“Isa?”
I looked at Ana.
“If it makes you feel better, I’ll let you sleep with Adrian.”
“The hell she will.” Sebastian’s roar was almost comical, and I would have laughed if I wasn’t so pissed.
“Ana, babe,” Adrian said with a slight amused tone. “I don’t think that’s a solution. Besides, if my dick goes anywhere near another woman, you’ll cut it off.”
“I suppose you’re right. The thought does make me stabby.”
They walked out of the library, still talking.
Sebastian went to lock the door and then came back to me.
“We need to get something straight.” He towered over me. “There’s only one woman I plan to fuck, as you put it, for the rest of my life. And that’s you.”
I opened my mouth to argue that point, but shut it. He was right. Being jealous of something that happened before we knew each other was ridiculous. I’d had relationships and lovers before him. Though I wasn’t sure I’d ever want Sebastian to meet any of them.
“Nothing to say?”
“So, do we just pretend nothing ever happened with you and Ana?”
“It’s the way it works. Once a case is over, we debrief and walk away.” He cupped my jaw, tilting it up.
I stared into his dark irises. The pain of another lie made me question whether it was possible to have any sort of real relationship with him.
“Isa, when Jonas forced my hand to accept our marriage, I was angry and determined to live my life as I always had. Which meant all my focus was on my job and completing my assignments by any means necessary.
“I wasn’t expecting to feel this way about you. But now that you’re mine, my priorities have changed. I’m never letting you go. You’re it for me.”
This wasn’t a declaration of love, but it was something.
I was so tired of being in the dark. I needed things to be transparent between us. It wasn’t as if leaving him was an option.
“I need one promise from you.”
“What?” A slight crease formed between his brows.
“No more lying to me.”
“I haven’t lied to you.”
“Lies by omission are still lies.”
He nodded. “Then I guess I’d better tell you one more thing.”
“You mean why you so readily agreed to leave Germany? Or how you had a plane, destination, and itinerary ready in less than an hour without worrying about the operations of your organization?”
Sebastian winced. “Noticed that, did you?”
“I’m not stupid, and your actions would have been obvious to a blind man. What’s going on, Baz?”
“The last thing I’d believe about you is that you’re stupid. Let’s sit down for this.” He led me to a set of chairs near us.
Instead of letting me take my own seat, he sat, and then pulled me onto his lap. He set a hand across my thighs and the other on my back, pulling me against him.
He was quiet as if waiting for some sign.
“Spill it,” I ordered.
He inhaled deep. “Jonas arranged for my mother’s murder.”
That wasn’t what I expected to hear. “What? How did you find out?”
“We discovered it after I threw Jonas out of his house.”
“Why didn’t you tell me sooner? You seemed fine this whole time.”
“I’ve spent the last ten years mourning my mother and sister. My gut told me Jonas was involved, but I tried to ignore it. Knowing the truth doesn’t change the fact they’re gone. In a sense it was closure.”
His words seemed so calm, but there was no way he wasn’t affected by the news that his father was responsible for his mother and sister’s deaths.
Sometimes it surprised me how much Sebastian was like Papa. Papa hadn’t shed a tear when Opa passed away. It was business as usual. The only indication Papa missed Opa was the way he’d touch Opa’s picture every morning as he passed it in the hallway.
“Closure doesn’t mean you don’t feel. The news had to have been devastating.”
“I won’t lie, my heart aches from the loss of them, but letting the pain overwhelm me won’t bring them back. It’s the threat to you that has me wanting to kill Jonas with my bare hands.”
“Threat?”
“Jonas followed us from the beginning. He had pictures of us at Emma’s and at my club. He knew we were together before our wedding. And with you, he found the perfect leverage against me. You’re the one person I’d tear the world down to protect.”
From the intensity of his words and the way he held my gaze, I knew he was telling the truth.
Breaking eye contact, I said, “And?”
“And he negotiated to sell you to Malkovich, the head of a Russian organization trying to gain a larger territory in Germany, in exchange for a favor of support when Jonas tried to take back the family from me.” He clenched his jaw. “As of right now, there are orders to take you by any means necessary and deliver you to Malkovich’s family home outside Moscow.”
“I don’t understand. Why would he want me? As far as I know, I haven’t had any dealings with any Russian in my work.”
“According to the transcripts we found of conversations Jonas recorded, Malkovich wants you to breed the next generation of his line. You come from one of the most powerful families in Europe. He’s trying to establish a stronghold in Germany, and you seemed to be his key.”
What the fuck?
“Not happening. There is no way in hell I would ever let him touch me.”
Sebastian’s arms tightened around me. “If the bastard got his hands on you, he’d use any means necessary to make sure it happened.”
A chill went down my spine. Whoever this bastard was would resort to raping me to achieve whatever demented vision he had.
“And so, when I insisted we leave the country, you agreed, seeing it as a win-win without telling me the whole of it.”
“I didn’t want to scare you.”
“I was already scared. I
