Her Rogue Russian(21)

 

"So you trust me," Maxim insisted. "I can work with that."

 

"I may be forced to trust you, but that doesn't mean I trust your family." Savannah crossed her arms and held her ground firmly as Maxim rose up beside her. "To be frank, I'm almost certain it was someone in the Karev-Ivankov family who murdered your father. At some point very soon, Max, I'm going to have to arrest someone close to you, or worse." She didn't bother clarifying what the 'worst' was; they both knew the dangerous bloodline he came from. "And I guarantee you're not going to want to work out a 'deal' with me then. Not the kind you're thinking of, anyway."

 

She watched his expression darken like a storm front. A lesser man or woman would have likely rescinded what she said, or even apologized, but Savannah had never been one to beat around the bush. It was a good reminder, for both of them, just what the stakes were.

 

"You think the killer is someone in my own family?" Maxim demanded. "My uncle, maybe, or one of my brothers? And you didn't think to tell me sooner? You told me I was going back in to investigate my father's death, Savannah-you never told me you would use the information I brought back to you against my own family."

 

"Don't," she said.

 

"Don't what?" Maxim asked flatly.

 

"Don't look that way. Don't go all introspective on me." Savannah gestured to him. "You're the primary suspect in this case to everyone but me, in case you've forgotten, and that includes the family of criminals you speak so highly of. You don't think one of your beloved brothers wouldn't throw you under the bus if he thought he could get away with it?"

 

"No," Maxim said. But there was a flicker of something there, a shadow of uncertainty that passed across his face before it was gone again. Savannah pounced on it. She had to make her point.  

 

"You aren't your father's killer, Maxim, but justice is a two-way street. You don't get to be innocent and decide to take the fall for somebody else. If someone in your family murdered Sergey, then you let me handle it. You walk away and let them fry. And you don't even think about trying to give a false confession."

 

"Assuming that's what I'm thinking."

 

"Assuming that's what you're thinking."

 

She couldn't banish the memory of the way he had thrown himself between her and the bike. It had come instinctively, naturally, his desire to protect and defend. Hell, some of the bureau's top agents didn't even have that kind of loyalty ingrained in them. If Maxim was half the man she suspected he was, then Savannah doubted she was very far off the mark in thinking he would take the fall for someone else in his family.

 

Neither of them backed down. Instead, they stood in thunderous silence, glaring into each other's eyes. This was what she had wanted, Savannah thought forlornly, as Maxim turned away eventually to answer a buzzing from his cellphone. This was supposed to be a return to normalcy for them. She was an FBI agent and he was her underworld contact: if their interests aligned, they could only be limited in scope, and it was better for them both that they remembered that.

 

Then why did it feel so abnormal to be at odds with him?

 

"Gordy," Maxim intoned as he picked up the call.

 

"Gordy Safin," Savannah murmured to herself. Maxim raised his eyes, but didn't confirm nor deny the identity of the caller. The Safins were heavily involved in mob security and had taken over most of Maxim's responsibilities when the latter had defected. Gordy Safin was the father; he was grooming his son, Lukas, to fully take over Maxim's vacated position. All of this Savannah knew from the bureau's confidential files on the Karevs and their associates-so much for learning nothing from paperwork.

 

Gordy carried the majority of the conversation. Maxim kept silent, his lips tightly compressed, only nodding occasionally in affirmation at something that was said. Savannah took the break in their own conversation to find her own T-shirt and trade it out for Maxim's. She held it out to him as a peace offering as he hung up the phone.

 

"Gordy wants to meet. Says he knows more about the murder than is safe to say over the phone."

 

Savannah's eyebrow lifted. "What? He wants to meet now?"

 

Maxim nodded, reclaiming his shirt and pulling it over his head.

 

"Then I'm coming with you," she said. He looked about to protest, but she held up her hand to stall him. "Tell him he interrupted a date, and you had no choice but to bring me. You can park your bike and leave me if you want to. I'm just not comfortable letting you go into this totally alone."

 

"Gordy is a family friend," Maxim stated. "But then, I guess I know your opinion of my family."