Page 121 of The Enemy Protector
“I don’t know how to be happy,” I admit. “I don’t even know what that would feel like.”
There’s sadness in his eyes.
“Your mother would hate seeing you like this,” he says softly.
The mention of my mother makes my throat tight.
“Apparently, my mother wanted me to stay alive. She asked him to keep me safe.”
He frowns. “How do you know this?”
“He told me. I believe him. He’s been watching me for years.”
“I know. I suspected it was Elena who put him on you.”
“You knew Sergei was watching me?”
He smirks. “I knew. And his other men. Always rotating. But I knew.”
“You never told me.”
He shrugs. “He never crossed a line.”
“Have you heard from Gregor?”
“Cyka!”
I smile. “I take it that means he did set me up to be killed.”
“He’s not a problem for you to worry about anymore.”
Dead.
That’s what he doesn’t say.
I should probably feel sad, but I don’t.
“What do I do, Anton? I can’t trust anyone. You are the only person I can trust. Please tell me you’re still with me.”
“Always.”
“I have no idea what I’m doing.” My voice breaks.
“You made the right move,” he says. “Marrying Sokolov.”
“Really?”
“Don’t ask me to be his friend, but I know he’ll keep you safe. This business with Yuri is not over. Your mother knew he was the right man for the job. He was on the outside and didn’t have to answer to your father.”
“How did my mother know Sergei?”
He waves off the question. Why does no one want to tell me what that relationship was?
“Tell me something about her.” The words come out desperate. “Something I don’t know. Please.”
He leans back in his chair, wincing slightly at the movement.
“She used to sneak down to the kitchen at night,” he says. “Around midnight. She’d make herself tea and sit at the table reading romance novels.”
