I frowned at her implication. “He will be there,” I said.
Her eyes flew to mine, and I could see the panic spark in them.
“He cannot harm you. Won’t even dare try,” I said.
She was skeptical. Her expression said that and more. “You don’t know him. He might try anything. I never know what,” she said and then she looked away.
“Fawn.”
Head still averted, she did not meet my eyes.
“Fawn,” I repeated, voice firm. She finally turned to me.
“Do you know what happened when I took you, when you decided to stay?”
Her eyes widened, and she shook her head quickly.
“You came under my protection, under the protection of Clan Petran. No one will ever harm you. Ever.”
At her sharp inhale, I looked down and realized I had clenched my fist, didn’t doubt that my face reflected the vehemence I felt. Silence reigned as I stared at her before I finally said, “So what did I say?”
“You said that I am under your protection and the protection of Clan Petran. That no one will ever hurt me.”
I nodded approvingly. “And know this: I always keep my word. If he touches you, even looks at you wrong, he will pay with his life.”
After a few tense moments, she nodded and then looked out the window. “We’re here,” she said.
Fawn
I didn’t recognize the huge gated house we drove up to, but I knew what awaited me inside. There were several limos gathered in the circular driveway and twice as many menacing figures milling around, some with small machine guns. It could have been a gathering of senators, business leaders. Some of them, especially David, liked to think of themselves as such. But it was a facade, beautifully crafted but fake. The danger and misery beneath that facade was not.
As we exited the limo, I tried to calm my pounding heart and prayed David wouldn’t be here, though I knew without a doubt that he would. I also tried to choke back the desire to grab Vasile and hide behind him, beg him to take me away.
Instead, I settled on admiring him. His suit fit perfectly, the jacket cut to show the breadth of his shoulders, his trim waist, the light gray color a perfect complement to the brown of his hair and iciness of his eyes.
It was so different than his usual attire, though I couldn’t say better. There was something honest about the way he usually dressed. It told me he didn’t pretend, that he knew what and who he was and didn’t need to hide behind clothes. It was impressive, a quality I had rarely seen. One I deeply admired.
A spark of desire flared in my stomach as I reflected on that, watched him move with ease and grace and comfort as if he had no question about his place in the world. As annoyed as I’d been, as nervous as I’d been, as nervous as I still was, the attraction toward him, the desire that, as insane as it was, he always stoked in my body hit me like a sledgehammer, made me wish we were anywhere but here, but not to avoid the situation. So I could be with him, feel his strong, powerful body above me again, inside me again.
He glanced at me, and I looked away quickly, feeling a deep flush of embarrassment, though I had no way of knowing if he could tell the direction of my thoughts. I faintly heard the click of heels and turned toward the sound and met Natasha’s gaze. Her little knowing smile told me she was well aware of what I was thinking, and I couldn’t help but grin at her.
That little interlude having relieved some of the tension that had twisted in my stomach, I sped up to stand next to Vasile, feeling almost confident.
“Welcome, Mr. Petran,” a tall, thin Hispanic man said in greeting when we reached the double front doors.
“Vargas.” Vasile gave the faintest nod but did not lift his hand. The other man didn’t seem deterred, and instead waved his extended hand to welcome us in. Fortunately, he didn’t even glance in my direction.
We entered a grand entryway with an enormous crystal chandelier and then continued to a large dining room that held a sixteen-seat table, one that was filled by women like me, each more beautiful than the last, showpieces for the array of dangerous-looking men they accompanied.
But all of them, even Vasile, Natasha, and Sorin seemed to disappear when I met David’s eyes. He smiled brightly, looking almost like the charming man that had initially won me over. But there was retribution in his gaze, a promise of payback for the embarrassment he’d experienced, though none of it was my fault. It seldom had been, but that had never insulated me from punishment and wouldn’t in the future.
I flinched ever so slightly when Vasile touched my arm, and for a millisecond, his face turned down in a frown. But he recovered quickly and led me down the long table and sat directly across from David, his eyes never leaving the other man. I sat next to him, trying to remember what Vasile had said, trying to remember David had no power over me anymore.