Page 56 of Lethal Legacy

His face shuts down. “I think she’s told me all she knows.”

“Still.” I take a slightly sadistic pleasure in making him squirm. “Ask her anyway.”

“Boss,” says Dimitry stolidly, but I don’t miss his white knuckles on the steering wheel. It seems my second in charge has got quite the thing for Lucia’s friend. Not that I give a fuck. I’ve got bigger things to worry about.

Much bigger.

“I didn’t want to mention it in the club, where we might be overheard,” I say slowly. “But there’s a chance it isn’t Lucia that pap is chasing. Or should I say, he might be chasing her in the hope of a bigger story.”

Dimitry frowns. “What do you mean?”

“Mercura.”

His head spins toward me as he does the math. He whistles hollowly. “Oh, shit.”

I nod. “Exactly. If Nicky has got wind of Mercura, and has a pet journalist at his disposal, he might be trying to find out more.”

And what better way to find out more than by befriending the broke waitress who’s suddenly been elevated to au pair status inside my home?

It seems unlikely. But then again, Mercura is a game changer. A megaproject that will change everything.

It’s also something that Nicky has been completely shut out of.

I know that keeping Nikolai out of Mercura was the right thing to do, and I’ve made damn sure my security is tighter than MI6. But that doesn’t mean Nikolai hasn’t taken it upon himself to do some digging of his own. And for all that Lance Ryder is a pap, he’s got the kind of look that suggests he might have contacts that go beyond the sewer in which the paparazzi usually swim.

“I sent Nikolai’s lawyers an email advising him that I hired a new au pair,” I tell Dimitry. “It’s standard practice—I keep all the family updated on what measures I’ve taken in relation to the children. I didn’t mention Lucia’s name, only that it was a private arrangement rather than agency organized.”

“And you think Nikolai bothered to check?” Dimitry sounds skeptical. “He’s never shown that kind of interest in the kids before.”

“Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe it was Inger who checked.”

His derisive snort indicates his opinion on the likelihood of Inger taking any more than a cursory interest in her children.

“Either way, with barely six months to release, I’m not risking Mercura. We need to know what this Ryder wants, and why. And then if he requires a bullet between the eyes, we need to take care of it.” I glance sideways at Dimitry, who nods. That isn’t an order that needs any further elaboration.

We drive in silence for a while, and I’m just starting to slip back into filthy fantasies about what I plan to do with Miss Lopez tomorrow night when Dimitry speaks up again.

“Boss?” There’s a certain edge to his voice that makes me fairly certain I’m about to get the benefit of his advice, whether I like it or not.

“What,” I say resignedly, mentally kissing Lucia’s curves a reluctant goodbye.

“First we couldn’t get a background check on Lucia. Now we find out there’s a pap following her.” He shakes his head. “I don’t mean to question your decisions—”

“Then fucking don’t,” I snarl. “I’ve got more security than the Kremlin, and a DNA test on the way. Meanwhile the children arrive in less than twelve hours, and they need a nanny. Until and unless I say otherwise, Lucia Lopez is that nanny. Got it?”

“Loud and clear.”

“Good.”

We make the rest of the trip in silence. The grim line of Dimitry’s mouth, however, says I haven’t heard the last of his views on Miss Lopez.

The worst of it is, I know he’s fucking right.

And despite what I just told him, there isn’t a DNA test on the way. I did think about it. I even called Pavel and asked some questions about running it.

The problem is that DNA searching involves a whole lot of dangers we aren’t set up to handle. Once a test has been run, and matched against others, it leaves a trace. It’s one of the reasons I’m almost pathological about never having my own run.

What if running her DNA leads whoever is hunting Lucia straight to her door?

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