Page 51 of Sinner's Sacrifice
“We must go to the police station.”
“No, that’s not what I meant. I mean, you and I.” she waved her index finger between the two of them. “We are a bad idea.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re the head of multiple corporations, your social circle is several light years above mine, and I’m your employee.”
He opened his mouth to debunk at least the first two of her points and there were ways around the third, but she wasn’t finished.
“Besides, I have no interest in being your latest girlfriend, mistress, or whatever you call it.”
Her words stabbed him in the gut.
“I want a commitment—.”
He almost laughed. She had no idea how long of a commitment he was willing to make. Not for as long as she lived, but for as long as he lived.
“Between equals,” she said.
“You think I’m not capable of a commitment?” He sighed dramatically. “I guess I need to work harder to prove I’m up to your exacting standards.”
Her responding scowl could have stripped paint.
He backed away. “There should be another black uniform in the closet,” he said. “Please put it on, to humor my paranoid delusions, if for no other reason.”
As he ducked out of the room, he heard her say quite clearly, “Paranoid delusions are right.”
He smiled to himself as he texted Mason about their plan to go to the police station and a request to get the car ready. Again.
Watching Sam haltingly get in and out of the car was painful, because he knew if he did anything to help her, she’d verbally rip him a new one. She had that expression on her face that women get when they’re angry with something a stupid man said.
Well, he was the man and both he and what he said must have been extremely stupid, because if she kept this up, his clothes would catch fire.
The drive to the police station where Nika worked at took about twenty minutes, which wasn’t bad at 11:00 am. There was nowhere to park, so Mason left them at the main entrance. Yvgeny would call when they were ready for a pickup.
He stayed close to Sam as they walked up the couple of steps to the doors. He got in front of her to open the doors, and her scowl got deeper.
Once inside, Yvgeny stuck close to her while looking for Baz or Nika.
Baz waved from a spot not too far away against a wall.
Sam must have seen him too, because she headed his way without any encouragement.
Baz led them deeper into the building and into a conference room complete with a table seating eight and a whiteboard. Yvgeny closed the door behind him.
Seated at the table were Nika and two men who were dressed in the typical cheap suits detectives wore. He’d met these men before. Both were younger members on her team. Another man stood at the head of the table, his arms crossed over his chest. He stared at Yvgeny with a stony expression on his face.
Nika got to her feet. “Yvgeny Breznik, this is my lieutenant, Roger Benson. I believe you know everyone else.”
Yvgeny nodded at the room at large but gave the lieutenant a nod of his own, then gestured at Sam. “Samantha Dubets is a paramedic I have on staff when she isn’t working with the street people of Manhattan. She operates out of a couple of free clinics.”
“Thank you for bringing Ms. Dubets,” Benson said, his tone flat. “Will you be returning for her after we’ve finished getting her statement?”
“Certainly not.” Yvgeny smiled at the man. “I’m staying to provide support to my employee.”
“That’s not necessary,” the lieutenant said with a frown. “This could take some time, and you have a business to run.” There was a slight emphasis on the word business that, to Yvgeny’s ears, made the word mean something illegal.
Yvgeny waved his hand, casually brushing aside Benson’s subtle accusation. “I insist.”