“What is it?” Sydney asked Maksim. They were lingering by the playpen.
“Business. You two, go take a few spins around and see what you can learn. Call Alek or me with an update when you have one.” He was speaking to Sergei in Russian. “If they aren’t already on scene, contact our NYPD and FDNY guys and get them in to keep the others from seeing anything they shouldn’t. I want to know if anyone was inside when it went. Motherfucker!”
Alekzander came over, his thumbs flying around the screen of his phone with some mad typing skills. “Vasily wants to know if you can check the new surveillance cameras from your phone?”
“Tell him I’m downloading footage from the last few days right now.”
Sacha saw Sergei look over sharply, pause, and then rush out with Reynard. That was when Maksim’s gaze clashed with hers. He threw up his hands, obviously just realizing she’d understood every word they’d said.
“Told you. One of ours,” Micha muttered by the window as he hung up from a call only to place another one.
“She won’t repeat anything she hears,” Alek said with a pointed look that made her stomach flutter because it landed on her mouth. “Not when I tell her Maks is only keeping this type of thing quiet because Sydney has recently been through a tough time and she doesn’t need any more stress in her life.”
“I have no intention of interfering in anyone’s relationship,” Sacha reassured them, finding it ridiculous that she had to.
Sydney settled on her back leg and crossed her arms over her chest, her white faux-fur coat making her look like a snow princess. She glared at them all as they continued in Russian.
“What happened?” Sacha asked, giving her new friend an apologetic look for shutting her out.
“Our warehouse in Brighton Beach just blew sky high,” Alekzander surprisingly shared in a controlled tone. His focus was on Maksim, who had his hands stuffed in his pockets and his furious eyes on the door.
Sacha was impressed by Alekzander’s calm. “Was anyone hurt? Do you have to go there?”
“No. Definitely not. The property was purchased under a dummy company the authorities can’t trace, so one of us showing would be foolish. Our people will take care of it.”
It was all Sacha could do not to slip her arms around his neck and plant the warmest of kisses on that information offering mouth. It touched her deeply that he trusted her enough to tell her these things. Especially now.
Rather than give their audience a show, she went with socially acceptable and just gave his wrist a squeeze. She hoped the smile she gave him conveyed her appreciation.
“Wooow,” Sydney said as she went to stand toe to toe with her fiancé. “He didn’t give her a lot, but enough to put her mind at ease. You know, I could understand if you’d been there and you didn’t want to tell me about the explosion because you could have been severely injured or killed. I get that. I do. Because you’d be right. I’d lose a week’s sleep over what I would have been left with. But to keep me in the dark because you think I’m too sensitive to handle some bad news? Really, Russia?”
Maksim stared down at the little blonde for a moment, and then laughed, the sound more impressed than anything. “How the fuck do you know what we’re talking about?”
Sydney looked exasperated. “Because I was born with a brain that quickly picks up languages and Vasily arranged for me to see a tutor behind your back. Now you’ve ruined my surprise.” She looked at Sacha. “When the time came, I wanted to be able to recite my wedding vows in Russian. Wouldn’t that have been romantic? So much for that idea. Why would a romantic woman like me even marry a secretive, closed-lipped—”
Maksim scooped her up around the waist and carried her toward the bathroom. Sydney clung to his arm like a little doll. “I swear to God I’m going to gain a hundred pounds so he can’t do this to me anymore,” she muttered as she went by.
The door closed, and Sacha waited for a moment before turning to Alekzander. “They are a funny couple.”
“Yeah.” He was looking at the bathroom with a small smile. “Even though she kept it from him, her making that gesture got him. Did you see his face?”
Sacha hadn’t noticed. But it said a lot that Alekzander had.
NINETEEN
Alek looked out the window of the limo as they passed a gas station and then some average-sized family homes before the forest on either side of them became denser. The driveway they eventually turned into was wide, the gate in front of them tall, daunting, and marked with an ornate T that split when the sensor Micha obviously had in his possession gave it the all-clear to part ways.