Page 89 of In Her Blood
“Say everything you needed?” Otto asked.
Evelina hummed. “I think so. Thank you.” He didn’t generally like her being out of reach, let alone in a technically different space.
As if reading her mind, he reached over and settled a hand on her thigh. “Seems like they’ll be good for you, Lina. I’m happy you found ‘em.”
She laughed softly and turned a brief grin his way as the rumble of the jet roaring to life shook the car. “Pretty sure they found me.”
“Same thing.”
She leaned sideways, bumping his arm with her shoulder. “Totally not.” She fell quiet as they watched the sleek black jet roll away, neither of them speaking until it was lifting into the sky. It was late afternoon, and though she was sad her newfound family was leaving, she understood why. Just as she understood why she couldn’t promise to rush over and visit that coming weekend.
But there was something shecoulddo sooner rather than later.
Evelina straightened in her seat. “Let’s head back to the hotel.” Dante had insisted on leaving her his suite for the rest of the week, and it wasn’t like she had a different home currently to go back to. A lot of things were going to change very quickly, but for once, she thought those changes might actually be for the better.
She dug her phone from her purse as Otto swung the car around. “I just need to make one call to Artem,” she said, deciding there was no sense in not getting the proverbial ballrolling, “and then I think I’m done for the day. Catastrophes aside.”
Otto chuckled. “Don’t jinx yourself.”
She swatted lightly at his arm and tapped the speaker button to let the phone rest in her lap. There would be no secrets, not even uncertainties, between her and Otto. A healthy relationship required trust. They had to, she figured, because distrust always felt like a poison in her soul.
Artem answered on the second ring. “Please tell me this mandatory rest period is over.”
Evelina grinned. “Sorry, I don’t have anything that requires you to leave the comfort of home.”
Artem grunted. “None of us know what to do with me for this much time. It’s worse than the hole in my side.”
“Tomorrow,” she promised. “You can come meet up with us tomorrow, as long as you’re up for it. In the meantime, I need you to put a small list together for me.”
“All right,” he said on an exhale. There was a faint shuffling noise and a muffled groan before he spoke again. “What did you need?”
“Names,” Evelina replied. “I need to know who your second is”—she was embarrassed to admit she had not retained that information—“and who, out of your entire crew, you would say is your best. If you need to break that down, I’ll accept ‘deepest loyalty’ and ‘most capable’ as subcategories. I need that list by morning, please.”
Artem chuckled. “I could give it to you now if you’d like.”
“Now’s no good, we’re in the car and I’m thinking of disassociating for the rest of evening if I can. I have a lotto process after the family visit.” It was mostly true, and she knew Artem would understand when they next spoke.
“Fair enough. I hope you got what you needed from your cousins.”
Evelina smiled over at Otto, letting herself appreciate his profile as he navigated the traffic. “More than I could have hoped for, really. We’ll talk tomorrow, Artem. I hope to see you well-rested.”
Otto was sure Lina was only telling a half-truth when she told Artem she wanted to disassociate for the rest of the day. He could see she was planning something. He knew her too well to miss the signs of her beautiful mind spinning with ideas. But it was entirely possible she wanted time to digest or fully develop those ideas, and he certainly wasn’t going to call her out on that.
If he were honest with himself, he played along in part because he knew that the next thing she would have to do would be to dive into the realities of reconstructing the bratva. And doing that would take her full focus. He only had a vague clue as to what that might look like, even. But he feared the weight of it would put another wall between them.
She still planned to step up as pakhan, despite that the clan had basically self-destructed. He wanted to support her through that, to see her achieve her vision, but he loathed the thought that in doing so he was helping her to leave him behind.
No matter what else changed, he was still no more than the adopted son of a Russian man. A mix-blooded soldier like him was a poor match for a pakhan.
Lina preceded him into the hotel suite when they returned, angling toward the kitchen space to set down her purse and phone. “I still kind of can’t believe Dante booked this for another five nights with no notice. That room we were in last night would have been fine, even.”
Otto shrugged. “I don’t think your cousin takes ‘no’ for an answer.”
Lina laughed softly as she faced him. “You had that impression, too?” Her eyes danced with amusement and a levity he hadn’t seen in them in weeks.
He couldn’t help himself. Whatever she was feeling in this moment,thiswas how he wanted her to always feel. He scooped her up, capturing her next laugh in a kiss before striding into the sitting area and settling her on his lap. He sucked on her tongue and dug his fingers into her ass, rocking her against him.
Lina surrendered to his kiss for a long minute before pushing at his chest and leaning back. Her gaze was heated with desire when it clashed with his again, and she licked her lips. “If you start that now, I won’t get to the very important stuffI wanted to talk to you about while we have this nice, cozy privacy.”
