Page 105 of Silent Heart

I chewed on my lips. whatever he had to say at dinner, would it lead to more? I sure as hell wanted it to. Yes, I was mad that he disappeared. Yes, he had a lot to make up for. But belonging to a criminal organization? The expanse of his silence made sense.

Me: I’ll give you the opportunity to explain, but we’ll see how much needs to be handled by conversation or if your mouth needs to do a different type of groveling.

There. Unless he was dense, which he never seemed to be, he was going to get the picture just fine that I wanted more. Kolya was back in my life, and I wasn’t going to let him slip away. Not without a fight.

I blew out a breath, staring at the screen as I continued to walk down the hall. There were many things I was unsure about, but not how I felt about him.

“If I take him back, if we’re going to try this thing again, I need some proof he’s not going to run,” I reasoned.

Could he give me that? Did he want to stay? The way his body felt against mine, the way he watched me said enough. Even if his words didn’t.

“It was the secrets that drove us apart,” I said, hoping I could convince myself of the truth of that statement.

Holy cow, it was going to take a lot of work to make me believe that.

A sound shuffled in the distance. I glanced up from my phone. There wasn’t anyone directly in front of me. The corridor was mostly empty as students prepared to attend lectures. I was free until three, so I continued to head in the direction of the on-campus deli.

Air brushed against my skin as a door pulled open. My neck prickled in warning.

Before I could look to the side, rough hands gripped me and yanked me into a room. The rough leather of a work glove clamped over my mouth, cutting off my scream.

“We’re not here to hurt you,” a suave voice intoned. “If you promise not to scream, Marty will remove his hand.”

Breathing through the rising panic, I quickly took stock of the situation. There were six men in regular clothing spread aroundthe room. At first glance, they could fit in with the college students.

With the exception of the one who’d spoken. There was no mistaking him for a twenty-something-year-old on the path to higher education. The air around him seemed to crackle, not with power, but with cruelty. It was there in his eyes. And that eerie calm, the fact that he seemed cool and collected, calculating his nefarious plans, rather than exploding into a burst of aggression that made him absolutely terrifying to behold. Because animals didn’t fall prey to those conditions, it had been a while since I brushed up on the terminology of a psychopath versus a sociopath, but what I knew deep in my gut was that this man was far more dangerous than any rabid creature I would ever encounter as a veterinarian.

I forced my body to go completely still. And what was harder, I forced the fight to leave my veins. I met his gaze, letting him know I wouldn’t panic, but I didn’t want him to think I would back down from his threat.

Like with any creature, I was in charge—even if he clearly had more brute strength.

“Miss Kellnhofer, thank you for your cooperation, we greatly appreciate it,” the suit said.

I nodded, flexing my jaw which still ached from the rough hold. “Want to explain yourselves?”

“Of course, straight to business. I like that.” The man smiled, but there was no warmth in the gesture. “We are after your…friend. Mr. Vlasov.”

A bolt of panic stabbed my chest. I didn’t know any Vlasovs.

“You know him as Kole, I believe.”

Something clicked. The foreign last name.I didn’t even know his real name, and I was willing—

Am willing…I am willing to keep seeing him.

I nodded once. “He’s been gone for months. The last time we were together was over the summer.”

Dark humor slithered around the room.

The man’s voice dripped ice. “While that statement is technically true, we know he came to town, and we know you two came back to campus from some rendezvous this morning.”

Tipping my chin up, I set my shoulders. “What of it?”

“You have aging grandparents, who’ve been blessed with a large family,” the suit mused.

My gut flipped with a sickening feeling.

“I would hate for my business with Mr. Vlasov to spill over into their world,” he added.

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