Page 71 of In Her Blood
He wasn’t wrong. The small courtyard off the eastern side of the property would have been untouched by the fire itself, though had probably still been damaged by overspray and other things. But it was also meant for sitting and relaxing, so it was more concrete than lawn.
Evelina swept her gaze around, spotting Grigoriy and the one man he’d mentioned bringing with him as they steppedfrom their SUV. “That does sound more comfortable.” She just wasn’t sure if comfort was a factor she should be dwelling on. While she mulled it over, she cast another frustrated glance down at the outfit she’d thrown together for the day. One of the new sets she’d picked up from that shopping trip—which now was ninety percent of her wardrobe. And after that tumble over dirty concrete, not to mention her bleeding, it was definitely ruined.
Maybe the muddier, thrashed yard was more appropriate.
Otto caught her wrist before she could move forward. “Don’t stand in the mud.”
She blinked at him for a beat and her lips twitched. “It’s just mud.”
His brow furrowed. “Until you need to run and your feet are stuck, yeah.” He gave a gentle tug, pulling her backward a step. “Walk around.”
Oh, boy.She supposed even she was a little on-edge after the incident at the warehouse, so him still being in Raging Bodyguard Mode an hour later actually wasn’t surprising. “Okay,” she said quietly, seeing no need to challenge his patience over a few extra steps.
Grigoriy’s companion hung back, far enough that he could keep line-of-sight but wouldn’t hear them clearly unless they talked at loud volumes. The brigadier himself met her halfway up the drive. The man was a respectable six-feet tall, with a strong jaw, hard eyes, and a thin layer of dark hair curving over his head. Evelina was pretty sure he was close to the same age as Artem, but he’d held his position as brigadier for a handful of years longer.
She offered him a polite, cool smile. “It’s good to finally meet you, Grigoriy.” There was no need to offer her name, of course, and it was time she buttoned on that invisible woman-in-charge coat she’d been working to fashion for herself. Because with Pyotr dead, shewaspakhan. It was just a matter of delivering the news. If someone else was suddenly going to declare themselves a challenger, it would be immediate or not at all.
He raked his gaze over her, repeated the motion with Otto, then raised his chin and folded his arms across his chest. “This is how you greet a brigadier?” He looked past her, toward the house at her back. “Look what you allowed to happen to our base.”
She felt her hackles rise with his choice of words. “WhatIallowed? And where were you, brigadier, while two of your compatriots were dying?”
His lips lifted in a sneer. “Because they were weak. I have never been responsible for another man’s crew, nor another man for mine.”
“Easy to call yourself strong when you just hide away and let shit pass you by.”
“Mind how you speak to your elders, girl.”
Evelina matched his stare and kept her tone even, if not a bit clipped. “Mind how you speak to your pakhan.” She wouldn’t stoop so low as to hurl demeaning insults, yet, but she wasn’t going to accept the disrespect, either.
She was just glad she’d asked Otto not to interject his opinion of the inevitable insult with his gun. This time.
To Evelina’s surprise, Grigoriy laughed. The sound was low and somewhat ominous, his sneer changing into something closer to a smile that in no way softened his face, and his arms fell back to his sides. “My pakhan?” He drew a deep breath. “You called me out here, to bear witness to what you have made of the Nikolaevs without even taking the mantle, and assume I will recognize you as my pakhan?”
She was going to smack him if he blamed her for the house one more time. “I assume nothing, Grigoriy.” She made sure to wipe the emotion from her face, refusing to look away. “Pyotr is dead. Grisha is either a traitor or a rat, depending on the truth of his claims. But, I’ll repeat myself for you this once, the only man who stood in opposition to me is dead.” Evelina pressed her fingers to her chest. “Iampakhan now. Your next job is to learn acceptance.”
A muscle ticked in Grigoriy’s jaw as his eyes narrowed. His fingers twitched. “Burn in Hell,blyad.”
Otto took a step forward at the same time as Evelina shifted her weight to intercept him.
And a bullet whistled past her leg, close enough to sting but far enough not to do true damage. She didn’t register the sound of the shot until after she felt the brush of it. She stumbled once before Otto caught her around her waist and hauled her flush to his side, curses spewing from his lips and gun already raised.
Evelina stared at the gun in a surreal daze. Had they reloaded it? Was that the one she’d used, even, or his newer one?How are we in another shootout again?
Except the bullets had stopped.
She pulled herself back to the moment and found Grigoriy watching them coldly, one arm raised in an obvious signal. And behind him, another SUV had appeared, the new one bearing a cabin-full of armed soldiers.
He’d planned this from the start. He’d arranged to meet her in order to strike her down. And he hadn’t thought the effort was worth more than six men.
No, that’s not right.She realized the courtyard was completely silent, despite that she distinctly remembered seeing men on security when they had arrived after getting her shoulder patched up. Even if Pavel had made it off property before the gunshots, there were other men nearby.
Men who didn’t know Pyotr was dead.
Men who hadn’t decided to support her, either ever or at least until she motivated them.
Men who would stand back and watch both her and Otto be massacred rather than remember their loyalty to her goddamn name.
Evelina twisted herself free of Otto’s grip—a feat she doubted she would manage a second time in her life—and moved just a single step forward as she raised her chin. “You missed.”
