Page 165 of Savage Hearts
Crap, not this broken record again.“Yeah, I keep hearing that. What’s happening?”
“May I come in?”
I step aside and let him into the room. He goes straight to Sloane and gives her a hug and a kiss, then brushes a thumb over her cheek, gazing tenderly down at her. It looks like he’s about to start spouting poetry.
I throw my arms into the air. “Any day now!”
He turns to me with Sloane tucked under his arm. “Do you want the good news or the bad news first?”
I look at Sloane. “Does he not know his life is in danger?”
She wraps her arms around his waist and gazes up at him. “You should probably just get straight to it, honey. I like you better without stab marks all over your body.”
He shrugs. “All right, if you insist. Malek is the new head of the Russian Bratva.”
That leaves me breathless.
So there it is. The reason Mal wanted me out of Russia.
I recall his hypothetical question about keeping somethingprecious close though it would be dangerous and wish I’d bashed a pan over his head to force him to talk to me.
A mistake I’ll never make again.
Shaking off the tidal wave of emotion that’s threatening to overpower me, I say, “What happened to Pakhan?”
Declan lifts a brow. “What do you know about Pakhan?”
“That he makes questionable fashion choices, including wearing real fur and pinkie rings. What happened to him?”
Declan lifts his other brow, so now he’s staring at me in open astonishment. “You met him?”
“Yeah. We had dinner together. He’s really sweet.What happened to him?”
“He has cancer. He’s decided to make Malek his protégé.”
Cancer. Oh, no. He was so nice to me.Thinking of our dinner, I say absently, “You mean successor.”
“Excuse me?”
“A protégé is in the process of training. A successor takes over where someone leaves off.”
Sloane says, “She has a thing for words. Just keep going.”
“That’s it.”
Pulling myself together, I say, “What’s the good news?”
He gets a mysterious glint in his eye, like he has a secret. “How do you know that wasn’t the good news?”
I look at Sloane.
She says, “Seriously, honey. Look at that face. You’re taking your life in your hands.”
“Thank you, sis.”
She smiles at me. “You’re welcome.”
“All right… let’s just say Malek and I now have a mutual friend.”
