Eva glared at her husband. “You mean like it was better for me not to know all the stuff that kept us apart for seven years? You better tell this woman what happened to her man.”
Alexei rubbed a hand over his face. “Kotenok, it is not so simple.”
“What? Did he make you pinky swear to worry his girlfriend, the mother of his child, to death as opposed to letting her know what was going on?” Eva asked.
“No, he did not have to swear me to secrecy,” Alexei answered. “We are both honorable men. We know not to involve our women in the dirtier aspects of our business.”
His tone said in every way that this subject was off limits, but Eva just held up her hand and said, “Wait a minute, he didn’t explicitly tell you not tell her what was going on?”
Alexei sighed as if he was dealing with a frustrating child. “He didn’t have to tell me. Like I said, we are both honorable men—”
Eva cut him off again. “Lexie, you better tell this woman what’s going on.”
Alexei started to shake his head.
“And before you start shaking your head, let me just tell you how this is going to go. If you don’t start talking right now, then Aaron and I are going to move in with Tasha here until further notice.”
Alexei opened his mouth.
“And don’t say I can’t take Aaron. You know that boy of ours is not going to let his mama move somewhere by herself. He’ll be coming with me even if he misses you. And at first you’ll hold on to your pride and stay away, but then you’ll get to missing having your family all around and you know how you love to fuss over me. How are you going to know I’m not over here doing all sorts of heavy-lifting and drinking caffeinated beverages?”
“You would not endanger our daughter like that,” Alexei insisted. “You want her just as badly as I do.”
Her face melted in sympathetic agreement. “Of course, I do, baby. I’m so happy we made this child together and of course, I’m going to try my best to take care of myself when I’m walking up and down those rickety stairs and fumbling for the coffee in the morning. I trust myself to get through this pregnancy unscathed, the question is do you want to leave all that stuff up to chance just so you don’t have to tell Lacey what’s going on?”
Alexei folded his arms, his face a thundercloud of anger as another Rachmaninoff piece played furiously in the background.
But in the end, he said, “Fine, but heed me close, kotenok, there will be consequences for your manipulations tonight after Aaron has gone to bed.”
Eva threw him a saucy smile. “And I’m looking forward to them. Now talk.”
Alexei sighed and turned to Lacey. “You described Nakamura as a hit man, but he is more than that. He does not simply kill. He is what those in need of his services would call a handler. Some years ago, I contracted him to handle the person who was trying to keep Eva and I apart.”
Eva’s eye widened. “You mean this is the guy who killed…” She trailed off, obviously not wanting to say the name of the person who had been standing between them.
Alexei gave a short nod, “He also handled the man who had been dispatched to kill you.” His eyes went back to Lacey. “Ever since then, I have been asking him to become the head of security for Rustanov Enterprises. We have many enemies throughout the world and a man of his talents would serve us well. However, he turned down my offers. At first because he worked alone, and then because he was happy letting his partner do the work he did not like. I told him they both could come work for me, but Nakamura said he liked having the freedom to cherry pick their cases. Though I am not one to give up on a pursuit, I had nearly given up on bringing Nakamura into the Rustanov empire. However, a few days before Thanksgiving, I received a call.
“Nakamura said he would come work for me, but he had two conditions. He wanted to work out of Chicago as much as possible, and he wanted use of my private jet to fly his son and one other person to and from school for major holidays. Of course, I agreed.”
Alexei’s face clouded over. “But then a few days ago, I received another call from him. He said something had come up and he had to delay coming to work for me until further notice, due to the Hector Mendez situation.”
Lacey shook her head confused. “You mean he’s going to try to kill Hector Mendez?”
Alexei shook his head. “I am afraid it is not that simple. With men such as Mendez, it is not enough to kill them. To truly handle such a problem, Nakamura must not only kill Hector Mendez, but also any person who might want to avenge his death—in this case a couple of allies, one of which resides in the Dominican Republic. It is a very dangerous mission, one that might require sacrifices that may mean Nakamura would not be able to return to your side.”
Lacey covered her hand with her mouth. “You’re trying to say Suro might die trying to kill these men, all because of me?”
“You see why I thought it better you did not know? But do not fret. Nakamura made a separate deal with me. He’s made me the main beneficiary of his will in exchange for protecting you, Sparkle, Kenji and your child in the event of his death.”
“You took that man’s money?” Eva asked him. “You should have volunteered.”
“That is not how these things work, kotenok. I would have of course done him this favor without him leaving me his money, considering what he did. But a man such as Nakamura does not receive charity. The only way he could trust I would do as I said is if I agreed to his terms.”
“Well, can you send men to help him out with his mission? Give him some back up?” Eva asked, her voice growing hysterical. “I can’t believe he’s out there by himself.”
“He works alone. This is how he prefers it,” Alexei answered.
“Who cares what he wants? He’s got a woman who’s about to have his baby waiting for him.”
But Lacey cut her off with a squeeze of her hand. “It’s okay,” she said.
“It’s not okay,” Eva said, indignantly. “I’m pregnant and I don’t know what I’d do if Alexei was out there on some dangerous mission I didn’t know if he’d come back from.”
“He will come back,” Lacey said, rubbing a hand over her stomach. “He promised me he’d never leave me like my father did. He promised me. And he’s the kind of man who always keeps his promises.”
Before Eva could say anything else, she asked Alexei. “Did he say when he’d be back?”