His Good Girl

Carter’s wild eyes bounced from Ivan to Dmitry, and down to Winter.

“Winter, you can’t let them do this,” he pleaded.

I moved so my body blocked her from Carter’s view. “You don’t get to speak to her anymore, unless she wishes you to. Now, be a good boy and go with Ivan. Like he said, it’ll be less painful if you cooperate.”

Carter gawked at me for several moments before his shoulders slumped forward in defeat. With slow, hesitant steps, he allowed Ivan to steer him away through the crowd. When they had disappeared from sight, I turned with my arm still around Winter’s tiny waist and began leading her back to the museum entrance.

“Wh-where are we going?” she asked in a terrified whisper.

“I’m getting you out of here,” I explained. “We have to talk, and I’d rather we do it alone.”

13

Winter

I didn’t know what the hell to think.

I was scared and confused, my heart pulsing so wildly it felt like it was close to exploding from my chest, and my mind was such a whirl that I couldn’t do anything but allow Dmitry to escort me back out to the limo. I couldn’t even process everything that had happened. William’s surprise appearance, followed by Mr. Maslow’s complete take-down of him …

The only clear thought I had was that he knew. He knew! He knew I’d been lying to him. Knew I’d been spying on him.

Then he’d sent William away with a giant, lethal looking mobster.

What was he going to do to me?

When we reached the limo, the driver opened the door and Mr. Maslow pressed his hand on the small of my back to urge me inside. After a moment of hesitation, I ducked into the vehicle and he followed me. The door slamming behind us felt like a jail cell sliding closed.

Mr. Maslow pressed a button on the ceiling, and the partition between us and the front of the limo rose, blocking us from the driver’s view. We were, for all intents and purposes, alone.

I didn’t know what to say. I cowered in the corner of the seat and stared at him. He didn’t look at me. Instead, he leaned forward so that his elbows rested on his knees and let out a heavy sigh.

“Winter, please stop that trembling. I’m not going to hurt you.”

I tried to obey, but my body wouldn’t listen.

“I-I’m not sure what all you know, but—”

“For one, I know who you really are.” He finally turned his gaze up to meet mine, and I was surprised that there was no anger blazing in his icy blue eyes. “I know you’re Carter’s daughter.”

My trembling stopped as dread coursed through my body, paralyzing me.

“How do you know that?” I whispered, scared to death of his response.

He leaned back in the seat. “My father had ties to the Russian mob. I’m completely legitimate, but I’ve maintained some of his old contacts in case I need assistance with special projects. Like you, Winter.”

“I’m a special project?” What the hell did that even mean?

He nodded. “Very special. Ivan, the brute back at the gala, dug up as much information on you as he could find. I knew Carter would try something with the McAllister Holdings account on the line, so I’ve taken extra precautions with my security. He discovered who you really were, and he also found out about your mother.”

My back went rigid. Suddenly, my fear was washed away as the need to protect my mom flooded through me.

“You leave her alone,” I snarled, picturing the woman who’d lovingly raised me and sacrificed everything. “She’s got nothing to do with this. If you go anywhere near my mom, I swear to God I’ll …”

He held up his hands. “Enough. I’m not going to hurt your mother, but I don’t think you’re being truthful when you say she has nothing to do with this. I think she has everything to do with this, and with why you haven’t continued with school, or started any real life to speak of.” Lowering his hands, he locked his gaze with mine. “Your mother’s very sick, isn’t she, krasavitsa?”

I blinked at him, disarmed by the compassion brimming in his eyes. Tears pricked at my own as I opened myself up in order to confess everything to him.

“She has Early-onset Alzheimer’s, but I’m sure you knew that.” I swallowed, a stabbing pain ripping at my heart. “She’s in a care facility outside the city. It’s the best available, but it was too expensive for me to afford. William … my father … he wasn’t in the picture when I was growing up. He abandoned mom when she told him she was pregnant. I met him for the first time when I was a junior in high school, but I didn’t want anything to do with him. I didn’t want anything from him, until—”