Page 44 of The Bratva's Innocent Forbidden Bride
No, it seemed very real. “Why, then?” I demanded. “What’s in it for you? Am I going to be a bargaining chip for when my father is found?”
His glare intensified, fixed on me, as he shook his head. I couldn’t read a single thought that flitted across his face, but a muscle twitched in his jaw. I could almost hear him grinding his teeth, but he himself said I had a spine of steel. I straightened up.
“Why is it so important to you that I stay here, under yourprotection?”
He didn’t like my sarcastic inflection, and it felt a bit unfair, but I was tired of being sidelined. I could help, I was sure of it. But not stuck in front of a pile of papers.
My goading should have had him bellowing at me, but instead, he snapped his laptop shut and stood, making a show of pulling out his phone to check the time.
“I have to go,” he said, voice tightly controlled.
No goodbye. Certainly, there was no explanation of where he was going. He just locked his computer in his office and left, not even slamming the door. The soft click was worse somehow.
Disappointment overwhelmed me, and I lay my head on the table, my cheek sticking to one of the pictures of a man I had never seen before. I shoved it aside.
What kind of answer was I hoping for? Did I want Kon to confirm he was only using me, or something else? That he could possibly care?
Pulling myself together, I stood up and stretched. Foolish thoughts weren’t going to get me any closer to finding Papa. I stuck my head out the door and asked the guard if he wanted a sandwich, and if so, he could come in and join me in a few minutes.
I didn’t want a sandwich or the guard’s company, but when he declined and said he was getting takeout and would eat it at the desk he had set up in the outer area, I knew I had some time alone to do whatever I wanted.
Right now, I wanted to search the apartment again, riled up for answers that Kon refused to give me. So, I’d find them myself. I started in his bedroom and quickly moved on to the second spare bedroom, where he’d moved most of his work and which was now locked. Even if it didn’t hold any clues, there was one thing I was certain was in there, and I wanted it back.
I knew he had my phone since he found out about the messages I deleted. Finding it could tip everything in my favor. Hell, any phone would change my situation in an instant. I purposely messed with the overly complicated TV remote and called the guard away from his video game to come and fix it for me, then asked if he wanted to join me for a movie.
He barely kept from cracking up at the bizarre suggestion and politely declined, heading back to his post. It was a necessary waste of time to make sure he didn’t stick his head in to check on me, and now I wasn’t sure how long I had before Kon returned. I had to use it wisely and work fast.
My hands were shaking as I found some helpful tools and headed down the hall toward Kon’s makeshift office. Time to put those rusty lockpicking skills to the test again.
Chapter 26 - Konstantin
Why was I protecting her? What was in it for me? I had to get out before I spilled my guts. The answer I wanted to give her was much too close to coming out. How could I tell her anything when I wasn’t certain how I actually felt?
Attracted? Yes. Obsessed? Definitely. Absolutely wild about her? No question there.
But all of that could come crashing down around me if she were working against me.
The fact of the matter was that I couldn’t explain to her or myself, or anyone, why I needed to keep her safe. Yes, need. It was wall-consuming. All of this might have been over by now if I were willing to dangle her as bait or throw her to the wolves.
Not going to happen. I would have burned up under the force that kept me protecting her. She was mine, there was no denying it, even if it ended up tearing me apart.
To keep from reaching for her soft cheek and doing whatever was necessary to erase the hurt in her eyes, I fled the apartment.
Once I was in an anonymous diner somewhere in the heart of Hollywood, far from quickly running home and doing something insane, I did something slightly less insane instead. This second nightmare of Tati’s was the last straw. It was time to get some answers.
Sofiya answered right away since the time difference worked in her favor, and it wasn’t too late in Italy. At first, I pretended I had no reason for calling except to touch base, and she filled me in on her wayward brothers, who she insisted were playing with fire there in Milan.
“Sounds like everything is normal, then.”
After making sure I knew I never took things seriously enough, she asked how I was. “Any new leads on Grigor’s location?” she asked. “It was a shame that our contacts here didn’t know anything.”
“I didn’t expect they would, and I wish you hadn’t bothered them. They can be… touchy about inquiries.”
She laughed. “Oh, could you actually be worried about me for a change of pace?”
“I always worry about you. And I hate that you have to worry about me, but I have a few questions about your old friend Tatiana.”
Sofiya grew serious, asking if I thought Grigor’s daughter was involved. “She was never really a close friend,” she said.
