Page 4 of Inheritance
As I dressed, I could hear muffled voices drifting up from somewhere in the house. Gabriel’s voice was unmistakable—low, commanding, and sharp. Whoever he was speaking to, it wasn’t a casual conversation.
I tied my hair into a ponytail and stepped into the hallway, the polished wood beneath my feet was cool and smooth. The walls were lined with paintings that felt as old and brooding as the house itself.
The voices grew louder as I crept down the grand staircase. I sat halfway down, peering through the banisters. Gabriel was inan office directly beneath his bedroom, pacing like a caged lion while a man I didn’t recognize stood rigidly, slightly hunched forward, as still as a statue—aside from his beady eyes tracking Gabriel’s every movement. The man was average height, with close-set, soft blue eyes that didn’t match the mean, narrow angles of his face
“I’m beginning to question your competence, Nikolai.” Gabriel’s voice carried through the wide-open foyer, hard enough to echo. “Time and again, you come up short. I tell you to investigate the oil company polluting Port Aranza’s water, and you miss that it’s also a smuggling front tied to the Sinclairs. And now you claim you don’t know where Ivan is keeping Caroline—only that it’s not at their estate? Please.”
Nikolai’s eyes darted toward me through the open door. “You have a visitor,” he said in a hushed tone that softly echoed in the grand hall around me.
Gabriel appeared in the doorway and motioned for me to come forward.
“Everyone makes mistakes Gabriel,” Nikolai said, watching me as I entered the room.
Gabriel turned when he heard me, a flicker of warmth crossing his face before it vanished. “You couldn’t sleep?” he asked, quieter now.
“I didn’t mean to eavesdrop. You weren’t in bed, so I?—”
He cut me off with a wave of his hand. “Sophia, this is Nikolai. He’s... been a family friend for decades.”
Nikolai inclined his head, gaze cool and assessing, a faint smirk tugging at his lips.
“Weeks ago, my Father asked Nikolai to gather information on the Sinclairs and find where Ivan is keeping Caroline. The only thing he’s discovered, is that he is certain she is not being held in the Sinclair estate. What do you make of this, Sophia?”
I looked Nikolai up and down. I had only just met him, but I didn’t like him.
“How could he know what’s inside their home?”
Nikolai hesitated, glancing at Gabriel as if weighing how much to say. Finally, he spoke.
“I have my sources. The Sinclairs aren’t exactly subtle, but they’re careful. We’ve got a few possibilities, but nothing concrete. They’ve been moving their operations around while you were gone, making it harder to pin them down.”
“Get out. Get it done.”
Nikolai inclined his head slightly, and slipped out of the room.
I stepped closer, brushing my hand lightly against Gabriels arm, feeling his tense muscles under the soft fabric of his shirt. He didn’t look at me, but felt him relax slightly under my touch.
He sank into the nearest chair, exhaling deeply, and I walked over to the shelf containing decanters of liquor, pouring him a glass of what I guessed was whiskey.
His expression lightened a bit as he looked up to see the glass in my hand, extended to him.
“You always seem to know what I need, and when I need it,” he said, taking a drink, then setting it down, returning his gaze to mine before trailing his eyes down my body, slow and deliberate.
I stepped closer. He hadn’t spoken, but he didn’t need to. His presence alone pulled me in, the quiet power of him impossible to resist.
I settled onto his lap facing him, my knees pressing into the expensive leather as his hands rested at my waist.
“You should be sleeping,” he murmured, his voice was low, but no less commanding.
I tilted my head, letting my fingers graze through his hair, “So come to bed.”
His lips parted slightly, the ghost of a smirk playing at the corner. “I have things to take care of.”
A shiver ran through me as his hands slid lower, gripping my hips with strong hands that sent my pulse skittering. Heat pooled low in my stomach, and I leaned in, brushing my lips over his in the lightest of teases.
“You should take care of me.”
His grip tightened and he returned my kiss with a low growl.
