beating too hard. She’d felt safe in this house, but if there was a traitor in their midst, then anyone who wasn’t Pavel or Dmitri was a potential threat.