Page 18 of Bound in the Dark

Dianna snorted. “If you think that's being an asshole, we really have kept you too sheltered.”

“Whatever.” Nadya looked around the room, her eyes sparkling with mischief. “Is your boyfriend here?”

Diana shook her head and positioned herself so she could see the room better, but didn’t sit. “Please take this seriously. Something's going on and I don’t like it. Most of these men aren't from your father's Club. If any of them come over don’t say anything, let me handle it. If things get physical you stay behind me no matter what.”

“Aunt Diana, you're being ridiculous,” Nadya whined.

“Promise me or we leave now,” Diana growled.

She didn’t want to scare the girl, but with Tony now heading their way it was likely things weren’t going to go smoothly. All their intel said the men within the Dark Sons' Club were trustworthy but she had no such assurances on the rest of the people here. She felt like a guard dog who had been ordered to protect a small mouse from a room full of feral cats. She was good, but no one person could take odds this bad.

“I'll be good. I swear. I've waited nineteen years to meet my dad. Now that we're here, I don't think my nerves can take waiting another day.”

Diana sighed. Her niece was under a lot of stress and wasn’t used to it. Her own nerves about facing the man she had been seeing for months didn’t help this whole situation. They were so far outside of her comfort zone they might as well be in another country.

In the past she had purposefully avoided situations like this. Her jobs were methodically planned; all alternatives accounted for. Order and preparation ruled her life. Not knowing how Hawk would react at meeting his daughter, or what Highdive would do once he found out she had misrepresented herself were huge wildcards. Throwing in the soldiers from several other organizations and the chaos would be extreme.

That didn’t even take into account the stress that always came from being the only woman in the room. Intellectually people knew that women were the more deadly sex, but practically they were dismissed because of their smaller stature. Usually being underestimated was something she preferred. But here she needed to avoid killing so she couldn’t take advantage of their ignorance.

“Be calm, little rabbit. Your father will come out soon and we can go somewhere safe.”

“You know I hate when Mom calls me that.” Nadya rolled her eyes. “Who's the guy coming over? He’s looking at you like you stole his lunch money.”

“He's someone I know from my day job. Tony doesn’t like me much. Don’t use my name or let him know we are related if you can help it.”

“Okay,Tishina.” The amusement in her niece's voice was overwhelming.

“Actually, how about you just not talk?”

Nadya shrugged and Diana didn't like the look in her eyes. But she didn't have time to deal with it. She needed all of her attention focused on the man approaching with a snarl on his face. She moved to place herself between her niece and the danger.

Most women would have called Tony handsome. He wore an expensive suit that was tailored so well only a practiced eye would notice the guns in holsters at his side. His Italian sharp, dark looks had fooled many women into believing he was a good guy. Until they found out he didn’t understand the word, no.

“Tishina is that you?” Tony practically shouted though he was only ten feet away. “And here I thought my eyes were deceiving me. What is ‘The Silence’ doing away from the bright lights of New York?”

His words were friendly enough but Diana knew them as the lies they were. She crossed her arms not answering with anything but a stare. Anything she said he would twist and try to turn it into a challenge.

He looked over her shoulder and surprise flickered through his eyes. Damn, he had recognized her niece. Nadya had been kept out of the limelight but not hidden. Since they were both from New York City she should have anticipated this

“Is that the Stepanov Princess? I thought you weren't their little guard dog anymore. It shouldn’t surprise me that you're working for them again since you were always such a bitch.”

The man really thought he was hilarious. Diana faked a yawn but kept her eyes locked on him. If this was the best he could do she would easily wait him out until Clean brought back Hawk.

“Go away, no one wants to talk to you.” Nadya’s words were dripping with the haughtiness she had learned from her grandfather.

“Don’t talk to me like that, little girl. I heard your grandfather sold you for a few soldiers and some weapons.” He leered at her. “I also heard you’re a whore just like your mom. Maybe I’ll take you in the back and show you what a real man is like before you're stuck sucking an old man’s cock for the rest of your very short life.”

Tony stepped to the side as if to make a grab at Nadya and Diana stepped with him blocking his access. What she hadn’t expected was that her niece would come flying over her shoulder screaming in rage. The girl managed to tackle the man to the ground with the surprise move. Diana pulled her niece off of Tony with a quick move and shoved her behind her. There were several scratches welling blood on the Italian man’s face.

“Stay behind me,” Diana snarled and faced off against Tony.

The man had come up swinging, and she ducked under the clumsy blow. She kicked out at him forcing him to back away.

Tony’s eyes were filled with hate. “So you can talk, good. Now I’m going to make you scream in pain. Teach you the lesson I've wanted to for years. And then I'm going to do the same to the little whore Princess.”

“I don’t want to have to kill you.” Well, that wasn’t true, but it was always good to give a warning.

They were in an unfamiliar situation. Normally, she would have already pulled a gun and shot the man. But trying to keep the peace was an unfamiliar predicament. So she hesitated, expecting Tony to keep things within the bounds of a non-lethal confrontation.

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