Total pages in book: 108
Estimated words: 100416 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 502(@200wpm)___ 402(@250wpm)___ 335(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100416 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 502(@200wpm)___ 402(@250wpm)___ 335(@300wpm)
A head. That bitch put a head in a box.
He lifted the head, dark hair swirling through the peanuts and then a face emerging. Dmitri froze. Keira.
But no, it wasn’t Keira, because his Keira was safely ensconced in the library. “Send one of the men to her, now.”
Mikhail didn’t ask for clarification. He dug his phone out and called Pavel. A quick conversation, and then a short wait for the confirmation text. He looked up from his phone. “She’s safe.”
Dmitri didn’t release his breath in a sigh of relief. He couldn’t afford to. But with Keira’s location confirmed, he could step back enough to study the dead woman’s face. Not Keira. They had the same straight nose and sharp features, but this woman’s lips were thinner, and her eyes were the wrong color—two things he should have picked up on immediately. He carefully replaced it into the box and removed the gloves. “Find out who she was—and who put the box here. Any packages should have been vetted by you first. I want to know why this one wasn’t.” It didn’t sit any better than the dead girl’s similarity to Keira. Mae had made a statement, and she would follow it with something worse. He might find anticipating Alethea’s moves challenging, but Mae was a rabid dog. All she knew how to do was attack. She might be crafty in the way she went about it, but she would attack all the same.
“Yes, sir.” Mikhail lifted the box and strode from the room.
Only then did Dmitri sink into his chair. He’d known the game when he crossed Alethea Eldridge. It was a calculated risk, but ultimately she had had every intention of killing him and wiping the Romanov name from the earth, so Dmitri had acted first. He hadn’t expected the FBI to botch things so intensely, but he should have known better.
Keira’s presence in the house had him distracted even when he wasn’t sharing space with her. The wedding had been too rushed, and she hadn’t officially been announced as his wife, so it wasn’t perceived as real yet.
That changed now.
He dialed the extension to the library. A few rings later, Keira’s voice eased over the line. “You know, it’s creepy how you have a phone in every room of this house.”
“It simplifies things.”
“If you say so. It’s better than finding a phone in my panty drawer.”
He almost smiled, but there were more important things to deal with right now than enjoying verbally sparring with her as they took a walk down memory lane. “Circumstances require a change in plans. I’ll be working late tonight.”
“I’ll be sure to cry myself to sleep about it.” Dramatic to the very end.
Irritation flared. “Stop being such a child.” It wasn’t a valuable trait, and her tendency to say whatever popped into her head made her a liability. He’d thought he’d have more time to bring her around before he announced her as his wife, but it wasn’t to be. That required her to grow up—quickly. “There’s a dinner tomorrow evening here. You’ll be required to dress for it. I can arrange—”
“As creepy-sweet as it was of you to stock an entire wardrobe for me, I’m more than capable of finding a suitable dress. I need to get the hell out of this place for a while.”
“That’s not an option.” It was far too easy to transpose her features over the dead woman’s. He knew damn well that was Mae’s point in sending it to him in the first place, but that didn’t negate the reaction. Or the threat. Keira had been in danger before, but it had grown exponentially with Mae being bailed out and Alethea going into hiding. He wasn’t letting Keira out of the house without a goddamn army.
She was silent for so long, he thought she might have hung up. Finally, Keira spoke. “Sure. No problem. I suppose you have someone on retainer who can bring in stuff?”
“I do.” That was too easy. This was the same woman who had all but scaled brick walls to escape her brother’s household night after night. Her nighttime wanderings hadn’t ceased in all the time his people had been watching her. So why now?
Keira didn’t sound bubbly, but it was close. “Have your goon give me the contact info and I’ll arrange it.” She must have known he was going to argue, because she cut in. “Look, Romanov, throw me a fucking bone here. You have me locked up like a less-than-virginal princess in a tower. The least I can do is pick my own damn clothes.”
It was a small freedom in the grand scheme of things. What was more, positive reinforcement would encourage her to obey him. It was only clothes, after all. “Pavel will pass on the information shortly.”
“Spasibo.” She hung up.