This is a trap.
Sloane arched back over me, moving her body sensually and erotically, proof that while she’d been in my home for almost a month now, she hadn’t lost her skills. She could dance well, and within seconds of her rubbing and rocking over me, pushing her ass into my crotch, she showed how damn sexy and good she was at this.
I was instantly hard. It never took me long to be aroused in her presence, but with her approaching me like this and setting the mood to treat me to a homecooked meal and a dance, she was taking the initiative to really wow me.
What are you up to?
Even though desire channeled through me in a hot tidal wave, I was still with it and kept my guard up. Normally, I was the one to demand she come to me. I was the one in control between us, and she seemed to enjoy my command and authority over her. She was an independent woman at heart, but I saw how much she treasured submitting to me and granting me the power to make her feel good.
But this was something else.
She was trying too hard.
She was being too obvious.
Enjoying her dancing on my lap, making that short dress ride up and showing more of her delectable, smooth skin, I tried to quickly figure out what her ulterior motive was.
There was never any need for her to try this hard. I’d never explain or admit it, but I could be fucking putty in her hands. That was how badly I wanted to please her and see her content.
And her question?
“It’s up to me to decide if you’re my good girl?” I asked her. That was how she’d worded it—reminding me that I called the shots.
“Mmm-hmm,” she replied, not even dropping into using actual words or a sentence. With that sultry, hooded gaze, she looked more aroused than I was as the recipient of her spontaneous dance. One thin strap draped over her shoulder, and I tried to temper my impatience not to rip the whole thing off and have her bare on my lap.
“You know that’s what I want,” I told her as she kissed along my jaw and spun to face me on my lap. She hadn’t lost a single bit of that grace and athleticism to move her body like this, not giving up any part of our hot contact.
“Is that all you want from me?” she asked. Again, her tone was soft and breathy, as if she’d have to call defeat in this war of lust before I would.
“What are you offering?” Answering her questions with one of my own wouldn’t get us anywhere, but then again, this wasn’t about rushing to the finish line. This seductive journey was supposed to be prolonged. Because time was on our side. Whether or not she’d ever admit that she was my good girl, she was mine. And she wasn’t leaving, ever.
“Right now,” she said as she turned again to grind back on my lap, “I want to offer you my thanks.”
I chuckled, low and gritty, as I thought back to how it had all begun with her. She’d given me a private dance at that club as a sign of thanks. With that one dance that became so much more, she’d shown me a token of gratitude for getting her out of that spot where those three creeps had cornered her.
“And I want—” She jerked upright, startled, at the sound of my phone.
The distinct beeps jarred me out of this hazy spell of lust. I hadn’t been so hard into it yet, skeptical and guarded with why she was trying so hard to distract me tonight, but I wasn’t so alert that I’d been counting on this interruption.
We’d installed this security measure after someone tried to poison Father. With a series of specific beeps, our phones were programmed to go off like this if there was an invasion in the house. For this alert to be going off now, it meant that someone in the property security team had detected a threat.
“Fuck.” I stood, holding Sloane close to me.
The moment was ruined. The desire slipped away completely.
She stared up at me, confused and alarmed. “What’s going on?”
“Stay with me.” I didn’t have time to answer her. Grabbing my gun from the side table where I’d set it when I took my seat, I took her hand and rushed toward the elevator.
Bringing her with me didn’t seem wise, but keeping her close was my first instinct. I couldn’t afford to worry about someone sneaking into my apartment and getting to her. Protective rage filled me with the need to look after my brothers, my father, my grandmother, and all the other men and women who swore loyalty to the family. But most of all, I couldn’t bear to think of Sloane being hurt.
“Stay with me,” I repeated as the elevator doors closed in on us. I held my gun in one hand and gave her a serious look. “Until I find a guard for you to stick with, stay with me no matter what.”
She nodded. Her brow was furrowed and she was all business at this moment. Like this, I saw exactly how much of a survivor she was and how much she’d had to always be cautious about being hurt. I hated that she wouldn’t be confident about her safety here, but as soon as we found the source of this threat, I’d explain that she would always be protected.
“But what does that alarm mean?” she asked. She glanced at my gun, not afraid, but sober about the chance that I might have to use it. “I don’t have any weapons or anything for defense and—”
I shook my head. “Someone has broken in. It’s an alarm for a security threat on the property.”
I didn’t have any more time to explain. My pulse skyrocketed and I braced my body for action as the elevator doors slid open. Instead of taking her to the main floor where men would be available to usher her into the saferoom, I directed us to my father’s level. It was the right choice, because as we stepped out together, me going first to cover for her, I heard all the commotion.
Searching to the left, I saw no threats coming at us.
“Maxim,” Sloane said, tugging on my hand to make me look toward the right of the hall. “Your grandmother.”
We ran together toward the shape of my grandmother lying on the floor. She was trying to prop herself up, shaking her head slowly. Behind us, the sounds of footsteps clattered up the stairs. More help was coming, but with my knee-jerk decision to come to my father’s floor, we’d beaten them here.
“Maxim,” Grandmother said as we reached her. “He went that way…”
She lifted her finger and pointed down the corridor, and I whipped my head up to squint and see who could’ve gone there.
“Who?” I demanded as Sloane scooted closer on her knees, using her hand to help stem the bleeding on Grandmother’s temple. She didn’t hesitate, jumping in to help.
“A man. He came out of your father’s room just as I was walking by, and he struck out at me before getting away. Go.” She urged me to leave her on the floor with Sloane. Pointing again, she encouraged me to give chase. “Go get him!”
Help was on the way. Men would be swarming this area in a few more seconds. I hated to leave her wounded here like this in the hallway, but I wasn’t alone.
Sloane seemed to understand my hesitation. She nodded once, curtly, as she maintained that serious, stern expression of toughing out a challenge. “I’ll stay with her until help comes.”
I didn’t waste time to reply or thank her. Getting to my feet, I sprinted ahead to chase after whoever had dared to come in here and try to mess with my family again.
By the time I reached the other end of the hallway, more Ivanov soldiers were crowding into the area. “That way!” I ordered.
Nik and Saul came running, disheveled and concerned with guns in hand. “Grandmother is back there with Sloane.”
“What happened?” Saul asked.
“She said someone came out of Father’s room and ran this way.”
Nik scowled, instantly furious. “Fuck!” He took over delegating crews of soldiers to fan out. Within seconds, operating with the familiar sense of teamwork we always excelled at, we had men searching the premises. Multiple men were heading out to check whether any intruders remained on Father’s floor. More were dispatched to check the entire building. Most importantly, I ordered men to go back from where I’d come so they could help Sloane with my grandmother.
Together, Nik and Saul joined me in rushing to check on Father.
We slammed into his room without any pause, and it was with great relief that the nurse lying on the floor was getting back up.
“What happened?” I demanded of the young woman.
“Someone came in and…” She staggered to her feet, swallowing hard and reaching her hand up to her neck. Saul hurried toward her, helping her get up as she rubbed her neck and cringed. “Someone came in and attacked me. He came up from behind as I was tending to Mr. Ivanov’s catheter and…”
“Easy. Easy,” Saul coached. He looked up at an Ivanov soldier arriving to help. “Get her water.”
Nik and I went to the bed, finding Father unharmed and alive. A glance at the monitor next to his headboard showed the same green lights blinking and filling in like usual. I wasn’t well-versed with medical knowledge about what those vitals all meant, but from previous visits when I’d come to check on him, those numbers and racing lines on the screens resembled what showed now.
He was stable, but barely so.
“Fucking hell,” Nik growled as he pointed at the syringe on the bed. The needle’s cap was off, lying a few inches away from the tube. Even though the items were too close for comfort on top of his blanket, it seemed that the drug hadn’t been used. Dark liquid waited in the plastic, and the tip of the needle had been broken.
“He came in and startled me,” the nurse said. “I tried to fight him off but he was too strong. I had just enough time to… to…” She broke off, crying and still wincing at the pain to swallow. Red marks ringed her neck, suggesting she’d nearly been choked so my father could be harmed again.
Or killed.
“I pushed the button as I struggled to keep him away from the bed,” she said.
A pair of soldiers assisted her toward a chair, guiding her carefully while Saul joined me and Nik at the bed.
“He’s okay?” he asked.
“Yeah,” Nik replied, pointing at the syringe that hadn’t been used on him.
“It was a man?” I demanded, turning toward the nurse. Now that I could see that my father hadn’t been poisoned—again—I had to move on to the next step of avenging him. Whoever dared to come in here with the intention of hurting my family would be dead. Swift justice would be delivered and no mercy would be counted on.
She nodded weakly. “A man,” she confirmed. “With a…” She pointed at her face. “A strange mask on.”
Just then, a gunshot went off. I froze, placing the sound from further down the hall outside his room. Sloane and Grandmother weren’t out on the floor anymore. By the time it took me to meet my brothers and the other men and get back to Father’s room, they’d already moved aside.
I couldn’t breathe. Panic and dread snaked through me and kept me rooted in place as I waited for a report.
Nik held up his phone, staring at me as he answered.
“The intruder has been found,” a soldier in charge of the house security stated on speaker.
“Is that the only casualty?” I asked, exhaling long and hard.
Sloane is fine.
She has to be.
She’s a survivor.
She wouldn’t run to danger.
She’s going to survive.
She has to be fine.
“Only one,” the soldier replied. “He shot himself as we closed in on him.”
Letting my shoulders drop with relief that Sloane hadn’t been near the immediate danger, I hung my head and breathed easier.
“Fuck,” Nik said as the soldier hung up to handle the mess. “It would’ve been helpful to get some intel out of him.”
It always was unfortunate when someone had to take the easy way out of being interrogated and questioned like that. The only time they ever took that route was when they were certain they’d be dead anyway.
Feeling cheated of being able to kill the asshole who tried to take out my father, I let the anger warm me. Fury accompanied me as I returned to the hallway. I was pissed that someone had tried to finish the job of killing the boss of the Ivanov Syndicate, my father, my leader who was too young to be gone. I was pissed that someone had attempted this when I was with Sloane, enjoying her offer of thanks and seduction, all for me.
I was pissed, and nothing would calm me down like seeing Sloane and knowing she was all right. But first, duty called.
Instead of asking the men where Sloane was in the building, I accepted the foreign sense of confidence that she’d be with my grandmother, helping. Like she’d wanted to rush to help that wounded cook, she’d extend that same sympathy and care toward my grandmother.
“What about Grandmother?” Nik asked as I led the way toward where the men said the intruder lay dead.
I shook my head. “She can wait.” That was how much I knew deep down that Sloane would keep her company until I could come to them. She was almost like a partner like that, but I nipped the beginning thought of reliance and trust toward her.
“Miss Black was with her,” a soldier said, overhearing us as he flanked us on the way toward the killed intruder.
“Sloane?” Nik furrowed his brow, looking at me for a moment.
I nodded, too angry and alarmed by what had happened tonight to give him any encouragement to talk about her. We had bigger issues on hand.
“Huh.” Nik smirked as he continued striding down the hall with me. “I’m not surprised.”
“That someone snuck in to kill Father?” I growled.
“No. That Sloane would stick with her. She’s not afraid to help or show her loyalty to the family,” he replied.
I wasn’t ready to agree with that yet. Sloane wasn’t afraid. She’d had too hard of a life to scare easily.
But the matter of her loyalty to the family?
I wasn’t sure when I’d believe with all my heart that she was fully truthful and loyal to me. How could she be when she put so much effort into seducing me tonight?
