were two others. Leonid Chernov was Kirill’s younger brother who had come over with Kirill but had gone his own way for a short while. He’d joined them some time ago but hadn’t been put in a trusted position until recently. Sevastyan, being Sevastyan, still wasn’t entirely certain of him. Partnering with him was Zakhar Kotov, a man few wanted to cross. He was quiet, watchful, and loyal to Sevastyan and no one else. Not even to Mitya.
Zakhar’s father owed money the family couldn’t pay. Rolan’s lieutenants set their leopards on the family, hunting them down and ripping them to pieces. Sevastyan had saved his life when he was a young man, concealing him from the brutal vor and the lieutenants hunting him.
Zakhar had seen the savage beating the vor, Sevastyan’s own father, had cruelly subjected him to and then his leopard had visited on Shturm. Neither had given away Zakhar’s hiding spot. In the end Rolan concluded that Sevastyan couldn’t know where Zakhar was hiding. Sevastyan had smuggled Zakhar money and a passport to get out of the country so Rolan couldn’t kill him. Eventually, when Sevastyan had left Russia, Zakhar had joined him.
Sevastyan made certain Mitya was well guarded at his home and had promised to remain there before he took off with Flambé. The two cars with the other bodyguards left well ahead of Sevastyan’s leaving the Dover estate. He didn’t want anyone to think he had bodyguards traveling with them or that he might think they needed them. He wanted Franco to make his move. The sooner he could make certain Flambé was safe to carry on with her landscaping business, the better he’d feel.
He felt a little guilty telling Mitya there might be a five percent chance there could be a problem when he thought it might be higher, but Mitya was every bit as protective of Ania as Sevastyan was of Flambé, so there would have been zero chance of Mitya allowing Ania to go. Ania was becoming restless. Sevastyan could see all the signs in her, where Mitya chose to ignore them. Sevastyan didn’t want to be that kind of partner. He knew he was worse than Mitya in lot of ways, but he wanted to see his failings and hopefully correct them so he had a good chance of keeping Flambé happy.
He laid out everything to Ania. He didn’t want her going into trouble blindly. Being Ania, she was more than happy to come with him. Not only more than happy to come, she was eager to come. She told Mitya she was driving and danced around the room joyfully, kissing him good-bye before catching up the car keys and proclaiming they were taking her car and did Sevastyan mind?
Flambé was quiet a good portion of the way into San Antonio, looking out the window. She seemed distant from him and Sevastyan found he didn’t like it. She moved in the seat as if she couldn’t quite be still, her hand rubbing along her arm or her thigh. She sat away from him, clearly trying to avoid touching him.
Shturm? Has Flamme indicated that Flambé is upset? She has been very quiet all morning.
Now that he thought about it, she’d been quiet since they’d had breakfast and he’d taken her with him to Mitya’s. He’d left her with Ania while he’d been with Mitya attending endless boring meetings.
Flamme seems—moody. She is resting before rising. She is not talking.
How close is she to rising?
I cannot tell.
Still, his leopard was content. Shturm had gone from raging to calm as long as Flambé was close. Sevastyan found he felt the same way. He thought that the female leopard being moody could be affecting Flambé, just as his leopard’s moods often affected him.
He reached for her hand, threaded their fingers together and pressed her palm to his thigh. Even though she stiffened slightly, she didn’t pull away, and she kept her face turned toward the highway. That wasn’t a good sign.
“Look at me, plamya.” His voice might have been low, but the order was clear.
She glanced toward the front seat and their driver, but obediently turned her head toward him, her eyes reluctantly meeting his. His belly knotted. Was there hurt there? She wasn’t good at subterfuge, but her expression was clouded by the ever-changing color of her eyes.
“We promised each other that we would talk things out. I can’t make it right if I don’t know what I did. Clearly I did something.”