Page 66 of Hate to Love You
“Oh, I see so your little rule about no guns at dinner only ever applies to us?”
“Exactly,” I reply with an unapologetic smirk. “Someone has to maintain order around here and I’m the only one I can trust to not lose my shit when things inevitably get heated, as they so often seem to do.”
“The only one?” She asks, raising her brow, pointing to herself.
“Well, the only one who carries a gun,” I smile at her. “You know, since you seem to think you can just use your words to diffuse a deadly situation.”
Anastasia rolls her eyes.
“I never said that, Roman. I said that statistically speaking if you carry a deadly weapon, you’re more likely to be assaulted with a deadly weapon.”
“Well, if you don’t carry a deadly weapon, and are attacked with a deadly weapon, then you’re going to be dead.”
“That’s why I have Kane,” she smiles at me. “Kane carries a deadly weapon and is practically one himself.”
“Which reminds me, where is the dedicated bodyguard I assigned to you, sister?”
She opens her mouth to say something before shifting and clearing her throat, looking uncomfortable.
“He’s…at my building.”
“Oh, I know,” I say, pulling out my phone, scrolling through my texts. “Good to know that he’s clearly doing his job.”
“Don’t go biting his head off or anything,” she snaps at me. “I’m the one who told him to stay behind. I’m not in danger with all of you,” she scoffs defensively. “At least I shouldn’t be, considering it’s family.”
“Well, statistically speaking,” I say, patting my gun belt. “With our family, that’s when you’re in the most danger.”
“I’m not even going to try and unpack the ridiculousness of that statement,” she says, throwing her hands in the air.
“Good, we never agree on this debate anyway.”
“My personal opinions are not a debate, Roman!”
“No,” I smile at her arrogantly. “They’re just wrong,”
“Annnnyway,” she groans, clearly annoyed. “I do have something else to discuss with you. Two actually.”
She reaches into her large tan purse and pulls out a file.
“Tell me in the car,” I say as we step out into the foyer. “I’ll give you a ride home.”
“You’re not staying here tonight?”
“Definitely not,” I snort. “I never do.”
“What, are you afraid that father’s ghost might haunt you in your sleep?” She says, wiggling her fingers at me mockingly.
“Oh no, dad is welcome to come haunt me,” I wink at her, clicking my tongue. “But if he’s making the trip from hell, it’s going to be to the penthouse I paid ten million to have remodeled this year. God, I’d love to know I was making the bastard jealous from beyond the veil.”
Ana snorts quietly.
The two of us nod silently to Mrs. Devan, the widowed housekeeper who maintains the Antonov Estate, before walking out to the car. We’ve barely made it down the driveway before she shifts in her seat, opening one of the files.
“It’s Polina,” she says softly. “We all know how toxic her relationship was with Igor, and how much they hated each other. So, her reaction at the hospital felt so…odd.”
“Well, not that I want to make excuses for her, of all people,” I say. “But it’s easier to hate someone that’s still breathing. Much harder once they’re gone.”
“Right, I get that,” Ana says, folding her arms across her chest. “But I couldn’t help but feel like all of this was just a little over the top. Especially given the fight the two of them had the day before.”