Page 61 of His Forbidden Obsession

Remington studied her for a moment. “What you could do was come here and eavesdrop on our plans.”

“Yes. I like your plan. I want to help.”

“No,” Dante said at the same time as Remington.

After giving Dante a look that silenced him, Remington said, “We’ll keep you safe if Nikolai vouches for you, but you will be under our control until your father is dead.”

“I escaped him. Doesn’t that make me useful?”

“It makes you brave, but I’m not trusting anyone but family with this operation.”

“Where is Nikolai? I want to see him.”

I took a step forward. “What do you want with Nikolai?”

“I want to find out what you’ve done with him. How badly is he hurt?”

“You say we shouldn’t harm you, then you accuse us of kidnapping Nikolai,” Remington said. “Which is it? Are you an ally or not?”

“I’m a friend of anyone who wants to bring my father down, but I want to know that Nikolai is safe. He’s done nothing wrong. He deserves his freedom.”

“We didn’t kidnap him,” I said. “He escaped.”

She looked back and forth between the others. “I’ll handle this,” Remington said. “Nikolai escaped with the help of his mother. His father beat him and broke his arm, but we’re taking care of him now.”

“I want to talk to him.”

“Have you met in person?” Remington asked.

“Yes.”

“So he can vouch for you?”

“Yes, though I don’t know why you think I would break in here if I were anyone else.”

“Your father has made some dangerous plans. Why wouldn’t I believe he sent you here as a spy?”

Her fierce glare nearly had me taking a step back. “I am not working for my father.”

“We’ll see what Nikolai has to say about that.” He looked at me. “Call Lancelot.”

23

NIKOLAI

Ijumped when the balcony door slid open.

Lancelot held up his hands. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“It’s okay. Is anything wrong?”

“There’s a young woman who says she’s here to visit you.”

I frowned at him. “A woman?”

“Yes, she claims to be Ivanov’s daughter, but since none of us have seen her, we can’t confirm her identity.”

Was that really possible? “Alina is here?”