Page 5 of Blazing Embers

My heart starts to thud, but I keep myself calm. I can’t afford for my adrenaline to spike or to lose control. My hand slips beneath the pillow and wraps around the grip of the gun. I sit, breathing slowly and shallowly.

The door creaks open. I pull my gun behind my back, pushing myself to my feet, as a giant of a man steps through, and my heart freezes before jolting and picking up speed.

Konstantin.

“You,” I breathe.

“Hello, Tara. You’re a hard woman to find.” Konstantin walks in like he owns the air I breathe, eyes sharp and unreadable, not a trace of the man who used to tease me with half-smiles and reckless charm.

“Where’s Clyde?” My voice is low and controlled, and the grip on my gun behind my back tightens.

“What? No, hello, how are you, Konstantin?” He gives me a mocking look. “I thought we were friends!”

“That was before you sold me out to your lying fuckhead of a boss,” I remind him. “Now I really don’t give a flying fuck how you are.”

I edge to the side, inching toward the door as he circles further into the room.

“Where’s Clyde?” I ask him again.

“He’s not here.” Konstantin shrugs, his eyes never leaving mine.

“You’d better not have harmed one hair on his head.”

I flick the safety off the gun.

Konstantin’s eyes narrow. “I hope for your sake you’re not fucking him.”

My stomach twists.

“That’s none of your business.”

“Maybe not directly,” Konstantin tells me. “But trust me, if you are screwing Clyde, I’m not the one you have to worry about.” He raised his brow pointedly. “But as you had a baby that belongs…”

Fuck. “I didn’t have a baby,” I point out.

“I’d like to believe you.” His eyes run over me, making me want to shudder at his scrutiny, but I hold it back. “But we have to make sure.”

I suddenly become aware that I’m in nothing but a long night shirt, panties, and socks. How attractive. But I resist the urge to pull the shirt down. Fuck that. I raise my chin a little and glare at him.

“Are you finished assessing me?” I sneer mockingly. “Maybe you’d like me to take off my shirt to see any residual baby fat?”

“As tempting as that might be,” Konstantin says calmly, not flinching, “it’s plain to see that you couldn’t have given birth lately. You’re as thin as a rake.” His eyes flick around the room, still, though, looking for signs of a baby.

“No baby,” I whisper, my voice cracking, and eyes burning with the sting of threatening tears. “I lost her.”

Emotion flashes across his face. Regret? Guilt?

“Tara—” Konstantin tries to step forward, and I move back again.

My grip tightens on the gun—my heart pounds in my ears.

“Don’t!” I put up my hand. “I’m not in the mood to pretend we’re friends,” I say, stepping sideways a little closer to the door.“Especially not after you sold me out to that lying bastard you call a boss.”

He scans the room again.

I narrow my gaze. “Want to check the closet? Under the bed?”

He flinches, and for a second, I think I’ve hit something real.

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