I sink onto the coffee table, and both men’s eyes drop to my bare thighs. Instead of scolding them, I take another long drink from my wine glass. “I don’t know you, either of you, so I don’t trust you. But I do know I won’t be doing much in line with my duties as head councilwoman until I can retake my seat.”
The councilman smiles. “Well, I wish you luck.” He moves forward, and the guy behind him has his gun on the councilman faster than I can detect, finger on the trigger. The councilman slips a business card into my hand and backs toward the door.
On the outside, he gives nothing away, but I’ve lived in this cesspool for years. Each little twitch, the beads of sweat on his temples, even the slight tremor in his fingers as he passed me his card gives him away. He might pretend to be unmoved by a gun to the back of his head, but he’s anything but.
He’s gone before I even have a chance to find out how he found me, how he found this place. Which means it’s no longer safe. Damn it. I’m already tired of running, and I haven’t even started yet.
I eye the second man. “And you? Are you here to kill me or protect me?”
He dumps his backpack on the floor and then his coat on top of it, his eyes roaming the room. “That man wasn’t lying. He helped us get your brother to safety after our head councilwoman went all Misery on your brother. He’s at home now, resting and recovering from a likely drug overdose.”
I’m on my feet and heading toward my burner phone before I think about it. But once I start dialing, the other man snatches it from my hand, drops it on the floor, and stomps on it. “That’s not safe to use.”
He digs another device from his pocket and hands it to me. “Just hit number one, and it will autodial to Kai.”
I grind my teeth at his high-handed tone but do as he says because I want to speak to my brother. He answers on the second ring. “Michail? Are you there yet?”
“It’s not your friend, just me.”
“Selena, good. I’m glad he reached you. You called for help, and I sent the best.”
I refrain from telling him his best threatened to stab me. “What am I supposed to do here? I can’t leave the city, or I can’t fight to get my seat back.”
His tone is arctic, even through the phone, and I shiver. “You didn’t ask for help to secure your council seat; you asked for sanctuary. I’m providing it, but you have to go with Michail. Those are my terms.”
He’s reminding me I refused him protection once upon a time. Maybe he’s more my brother than I’ve given him credit for. “Fine, but once I’m safe, I will return to take back what’s mine.”
“I’d expect nothing less from you, little sister.”
I hang up and toss the phone back to the other man—Michail. “So, he says we are going somewhere?”
His gaze shifts around the room. “Let me take a look around first, and then we’ll go. Also, it might give you time to sober up.”
I chug back the rest of the wine while I lock eyes with his. “It takes a lot more than this to get me drunk.”
Gently, I set the glass on the coffee table and throw myself on the couch. If he’s here to protect me, I might as well try to get a little sleep before we leave.
When I lie down, he moves out of my line of sight to do God knows what. The last few days seem to close in on me, and within a few minutes, I’m dozing.
Until someone shakes my shoulder hard enough to nearly drag me off the edge of the couch. I jerk awake in one of those full body muscle-tensing moments and glare at him. “Really? I haven’t had a full night’s sleep in days, and you are going to wake me up now?”
He kneels by the couch, his eyes almost even with mine while I’m sitting. “Let’s get one thing straight to start out. I don’t work for you. Hell, I barely work for your brother. Adrian is the only one who pulls these strings. You so much as take one step out of line, I’ll find a nice retirement community to stash you away. You can spend your days eating frozen meals and playing bingo until someone eventually figures out where you are and finishes the job they started.”
I rub the sleep from my eyes. “For fuck’s sake, just give me a second to wake up.”
A bag lands beside me on the couch. My bag from the look of it. “We are leaving in ten, so I suggest you get it together and be ready to walk out the door when I am.” His tone is dead serious, no give, none of the joking man I met on the subway.