Page 60 of Twilight Sins

“Obviously,” he huffs. “The compound is the safest place in the damn city. Yet another reason you don’t usually bring people here. Especially people who question you and send you off in the middle of the night to beat up their ex-boyfriends.”

I grit my teeth. “Don’t waste your time following me.”

He grins, pointing to his eyes and ears. “I was doing my job.”

Fuck. I didn’t want Nik to find out about my little rendezvous with Benjy. Mostly because I knew he’d look at me exactly like he is right now.

“And I was doing mine,” I bark. “I was making sure the people under my Bratva’s protection are fully protected.”

“Okay, but if she was anyone else, she wouldn’t be under your protection at all. You would’ve kicked her out of your house the second she started asking questions. Actually, she wouldn’t have been in your house in the first place.”

“Good point.” I jab a finger toward the door. “Goodbye, Nik.”

He ignores my command and leans forward, palms on my desk. “It’s fine if you’re into her. Great, even. It’s good for you to loosen up a bit. But as your eyes and ears, I need to know if this thing between you all is serious.”

“As your pakhan, I don’t need to explain shit to you.”

“I have someone watching her apartment, but if you two are an item, I need to arrange way more protection. If she’s your woman, every major player in the city will have a target on her back. She needs to be guarded like a queen.”

The image of Luna in a crown—only a crown—doesn’t do a damn thing to clear my head.

“She’s not my fucking anything,” I hiss. “If you spent as much time following up on leads about Akim as you do following me around the city, we’d have the Gustev Bratva under our thumb by now.”

Hurt flashes across my brother’s face before he holds up his hands. “Yeah. Fine. If you’ve left me anything to do, I’ll get right to it, boss.”

“Boss” should be a sign of respect, but I know Nik better than that. I just reminded him of his place in the hierarchy and he’s not loving it.

Join the club. He and Luna would have a lot to talk about. Too bad I have no plans to leave them alone in the same room together anytime soon.

Nik leaves with his tail between his legs and a thumb drive of information I’ve been piecing together. It’s a peace offering that ruins my plans to stay in my office for the rest of the afternoon. With nothing else to do, I wander into the kitchen.

It’s after lunch, but I never even had breakfast. I kick on the espresso maker and turn around to find Luna standing just behind me.

She’s in a pair of worn jeans and a cropped pink tee. My eyes flash to the strip of tanned skin visible just above her waistband. Then I sidestep her and reach for a mug. “If you’re trying to get me back for scaring you earlier, you’ll have to try harder than that.”

“I’d never waste my energy. You probably have a tracker hidden on me somewhere. I bet it buzzed and let you know I was coming.”

“You find your way into whatever room I’m in. No tracker necessary.”

“Some of us aren’t reclusive creatures with no need for human contact.” She sees the mug in my hand and goes a bit starry-eyed. “Or coffee. That’s why I’m here, anyway. For coffee.”

I don’t believe her for a second. She’s bored out of her mind. Bored enough that she is willing to talk to me even though I know she’s still mad about earlier.

I gave her my mom’s old garden patch, but Luna would rather have answers. The longer she sticks around, the more I wish I could tell her. But I won’t put her at risk. When she leaves my world behind, I want it to be a clean break. I want her to be safe.

I grab a second mug. “What’s your poison?”

“No poison at all, to be clear. I only say that since I’m sure you have a cabinet of actual poison tucked away somewhere,” she says. “But a cappuccino is fine.”

“Is a cappuccino what you want?”

“I just said it’s fine.”

I turn to face her. “That wasn’t my question.”

She rolls her eyes. “What I want is a white mocha with two shots of espresso and caramel sauce, but since this mansion was built without a coffee shop inside—huge oversight, by the way—a cappuccino will be fine.”

I turn back to the machine. “That sounds disgusting.”

---