Page 71 of Viper’s Reign

I shift uncomfortably in my seat, making Noah glance at me, but he says nothing until we’re passing through the estate gate and rolling by Aleksei’s house—one he barely uses, unlike Mira’s or mine. This estate is private, reserved for my family alone: my siblings, our mother. No one else is allowed past the security at the gate.

“What are you going to do with Grace?”

None of your business sits right on my tongue, but I swallow it down. Noah can be like a dog with a bone. Better to give him a little nugget than deal with the nagging. “Get information out of her.”

“By fucking her?” There’s censure in his tone, and I turn a glare on him. “We don’t hurt women, yeah, I get that—but this is beyond normal circumstances. She tried to kill you, and you’re being soft with her.”

Soft. “Tread carefully, Noah.” My voice drops, edged with warning.

His eyes flash, but he goes quiet, whatever else he wants to say kept firmly to himself.

Good.

We pull into my driveway in charged silence, and I’m out of the car the second it stops, striding up the front steps and into the house.

I meet Anya in the living room. She points at the open door leading to the back garden. “The lady is taking a swim.” My heart gives a sharp, stupid jolt, and suddenly all I want to do is go out there, join her in the pool, and grab her by the throat as I kiss the living daylights out of her.

Soft. I scoff. Nothing about what I feel toward her is soft. But I understand what Noah meant. I’ve never been particularly gentle with any woman I’ve been involved with—and none of them have ever come close to taking me out.

My fists clench. “Keep her in your sight at all times,” I tell Anya curtly before heading upstairs to my study.

I drop into the chair behind my desk and squeeze my eyes shut for a moment, exhaling slowly. I am trying to get information out of Grace, and I will get what I want, unconventional method or not.

I boot up my laptop and pull up Specter. Her file is still open, waiting. I’ve already dug up enough to know where to press—a little more time with her, and she’ll be telling me everything.

I minimize the tab and type Levi Williams into the search field. That fucker should surface within twenty-four hours. Less, if I’m lucky.

Next, I fire off a short text to Kyle, reminding him I’m still waiting on Ghostbridge without mentioning the software by name. Half the payment is already wired, the rest is sitting in escrow until he delivers.

Only then do I allow my thoughts to drift back to Grace.

My cock stirs semi-hard as I make my way back downstairs and out toward the pool. One look, and I’m fully erect, watching her lithe figure slice through the water with effortless rhythm, her wet hair fanning out behind her in a deeper shade of red.

Fuck.

I signal to Anya and the men in the backyard, and they clear out without a word, leaving us alone.

27

GRACE

Lungs burning, I break the surface, dragging in a deep gulp of much-needed air. I wipe the water from my eyes and turn toward Anya with a grin. “Did you see that?”

But Anya is gone.

Dimitri is standing at the edge of the pool, watching me with hooded eyes. It’s ridiculous how my body reacts to him now—like it’s been trained to respond, like his presence alone is a touch.

After meeting him, I remember wondering if it was possible to fall for someone within forty-eight hours. Now I’m realizing maybe it wasn’t love at all, just insanely good chemistry.

“Yes, solnyshko, I saw that,” he answers my question, even though it wasn’t directed at him. “Where did you learn to swim?”

Solnyshko. I’ve been pondering that word since Anya told me what it means: little sun. He went from calling me little flame to little sun—the English equivalent, apparently, of sunshine. I frown, unsure what to make of that upgrade.

My neck aches from craning back to look at him, so I turn properly in his direction, treading water to stay afloat. “There was a community pool not far from the home I grew up in. The lifeguards there taught all of us.”

He gives a small nod, like he already knew. Of course he did.

He moves to the wicker chaise where Anya left my towel, picks it up, then brings it to the edge of the pool, holding it out. The gesture is simple, but my pulse spikes anyway, heat curling low in my belly.