To Tempt A Tiger(61)
“I pretended to be on his side.”
“How could you do that when you knew the truth?”
“He asked me about you, Rose. With my mother’s blood still on his hands, he asked me if your baby could possibly be mine.”
The knife she held clattered onto the granite countertop. She snatched it up and stared at him. “You lied to him to protect us?”
“Of course. Even if Zoe wasn’t mine, I couldn’t risk him thinking she might be.”
“What did you tell him?”
“That I knew for a fact you’d had an affair because I’d tracked down the man in one of my ‘grief stricken’ periods. I even told my father I came close to killing the man. Poured enough real emotion into my lie that he believed me.”
“You’re sure?”
“If he hadn’t, he would have sent someone after you and Zoe while he was hunting Nila. Tigers can…sniff out lies. Scent gives away a lot of emotion. But I’ve spent my entire life learning how to hide who I am and what I really feel from my father. I am very good at deception now.”
That comment made her more than a little nervous, but she pushed the worry aside for later. “If he believed you, how did your brothers get suspicious?”
“They found out I was planning a trip to see you and with that trip coming only five months after we discovered Nila… It’s not hard to see why they might have gotten suspicious. I tried to keep my plans to myself, but obviously, I’m not the only one spying on my siblings.”
“You have a very dysfunctional family, Vlad.”
He snorted.
She started to say more, but noise from the living room stopped her.
“Mommy?”
“In the kitchen, baby.” To Vlad, she said, “We’ll have to finish this later.”
“Not much more to tell, just thought you should know before our trip.”
Zoe wandered into the room then and they switched subjects, but the conversation had left Rose with many more questions. Not the least of which was…if Vlad could lie so well he could fool his own father, would she ever know if he was lying to her? Her trust was already tentative and shaky at best. How could she trust him if she couldn’t believe anything he told her? All that talk of a house in Alaska, a ring hunt, his intentions to propose, had any of that been true or just a lie to make her feel better about their relationship?
And would she ever know the truth?
Chapter Thirteen
Rose was putting dinner on the table when Alexis slammed into the cabin. She looked flushed and anxious.
“Vlad, your brothers found out about this place. They never left Arizona, and they’re on their way here right now. We need to leave tonight.”
Vlad held up his phone. “Just got the word.”
“What? How?” Rose asked. “It’s impossible. This cabin isn’t linked to my family at all except through a friend.”
“Fuck,” Vlad muttered.
“No cursing,” Zoe corrected him.
He gave her a little smile. “Sorry.” To Rose, he said, “They’ve been searching. They must have come across the link and are heading here to check it out. Thought they were checking my homes first after Yuri booked the flight to Alaska.”
Unfortunately, it looked like the flight was a diversion. “What now?” Rose asked.
“If they found this cabin, they know more than I thought they could so soon. They likely know about our flights tomorrow,” Vlad said.
“Does that mean it’s not safe to go anymore? Not that it was safe anyway.”
“Still the best way to protect you and Zoe is to get you in front of the elders,” Alexis said. “But we’re going to have to get there by a different route. Can’t afford to follow a plan the Dubrovskys might know about.”
“Mommy, what wrong? Thought we were still on vacation?”
“We are, baby, but we have to change our plans a bit. You sit down and eat. I’ll go get our bags.”
Alexis sat with Zoe and helped her put together a plate, while Rose hurried to the bedroom. Vlad followed.
“What are we going to do now?” she asked as she pushed the rest of her and Zoe’s gear into their mostly packed bags.
“Drive to Colorado and take a flight from there.”
“Why Colorado?”
“Not tiger territory. There’s only one tiger in the entire state and he’s a Chernikov.” He frowned. “Actually make that two tigers, now that he’s got a mate.”
“Chernikov? Related to Elizaveta?”
“Her grandson. He’s one of the men Alexis considers a brother. It’s his youngest brother who’s engaged to Nila.”