Page 33 of Power's Fall

“What was the point of that, then?” Montana asked.

“Extortion,” Dahlia said slowly. “I’ve run into situations like this before. Where local authorities expect to be paid to ‘protect’ you, but in reality, you’re paying them to leave you alone as they’re the most likely threat.”

Vadisk nodded. “I think it was probably something along those lines, except I’m not sure they’re actually authorities.”

“We need to find out about the Crimean Security Force,” Dahlia said.

“Working on it,” Vadisk agreed.

Montana looked troubled. “That makes sense, but what if they were planning worse than that? What if they were planning to kidnap Dahlia?”

“Kidnapping and ransom.” Dahlia grimaced, more in irritation than fear. As the daughter of people with money, and the daughter of an ambassador, she’d had training since the time she was young on what to do if she was kidnapped.

“I want justice for my great-uncle, but not at the cost of our safety,” Montana said. “Maybe it’s time to abort the mission.”

Dahlia swallowed her protest, nodding to Montana and then looking at Vadisk.

His jaw muscles were visibly tight as he looked from her to Montana and back. “We can’t. It’s not just the blackmail. We have to figure out how the blackmailer knows about the Masters’ Admiralty.” Vadisk shook his head. “No. We stay. For now. But as of this moment, you have to obey me.”

Dahlia felt her brows creep up in surprise at his words, and a little shiver of arousal worked its way down her back. Okay, she could get into this…

“I cannot touch you.” Vadisk’s words were low and rough. “And you two need to be better about presenting yourself as a couple. You need to touch. Kiss. But you cannot touch me, and I cannot touch you.”

Dahlia’s stomach flipped, even as her heart sank. She was forbidden to touch one of her husbands.

“In the privacy of the villa…” Montana gestured around them. “We both swept for bugs and cameras.”

“No. It’s too high risk. If I touch you when we’re alone, I might start to think of you as mine.”

“Weareyours,” Dahlia said softly.

A new awareness wove through the air, creating invisible threads that linked the three of them, a web that bound them in the trinity, stronger than any dual relationship could ever be.

“No.” Vadisk’s gaze slid from her face down her body to her bare feet. Then his attention jumped to Montana, and this time he started at the feet, working his way up to Montana’s face. “Not yet.”

That statement hung heavy between them.

Montana moved over to the bar where Dahlia sat. Their gazes met, and an unspoken understanding passed between them. This trinity had already felt like a duo, plus Vadisk. They’d wanted to fix that, but now…

Now they were forbidden from touching him, and had to touch one another.

“We’re supposed to visit Buran-Kaya III in the morning, but I can email Dr. Cholak and cancel,” Montana said.

“No, we need to continue with our planned itinerary.” Dahlia looked at each of them in turn. “I had to submit it with the visa applications, so any deviation, especially on our second full day, will be noted.”

“But we also need to start talking to resort staff,” Montana said.

The plan had been to go up to the hotel restaurant for dinner. “I know, but given what just happened, I think we should stay here tonight. Remember, I requested an interview with the resort owner or manager before we came, but never got anything firm.”

“That might have been a mistake, let the blackmailer know we’re looking at them.”

Dahlia shook her head. “I sent dozens of emails to different people all over the country during the planning process.”

Montana rolled his shoulders. “I’ll order us dinner.”

Vadisk scrubbed his face with his hands. “Tomorrow we keep our heads down and stick to the itinerary.”

Everyone nodded.

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