Page 67 of Fallen Roses

“Fuck, James, that was the longest one yet.” She gasps as I roll to the side and drag her head to my chest, my eye catching the television screen that has changed from the movie we were watching to the national news.

“Fuck!”

I reach for the remote as she lifts her head and says, “What?”

“I’m not sure.”

I press the volume and we both sit up and stare in horror at the image of Charles and Adele Kenricky that fills the huge screen.

“It has been reportedthat Governor Kenricky was traveling home from a rally with his wife Adele and was involved in a fatal crash.”

“Oh my god!” Ana gasps as they fill us in.

“A tanker was traveling in the opposite lane of the highway near the turn off for their estate and the driver reports that the governor’s car was moving on the wrong side of the road. He had nowhere to go, and they collided, the governor’s car spinning off the road and falling down a steep embankment before bursting into flames. The driver alerted the authorities, but by the time the firefighters and law enforcement got there, there was nothing left but the shell of the car. Two bodies were removed and await identification but an eye witness saw the couple leaving the rally together. The driver of the truck was shaken but unhurt, and is currently helping the police with their enquiries.

“James!”

Ana turns and the shock in her eyes mirrors that in my heart and she whispers, “Are you okay?”

I nod, for some reason my emotions numb as I stare at the image of the woman who will always bethe monster under my bed and starring in my nightmares.

Ana looks away and reaches for her phone and as she scrolls through the notifications, I notice her fingers trembling.

“What is it?” I ask, my gaze flicking to the screen at the pictures of the couple through the years before cutting to the scene where a burned-out car is still smoldering as they interview the chief of the fire service.

“It’s nothing.” She takes a deep breath and returns her gaze to the screen and whispers, “And then there were three.”

I make to speak, but she removes the remote from my hand and the screen goes blank and she turns to me and says with concern, “How are you feeling?”

I think about it for a second and discover I feel nothing at all and shrug. “It’s a relief if I’m honest.”

“Good.”

She smiles but I note the hardening of her expression and the grim set to her lips and as she reaches for my hand, she says softly, “Perhaps now is the ideal time for you to meet my mother.”

“I don’t understand.”

She turns and smiles and reaching up, trails a finger down my face and says softly, “That office you wanted to open in Moscow. I think we should go and make it happen.”

“Now–but –”

She shrugs. “The apartment won’t be ready for a fewmonths and neither will my offices. We have time to head home to Russia to pay a visit before returning when we’re needed.”

“And if I say no.” I raise my eyes and she grins.

“You could try, but then you wouldn’t get to torture me by withholding my orgasms because I’m going, anyway.”

“When are we leaving?”

I push her down onto the sheets that are already bearing the mark of our marathon session and hold her wrists above her head with one hand as I trail my other hand down her flushed skin.

“As soon as the Romanov jet gets here.” She groans, arching her body toward mine.

“Is it a request, or an order?”

I nod toward her phone and she laughs softly. “Both.”

As I lean down and kiss her deeply, I couldn’t give a fuck where we are as long as we’re there together.

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