Page 73 of Sinner's Sacrifice

Holy cow.

“How about we get you to look at your new residence to make sure it’s acceptable?” He looked at Mason and Magnus.

“Could you gentlemen escort Darlene to her room and get her settled? Sam will come by in a little while.” He gave them her room number in the employee area of the hotel. Then pretended to think for a moment.

“When was the last time you ate?” He didn’t wait for Darlene’s response, addressing his next sentence to the twins. “Make sure she gets something to eat and some clean, comfortable clothing.”

Both men stilled, straightened up to their full heights, and nodded. “Yes, sir,” they said in unison.

Sometimes, all it took to reassure certain people was to give them a goal or a project.

Yvgeny watched the brothers escort Darlene into the elevator, her weak protests fading as the doors closed and the elevator car descended.

He turned to Sam, who was watching him with her arms over her chest and a gotcha look on her face. Baz was watching her with a slight smile.

Of course, he would find this funny.

“What?” he asked her, with all the innocence he could muster.

“Tell me,” she said. Her tone was hard.

“Tell you...?”

“Why would anyone think kidnapping me would have any power over you?”

Baz began to laugh.

“Why are you laughing, idiot?” Yvgeny said.

Baz continued to chuckle but pointed at him, then at her.

Sam looked at him for a moment, then said to Yvgeny, “I think your cousin is broken.”

That made Baz laugh harder.

The elevator dinged and the doors opened. The sound of someone breathing too hard along with the slap of someone running in dress shoes preceded Yvgeny’s new assistant’s entry into the kitchen.

“What’s the emergency?” he asked, because that’s the only reason why Brian should have come here with no notice.

“I just got off the phone with a...a lady. She says she’s your aunt, and she’s getting on an airplane to come here within the next hour.”

“Oh joy,” Yvgeny said to the ceiling.

Baz stopped laughing. “Damn it, she’s supposed to stay in Europe.”

Brian cleared his throat. “She said to tell you she’s thrilled with your discovery.” The young man audibly gulped. “Sir, she sounded like...like...”

“Spit it out, Brian. I won’t take offense.”

“She was laughing, sir, but there wasn’t anything happy about it.”

Yvgeny rubbed his face with one hand. “No, I’m sure there wasn’t.” He met his cousin’s gaze. “This is not good.”

“This is going to be a fucking shit show,” Baz said.

“What’s wrong with your aunt?” Sam asked.

“She’s very...controlling.”