Page 36 of Savage Assassin

And why not? You’re his job, not his girlfriend. Not even a one-night-stand. He might be attracted to you, but he’s probably separating business from pleasure. You need to get over it.

I let out a sigh as I turn on the shower. It’s not as if I’ll be around him much longer, anyway. Once we’re away from Diego’s compound, we’ll head straight to the hangar to get on a plane to Boston. One flight, and I’ll be in the States, and headed for my sister’s house, where she lives with Niall. Levin will no longer be a part of my life.

Which is for the best.

There are two options for me, once I’m in Boston. The one I expect is that I’ll wait until the issue of the Gonzalez cartel is resolved and it’s safe for me to come home. At which point, my father will arrange a marriage for me as he always would have done if Diego had not become a problem. The other is that I’ll stay in Boston with my sister and start a new life. Go to college. Date, like any other girl. But I’ll only ever be with part of my family, in a place that’s not really my home.

If you come back here, do you really think your father will be able to make a match for you? After you were auctioned? No one will believe you’re still a virgin. You’ll be over twenty, and your virginity doubtful. Not a prize for any other family.

I hate the voice whispering in my head, but I know it’s not wrong. I scrub at my skin angrily, tears welling up in my eyes at the realization that even if I do come back home, things will never be the way they once would have been. And if I stay in Boston, everything will be different, too.

It’s not that I wanted to marry someone I didn’t know, almost certainly wouldn’t want, and probably wouldn’t love. But I hadn’t been angry or resentful about it the way Isabella had. It was how things were. And it would have pleased my parents. Kept me near my family. Ensured a future that felt good and familiar.

I’ve spent hours and hours reading about love and adventure in books. But imagining it happening in reality is a terrifying prospect that I’m not sure I’m ready to face.

A knock comes at the door, startling me. “Elena? We need to go soon.” Levin’s voice comes through, a hint of urgency in it. “I don’t want to wait much longer.”

Fear prickles down my spine as I wonder if he has a reason for his hurry, beyond simply wanting to be gone, and I turn off the water. “Five minutes!” I call out, toweling off quickly as I reach for the clothes. There are panties and a bra tucked into the shirt, and I feel my cheeks flush all over again at the idea of my panties in Levin’s things.

It feels good to be wearing my own clothes again. I run a comb through my hair and step out into the bedroom, and see Levin waiting with an urgent expression on his face.

“Is everything alright?” I can feel knots of anxiety clenching in my stomach. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing yet,” Levin says tersely. “But the rest of the mansion is starting to wake up, and I’d like to go before too many others are milling around. I’d especially prefer not to talk to Diego again, if at all possible.” He glances at me. “Try to look as if you had a–long night.”

One that you didn’t particularly enjoy.I catch the subtext of what he’s saying without him having to elaborate, and nod. “Let’s go, then.”

His bag is already zipped up and by the door. He reaches for it, then hesitates, holding it out to me. “I’d probably have you carry this,” he says, somewhat reluctantly, as if he doesn’t like saying it. “It’ll leave my hands free, anyway.”

I start to askfor what, and then I see his shirt shift at the back, and the slight outline of something tucked there. I know without asking what it is.

It makes me feel better, actually, knowing he’s armed.

I can hear the buzz of the house waking up as we head for the stairs. There are already some guests milling around downstairs, the girls close to them, looking exhausted. One of them, a brunette whose name I don’t remember, has bruises on her chin and throat. I have to look away, feeling an aching guilt clutch at my chest.

I’m going to safety. She will probably never feel safe again.

It doesn’t seem fair.

I wish I could ask Levin to save them all, but I know he can’t. More than that, from what I know of him so far, I think he would want to. I think it’s probably eating him up inside, too, that he can’t. And I know it would be unfair to hurt him by asking for something that he knows he can’t do.

We’re almost to the door when a voice behind us says, with perfect clarity and surprise, “Levin Volkov?”

I feel Levin stiffen next to me, going absolutely still for a second. His hand closes around my arm, and I think for a moment that we’re just going to keep walking. That he’s going to ignore it, and we’re going to get out of here.

“Levin!” The voice comes again, and I see Levin’s jaw clench.

“You’ve got the wrong person,” he says quietly, and that’s when I hear the last voice in the world that I ever want to hear again.

“That’s certainly not the name you gave me,” Diego says, his voice carrying sharp and harsh over the light din of conversation in the room. “But I’d be very interested in knowing what Levin Volkov is doing here, especially with Ricardo Santiago’s daughter.”

Levin turns around, slowly, his jaw clenched. “I don’t know what this person is thinking, but–”

The man who first spoke isn’t someone I saw yesterday. I see the girl standing next to him and remember, faintly, that someone had bought her at the auction for a man who had put his bids in remotely.He must have come to pick her up today,I realize, and I feel as if I might pass out all over again at the realization that we’ve come so close to getting away.

If I hadn’t showered, if we’d left earlier–

“I’m sure it’s you. We worked together, in Munich. Remember–”

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