Page 173 of Marrying My Ex's Brother
I turn toward the car. My hands still smell of gunpowder and blood. My suit is dirty. There’s a burn mark along one sleeve where a bullet came too close. None of that matters.
And now that I know what that feels like, I understand one thing with absolute clarity.
This city can burn before I let anything touch her.
26
ANYA
The house goesinto lockdown less than an hour after Yaromir leaves.
No one says lockdown.
No one has to.
It happens quietly at first. A guard appears outside the breakfast room. Then another near the main staircase. The front doors are closed and bolted from the inside. Men move through the hallways with clipped voices and weapons tucked beneath their jackets. The staff disappears into corners, speaking in whispers.
By the time Nina comes to take me to the library, I already know something is wrong.
“Madam,” she says, careful and polite as always, “Mr. Volkov has asked that you stay away from the windows.”
My stomach tightens. “Why?”
Her expression doesn’t change. Everyone in this house is trained not to react.
“Just a precaution.”
“A precaution against what?”
She lowers her eyes. “Please come with me.”
The library is on the west side of the house, with tall shelves, heavy curtains, and a fireplace that hasn’t been lit. Two guards stand outside the door. Another waits near the window, watching the grounds through a narrow gap in the curtain.
Nina brings tea.
I don’t drink it.
I sit on the edge of a leather chair with my hands clasped in my lap, trying not to imagine every possible thing that could have happened. Yaromir went to inspect a warehouse. That’s all he told me. A warehouse fire. Damage. Men injured.
But the house doesn’t lock itself down because of a fire.
Something else has happened.
Something worse.
Nina sets a small plate of biscuits near me. “You should eat something.”
I look at the plate. “I can’t.”
“You said the same thing at breakfast and still ate half the fruit.”
I blink at her. There’s no humor on her face, but I realize, after a second, that she’s trying to distract me.
It almost works.
“Has this happened before?” I ask.
Nina stills. That’s answer enough.
