Page 37 of The Enemy's Defector
But how safe would that even be?
If I could go with Nik to his family, if I could be welcomed there where I could raise my baby, would it even be safer than this?
Or should I go for good? Run away and start a new life on my own, far from him and all of this drama and violence?
I lowered my gaze, afraid he’d see how close I was to tears at that idea. I had no one. I had nothing. My father was killed. My uncle ruined the organization.
I couldn’t bear the thought of never seeing Nik again.
Nowhere seemed safe, and I dreaded the possibility that for the sake of my life and that of my baby’s, I would need to leave him and strike out truly on my own.
16
NIKOLAI
Katerina and I were getting along better. With the sexual tension addressed and no longer an oppressive sticking point between us, we were more at peace to talk more. And there was a lot to cover.
When she got out her laptop, I watched as she hacked into more security cameras at my family’s building. All seemed well, but I was confused about why I couldn’t see much of Damon.
Or this maid that Katerina sent to marry him or Saul. Saul was there, looking as normal as possible.
“Do you know what happened to that maid?” I asked her as she settled in to check on my family.
“Lucy? No. I… I don’t know. Maybe she already divorced Damon?” She shrugged, glancing at me. “Because there’s not many views of him but there are of Saul.”
“Well, it’s not like you have access to the cameras on Damon’s floor.” The private levels of my apartment and those of my family members’ weren’t accessible through the way she was hacking.
“I know. But…” She cringed. “I can’t imagine her still being there after a month. With Damon?” She glanced at me again, skeptical.
I shrugged. Stranger things had happened. Except for Maxim, who had already fallen for Sloane and was happy to be engaged to her, all of us brothers were allergic to the idea of committing to a woman. Because of our mother’s deception and betrayal, we had grown up assuming no woman could be trusted.
And look at you.
I smiled at Katerina focusing on her computer screen. The tip of her tongue rested at the corner of her mouth. With those plump lips parted, she showed me her telltale—and sexy-as-fuck—sign of deep concentration.
I’d always trusted her. As a child. A teenager. An adult. Katerina had always been in my life, but it was the constraints of our families becoming enemies that stood as the biggest obstacle. I’d never been free to claim her or to state how I felt about her. When Maxim and my father ever pressed me about what was going on between me and Katerina, I’d feel obligated to hedge answering. I’d give them vague nonanswers as a reply, caught with this desire and drawn to her without knowing how or when I could ever act on it.
I had now.
That night she helped look into my father’s poisoning, we’d crossed a boundary between acquaintances to lovers.
After so many days and nights with her in my arms at this safehouse, I couldn’t imagine not having her in my life.
And now I can.
Since she’d run from Anton and defied him, she should be welcomed into my life. Her actions had proven that she wasn’t an enemy or spy.
Right?
I didn’t need to convince myself. It was Maxim, my father, even my grandmother who I’d need to persuade to let her into my family.
“Everything looks stable,” she commented after a while of looking through surveillance. “Doesn’t it?”
Previewing multiple surveillance feeds didn’t paint a full picture, though. “I hope.”
“How long do you plan to stay hidden?” she asked, facing me with the first direct look since she got her computer out.
“I’m not sure.” I hated to admit it, too. I had no real plan, no strategy that I could stand behind. All this time I’d been making my case to her of how badly I wanted her, I wasn’t focusing on finding the person who’d hired my kidnapping.
