Page 21 of Crave

It irritates me that I had to leave her. “No. I had to abandon her in her time ofneed,Niki. Why am I here?”

He runs his fingers through his hair, and I catch a glint of a ring.

No way.

“I need your help breaking the news to her.” He looks down at his cup of coffee. “I did a thing.” The gold band on his hand clinks against the cup.

“Have you told Lara?”

He twists it with his thumb. “Not yet, I will.”

“You know how much it hurt her with you going back to Russia? I keep her safe, now you go and upset her again.”

“We didn’t mean to.”

I stand up quickly, knocking the flimsy chair over. “I’ll look after her, don’t worry.”

Stomping away from him, I barely have the patience to wait for the glass doors to open, so barrel through the manual one on the side.

Only on the streets of Vegas can a green haired clown hang out in the same spot every day without getting in trouble.

The same one seems like it lives in front of Mikhail’s casino.

Sometimes Lara giggles at his antics.

That’s what I need. She has to laugh.

I push through the small crowd that is always gathered around him and grab his arm.

“Buddy. Do you do birthday parties?”

CHAPTER 9

LARA

Which ones do I bring?My open toed sandals, or my flip flops?

Both. Why not?

It’s not like anyone is going to see me. Or wants to.

I still can’t believe Mikhail hid something so important from me for so long. I thought I meant more to him?

He’s my brother!

It makes me want to scream and shake him. If only he wasn’t so huge. I doubt I could budge him.

My bag has rollers that thrum across the tiles as I head into the living room.

And almost run directly into Alexei.

His silver tooth shows in a wide grin and he holds out a large bouquet of roses.

“What is this for?” Doubt tinges my words.

The last time he showed up with flowers, it was because he “borrowed” my Audi then “accidently” drove it into a pond at a golf course.

At least he paid for all of the repairs.

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