Page 51 of The Enemy Protector
The answer hits hard.
He’s been watching me.
Which means he’s either protecting me or orchestrating this.
Creating the danger so I run straight into his hands.
I scan the area, looking for Gregor. He should have been here by now. He should have pulled me into a car and gotten me out of here the second the shooting started.
Where the hell is he?
I consider running. Just disappearing into the crowd before Sergei arrives. I could call my father’s men. Get extracted. Lock myself in the house and figure this out.
But a voice in my head—the same instinct that told me to get down at the first shot—tells me to stay.
“Miss Baranova?”
I whip around, my hand automatically reaching into my purse for my lipstick.
It’s him. The man from the park. The one who helped when Anton got hit. The one who vanished before I could ask his name.
He’s standing a few feet away, hands visible, body loose like he doesn’t want to spook me.
“How do you know my name?”
“Sergei sent me,” he says.
That can’t be right. It’s been less than a minute. “Bullshit.”
“He told me to keep you safe. You just talked to him on the phone, right?”
That makes no sense.
“He’ll be here soon. We should get you inside.”
“You were already here,” I murmur, more to myself.
“I was.”
My stomach turns as realization dawns. He’s been following me. For how long? How did I never see him? How many others?
“Who are you?”
“My name’s Nelson. I work for Mr. Sokolov. You’re not safe out here.”
“I’m not safe anywhere, apparently.”
“That’s true,” he says without hesitation. “But you’re less safe standing on a sidewalk where someone just pulled out a gun and shot people. Shot at you.”
He’s right. I hate that.
“How do I know you’re not here to finish the job?”
“If I were here to kill you, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. I’ve had plenty of opportunities.” He says it without ego or threat. Just stating truth.
That should terrify me. Instead, it’s almost reassuring. If he’s been watching me—if Sergei has had people watching me—and I’m still alive, then they’re not the threat.
Or they’re playing a very long game.
