Chapter Thirteen
Alex
Getting caught with Tommy between my legs by the biggest mouth in the school means I’m on damage control. I can’t risk Tabitha telling Parker about New Year’s Eve and then having Parker spilling it to the others. It would cause too much tension. And while I originally wanted to break up the little band of brothers, I’m trying to leverage my position with Lev, so he remains my key to safety.
He’s more than just a key, I think as I sneak into the service hallway of the Dvornikov mansion. He needs to be rescued as much as I do.
Shadows shroud my vision as I carefully make my way toward the main foyer. The mansion is quiet at this hour, with only the sounds of the house settling and the whipping winter wind battering the windows. I’m so quiet that I can’t even hear myself breathing.
Until a hand circles my upper arm firmly and easily, causing me to squeak.
“Not a word,” states a husky voice. “Come with me.”
Fuck, I think when I hear the soft crackle of a radio. Of course, they amplified their security. Why wouldn’t they?
Resistance will only make things worse, so I follow the lead of the security guard, taking a good look at his face once we pass through the well-lit foyer. Sharp features, dark eyes, dark hair, built—he looks like the rest of them here, yet his face isn’t familiar. He must be new.
After ascending the stairs and making a right, we end up in a cozy office situated in the east wing. Mikhail lounges on a leather chair near the window with a clove between his fingers. The sharp, spicy scent of the clove cigarette greets my nostrils, making me cringe.
“Great,” I mutter when the guard releases me and stands at attention near the door. “Just what I fucking need. A literal child on my back again.”
Mikhail smiles, his lips spreading across his face like a sly serpent. “Alexandra, how nice of you to sneak in.”
“Lovely mansion you have,” I snipe. “Shame it’s outdated.”
“I can assure you this place is all up to code. You don’t have to worry about that when you marry Lev.” He takes a long drag of the clove and adds, with smoke billowing from his lips, “Or me.”
“You’re not my type.”
He winks. “I can be anyone’s type for the right price.”
I cross my arms over my chest, feeling chilled by the way he’s observing me. “Not me.”
“There’s nothing in this world you want more than Lev?”
My lips quiver, but I maintain my cool facade, squaring my gaze on him as I say, “No.”
“I can get you anything you want.”
When he stands, I notice the silk shirt hanging open, the way part of the hem is tucked into his jeans haphazardly, though it appears entirely intentional too. He’s wearing black slippers with his initials on them, and the way he holds himself as if he’s grace incarnate is a striking contrast to the boy who attacked me in the parking deck.
“You know, if my brother wimps out, I’m an option for you.”
I grimace. “You don’t know anything about Lev. Your brother is a decent and honorable man who will keep his word. He won’t wimp out. On anything. I can guarantee that.”
“Is that so?”
“He’s a good man,” I state confidently while drawing to my full height. I’m not taller than Mikhail, but the movement makes me feel powerful, so I stick with it. “He’s a real man.”
Mikhail nods, taps his cigarette on the edge of the nearby crystal ashtray, and whispers, “I know that.”
Shock raises my eyebrows. “What?”
He sets the cigarette to smolder in the ashtray and waves at the guard. The man lingers for a second with his eyes on me and then steps into the hallway, shutting the door behind him. When it’s just the two of us, my heart shudders in my chest, the muscle quivering anxiously as he slowly walks toward me.
But to my surprise, he halts a respectable distance away. He slips his hands into the pockets of his dark slacks and shrugs. “I was testing you.”
“Why the hell would you do that?”