“Where’s the bag of cash?”
Alex lifts her face from my neck and shrugs, handing it over. I’m still blinking in surprise when Mikhail goes to the door. He waits for the people in the parking lot to disappear before he opens the door, spilling sunlight into the shed.
He glances over his shoulder. “I wish you both the best. I hope you know that. You gave my brother a good life while he was here.”
“Thanks for the help, kid,” I respond once I shake myself from my shock. “Be careful.”
“You too.”
When the door shuts, the shadows return, crowding around Alex and me. I embrace her so hard that I’m afraid I’ll break her in half, and I don’t relax my grip until I hear the telltale squeak that alerts me of her need for air. Even then, I’m tempted to hug the life out of her, every fiber of my body finally reacting to the event that happened upstairs.
“No one is ever going to land a hand on you again,” I swear. “You hear me, precious?”
“I hear you, baby.”
When she tilts her head, I steal her lips, feeling an understanding pass between us. I’ve shown her I’m a man of my word, and she’s proved her allegiance tenfold by providing support. She’s pledged herself to me—to us—and that’s not something I take lightly.
I have to trust her. If I don’t, our plans fall apart and we’re left picking up the pieces of our empires without any help. That’s not something I can allow to happen. It’s not something I want to happen either. Clutching her to my chest makes me emotional, but I don’t feel inclined to hide from those emotions anymore, embracing them as I would her.
“Thank you,” she whispers. “You did what you said you would.”
“Why would I lie to you?”
She chortles. “I can think of a few reasons.”
“Well, that’s…” I fade off while shoving my nose into her hair, inhaling sweet vanilla into my lungs like it’s going to save my life. And maybe it already has. “Yeah, I can understand that.”
“It’s always weird when you agree with me.”
I grunt. “Understanding isn’t agreement.”
“I think you agreed with me.”
“I think you’re just hearing what you want to hear.”
She tilts her head and smiles, wrinkling her nose with a knowing expression that irritates me so much that I want to fuck the smugness out of her. But I can do that later.
“Whatever,” she says. “Let’s get back. Soren said he’s doing his task later tonight.”
She leads me out of the shed and back to her car, where she kisses my cheek before starting the car. Ages ago, I would have insisted on being in the driver’s seat, on being the one to call the shots. But I trust her. And I can’t imagine how I might ever live my life without doing that.