Page 54 of Tangled Souls

“I know you want to be at the warehouse. Admitting it isn’t a bad thing,” I tell him honestly.

“No,” he shakes his head, “I need to be right here with you.”

I cup his jaw with my hands and search his eyes. It’s so obvious what he needs, but he thinks taking it will let me down. He’s wrong.

“You want to go and get answers?” His nod is hesitant. “You don’t want to leave me,” I don’t state it like a question, but he nods anyway. “Then there’s only one solution.”

He looks confused. It’s kind of adorable.

I would never underestimate this man. He is power personified and dangerous as hell. He’s also smart and capable. Which makes it all the more amusing when he doesn’t understand something.

“Take me with you,” I state the obvious, my words measured.

“No fucking way,” he snarls.

With my head tilted to the side, I study him. I wish my ribs weren’t aching right now because I know what would calm him down. But now isn’t the time for that.

The only thing that is going to help him cope is if he’s in the midst of the action, and the only action right now is the questioning of the security detail that was on tonight. He has questions. They, hopefully, have answers.

“Kirill,” my voice is stern, “it’s the only way for you to be involved right now. You agreed that you don’t want to leave me, but you want to be there. You are a lot of things, but you are still incapable of being in two places at one time.”

“I could have Huck hook up some sort of video feed,” he suggests, clearly mulling over the situation.

With an unladylike snort, I wave my hand dismissively. “Like that will be enough for you. Look at you,” I accuse gently, “you’re about thirty seconds away from losing your shit.” I stand up gingerly and nod toward the door. “It’s time to get moving if you don’t want to miss anything. By the time we get there, they will have them warmed up and we won’t have to wait long for answers.”

The moment Kirill’s shoulders slump, I know I have him right where I want him. Do I like manipulating the man? Not really,but I also am woman enough to admit it gives me a little sick thrill. He’s not the kind of man to be led around by his nose, but he’d follow me into hell just to make sure I’m not too cold.

When he doesn’t move fast enough, I level him with a look and warn, “Don’t continue to underestimate me and what I can handle. If I didn’t feel up to going, I wouldn’t have suggested it and would have simply gone up to bed while allowing you to stew in your indecision alone.”

“Fuck,” he groans as he looks up at the ceiling like he’s praying for patience, “you’re a fucking pain in my ass,Solnishko.”

“You say the nicest things,” I sass him.

I slap his ass as I walk past him toward the front door. When he jolts, I giggle softly, making sure not to aggravate my ribs too much. They do hurt, but I’m not going to show weakness to anyone. Not tonight when there is still more work to do.

The ride to the warehouse is quiet. I realize just how much my men are letting me in, how much trust they are putting in me. They’ll never know how much I appreciate it.

While they might forget from time to time, they don’t look at me like some weak woman. They treat me like an equal. I’m just an equal they feel the need to protect. I can respect that.

An ominous feeling settles in my gut the moment we arrive, and Kirill leads me into the cavernous interior. We don’t stop until we head through a door, down a set of stairs, and into a large room. Hidden away from prying eyes, it is exactly what I expected.

It’s clear everything in the room is designed to be thoroughly cleaned. The lingering scent of bleach makes my stomach flip. Keeping my face set in a neutral mask isn’t easy, but I manage.

The men who were working security for the event, the same ones who were supposed to maintain the perimeter, are strapped to chairs set-up in a semicircle around a drain which could only have one purpose. When I step into the room with Kirill at my back, every set of eyes lock onto me.

Huck and Baker look surprised to see me. Maxim along with Wolfe and his guys all have smirks on their faces like they were expecting us. They probably were.

Baker’s the first one to move toward me. The moment he’s close enough, his hands shoot out and wrap around my waist. His touch is gentle and full of caring as he tugs me closer to him and wraps me up in his strong arms.

“What are you doing here?” The question is murmured against my hair as he buries his nose there and takes a deep breath.

“Kirill needs answers,” I whisper back. “He was pacing like a fucking lion. It had me on edge so I convinced him to bring me down here so we could both get the answers we need.”

Baker sighs, but I’m not sure if it’s because he’s annoyed or understands. I’ll take either at this point. It’s not like it changes anything.

“We were just getting started,” he tells me.

I nod against his chest and then take a step back. When he looks down at me, I arch an eyebrow in question. The breath he blows out tells me he knows exactly what I’m asking and is not happy about it.

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