Page 88 of Lord of Passion

"The Lyric uses our security team," he says. "I'll send Kolya over there with some of his tech guys to see what he can find out."

"Thank you, that would be very sweet," I say. "I'm not comfortable not being able to see what's going on. We have an excellent reputation for safety with no dramatic blowouts as of yet. I'd like to keep it that way."

"You'll save those for home?" Nikandr says, his voice deepening and I cross my arm miserably over my erect nipples. "Tonight, when I get you in bed, you can have all the flare ups and violence that you like."

"Okay, I have to go back to work," I stammer. "Or take a long, cold shower. I'm not sure." My husband is a complete dick and he laughs at me.

"I'll call you later, baby," he promises.

At four pm, there's a complaint from one of the guests that her necklace was stolen while she was checking in this morning. Ninety percent of the time when a guest claims something was stolen, it's lost in their luggage or someone who's traveling with them stole it. Rolling my eyes, I scroll back on the lobby security feed around that time and watch the employees and the guest movements closely. The quality sucks.

"I hope to god Kolya can get this thing fixed…" I mumble. My finger freezes when a tall man with a black ponytail walked into the lobby. His face is shadowed by his hat. "There's a lot of guys with black hair and ponytails." I try to reason with myself, but my pulse is speeding up. I send the feed back-and-forth, back-and-forth, and back-and-forth again, watching how he walks, switching to the front desk camera when his assistant checked in for him.

He lounged in one of the chairs by the fireplace while he waited. The man with him wasn't one of the creeps I recognize from his decaying haunted mansion, but that doesn't mean anything. The assistant walked over to the man, nodding deferentially and they both headed to the elevator.

My hand is shaking as I hit the feed on the elevator. They were talking. I don't have audio in the elevator, unfortunately, butthey were both chuckling. The shitty image quality means I can't see which floor they stepped off on and I grab the phone, calling the front desk.

"Angelica, who was on front desk duty today around 7 am?"

"I was," she says. "And Kevin."

"Do you remember a man hanging out by the lobby fireplace while his assistant checked in for him? Tallish, black ponytail, had his head sort of shaded by a cap?"

"Oh, I remember him," she says. "Only because Kevin kept going on and on about how hot his assistant was, and he was pretty sure that he was flirting with him when he checked in."

"Give me the suite numbers." My hand is shaking.

"2306 and 2307 across the hall," she says, her tone changing. "Did we do something wrong?"

"Absolutely not," I try to sound calm. "He may not be authorized here. Do what you can to get a decent shot of the two and give it to the security guards. Ask them to start looking for him and his assistant."

"Right away," her voice is shaking. "Is this serious?"

"As of now, it's just a suspicion," I assure her, trying to calm her down. "Just have them start sweeping the hotel."

I hang up, running my hands over my face. Then, I realize I am about to try to handle this all by myself, as usual. Grabbing my cell phone, I call Nikandr, breathing in a sigh of relief that he picks up immediately.

"Missing me already?" I want to appreciate his smooth tone when he's teasing me, but my heart is pounding hard enough that I barely hear him.

"Okay, look. I –" Standing up, I walk over to my windows, eyes searching the street. "I don't want to start something if I'm wrong, but I have a suspicion that Johann checked into the Lyric this morning. I have the guards out searching for him, but the pictures we have are terrible. There was just something about how he walked, and the black ponytail. I could swear it's him."

"What are the suite numbers?" His tone sharpens. I tell him, and I can hear him stand up and then a door slams. “Screenshot the best images you have of the two of them and then send it to me. I'll put them out to the entire security department. I'll be there in..." He checks his watch. "Fifteen minutes."

"I could be wrong, but have a terrible feeling I'm right. Why the hell would he check into the Lyric? Isn't it like ringing the dinner bell, knowing the entire kitchen staff is going to come at you with razor sharp cleavers?"

"Call Isaak and Rafail into your office. You do not go anywhere without both of them. Do you hear me?"

"Understood," I say, feeling grateful and a little embarrassed about it. I should be displeased with his high-handed approach, but I really need strong people with guns and an excellent aim around me right now.

"I love you," he says, his voice dipping slightly "I willnotlet anything happen to you."

I'm struck with a feeling of inevitability. My father couldn't stop what happened to him and Mom. I couldn't stop my idiot brothers from betraying Liria. Sometimes, there's nothing you can do but watch it all fall down around you.

"I know." I force a smile. "And I love you, too. Don't forget the next time we have a fight."

His chuckle is strained, I can hear hustle and bustle around him, so he's moving through the halls of Morozov Global. "I won't.I will see you soon."

As we hang up, I feel it. A little twitch in my ganglia, I've honed it over the years spent in the hospitality industry. Something bad is about to happen. Maybe just a guest melting down or a power outage.