Page 54 of Luka

She closes her mouth and lowers her head. Her blushing cheeks ease my suspicion, bringing my coiled shoulders back down. I say the realization out loud.

“You want me to protect you.”

Her blush deepens as she wraps her arms around herself. “I just need a place to lay low for a little while.”

“My apartment is not the place I want anyone to find a cartel princess.”

Her eyes lift to mine. “Then tell me where to hide.Please, you know this city.Please.”

I pull my gaze away with a roll of my neck and try not to imagine her playing me. Somehow, this conversation has turned from me killing her to me helping her, and it’s another example of how successful she is at taking over my brain, like a fucking parasite. Is it intentional? Is she a sly vixen or am I just an idiot?

I should’ve chosen you.

Did she purposefully say that to get in my head, to lay the foundation of this manipulation?

Heat rises to the surface of my skin, but I let it fade. She’s just scared. She couldn’t fake the fear I felt when my body was pressed against hers, her lips hesitantly parting for me. If this is all an act, it would be a damn good one.

“What about Arseni’s motel room?” she asks, her voice low, uncertain. “Is he… I mean, he doesn’t live there, right? Maybe I could stay there, at least for tonight?”

“They’ll check the motels.”

“Then…” She stares off, her face pinched with worry while she thinks. It’s useless. There isn’t a spot in Vegas safe from a cartel with enough motivation to find someone.

But I do know one place no one would ever look.

I bring my hand to my jaw and stroke while the Petrov mansion comes into my mind, armed with guards, cameras, set outside Vegas and remote enough no one would be likely to stumble across it.

“Did you tell your boyfriend about me and Arseni?” I ask.

Lucia hesitates. Not a good sign.

“I told him I was taken and held by two men. I sensed something was wrong before I got around to saying your names, so he doesn’t know anything.”

“Did youdescribeme?”

“I didn’t even say your name. How could I have had time to?—”

“Did you tell him I was Russian?”

At that, she stares off, thinking. “I implied that you were American,” she says, blinking. “I said to him, ‘you were right, American men are dangerous.’ I said nothing about you being Russian.”

I watch her carefully, searching for the lie. I don’t see it, but that only makes me look harder. If she’s telling me the truth, then this could work. If she’s lying… Hell could rise.

It’s a minute before I’m satisfied.

“I’m gonna make you a deal, Peach,” I say carefully, my mind revolting against the idea while excitement zaps through me at the same time. “I do know a place I can take you where you’ll be safe for a little while, and to be honest, I’m a little frightened at the consequence for killing a cartel princess anyway.”

She sighs with relief, then asks. “What’s the deal?”

I sit up straighter and watch her face carefully before speaking, watch for any sign that she might be untrustworthy. But of course she is. Everyone is.

“I’ll protect you… But only on the condition that if you are ever found, you do not mention Arseni’s name. If someone insists that there were two men, say the other one was my brother, Leo. But leave Arseni out of it.”

As intently as I’m studying her, watching for some hint of deceit, she watches me right back with curiosity.

“You’re fine if I sayyourname?”

I lift a shoulder. “Somebody is going to have to pay for what we did to you. It was my fault, so it might as well be me.”

---