Page 39 of In Her Blood
Otto tracked the movement for a split-second before leaning forward and indicating the spread of paperwork. They didn’t even have the basement blueprints laid out, but the basement was much easier to manage. “I have a thought.”
Artem lifted his eyes to Otto quietly.
Lina turned her whole head toward him, as if he weren’t barely six inches off her shoulder, and hummed. “A thought you’re willing to share out loud?” Her lips lifted in silent laughter.
He frowned at her. “Nah, just felt like makin’ sure you knew I was awake.”
She rolled her eyes and looked forward. “Okay, okay, share your thought.” She paused. “Please.”
He had to fight back a growl, feeling far too responsive to her tones, but he kept his focus at least mostly forward. He dropped a finger a little too heavily on the first-floor layout. “What if you offered neutral zones for the main floor?”
Artem raised a knuckle to his chin, gaze focused on the papers.
Lina made a sound of surprise. “Neutral zones?”
“Same idea as easements,” Otto explained. “It’d be hard as fuck to reach an amicable agreement about the front door, the entryway, the garage, or the gathering hall. Arguments could be made for a lot of other rooms, but those in particular will be sticking points for anyone who lives here, right?”
Lina looked between him and the map like she was struggling to keep up, but he could see in her eyes that she heard him. She just didn’t want to.
“The driveway probably would have to count as an easement, anyway,” Artem said after a moment. “And if you have to share that, it’s not a far stretch to allow the points of entry attached.”
“But thereareother points of entry,” Lina said, reaching forward and tapping one of them as if Otto or Artem had forgotten.
Otto nodded. “And you’d both have one of those, pretty much regardless.”
Lina scrunched up her face and sat back, arms folding across her chest. “So, give up control of the major spaces?”
Otto straightened. “Not ‘give up’,” he corrected. “Share.” He didn’t even think about stopping himself from reaching out and catching her chin, turning her toward him again until he was looking into her eyes. “Temporarily. Obviously, once you’ve ousted the fucker and taken your place at the top, all of this is yours anyway.”
Her frown softened. “Well, when you put it that way.” She drew a breath, his hand fell away, and she faced the blueprint spread once more. “How does that impact the second floor and the basement?”
Artem pulled the second-floor layout forward for better focus. “I’d suggest a more even split approach, labeling the major walkways as neutral with designated stopping points.” He tapped key areas in each wing. “These lounge rooms are spillover guard stations, anyway. They’d make good anchor points for enforcing boundaries, and you could each control your currently designated halves of the top floor.”
Lina picked up the forgotten pen from her lap and indicated the one nearest her hallway. “So, these would be, like, dead-end routes for the other territory so-to-speak?” She drew her capped pen backward along the extending hall for emphasis.
Artem nodded. “Yes. You’d each have your own, so it would balance. And that would leave most of the walking paths as safe as they are currently, which, while not ideal, is also notworse.”
Lina sighed, nodded, and motioned for the one blueprint they hadn’t unraveled at all. “Let’s take a look at that, then, before I mark anything.”
Otto stayed silent as Artem complied and the two quickly discerned what he had already concluded. Determining boundaries in the basement would be much easier, as the basement had fewer and larger spaces.
Once she’d determined the best course she could take for the time being, Lina uncapped her ridiculous pen and set to work drawing thick, sparkly lines in all the places where borders were changing. She had Otto grab a different colored pen, and with that pen she indicated the proposed neutral zones within the property. She was very careful to indicate her chosen boundaries in- and outside of the house itself, right up to the edge of the property line.
“Okay, done,” she finally said as she snapped the cap back onto the second pen. “Make sure copies of these get to all the men, and make a few copies for Pyotr, too. Tell him they’re my courtesy to him, so he doesn’t have to stress himself over this little task.”
Artem grinned and began rolling up the papers. “I’ll get it done immediately. Should we re-scramble security codes?”
“Yes,” Otto said, answering for her. Lina and security had a very rocky relationship.
Lina twisted around and swatted him. “I would have agreed to that!” She blew out a breath, straightened enough to properly push to her feet, and added, “Once all the info is ready, I guess send it to Otto since he’s overbearing about that stuff.”
“Lina.”
Artem, for his part, looked like he wanted to laugh. “Seems to me he’s doing his job, ma’am.” He tucked the rolled-up papers under his arm. “We can add some closed-circuit cameras to the network if you’re interested? Pakhan Mikhail never cared for the idea, but…” He trailed off and shrugged.
This time, Lina turned raised brows to Otto as if she were waiting for him to answer.
Otto met Artem’s gaze. “Hallways,” he said. “Every level. I want eyes we can trust in place when we don’t have bodies in the room.”
