In a Broken Dream (The Broken Series Book 4) (17 page)

“Shae!”
Alyssa cried. She ran out from behind the desk and gave Shae the same warm
welcome she’d given me. “It’s so good to see you! I’m so glad you’re back! Uh…
who’s that?”

Shae
looked pointedly at me. “That’s Chance, the bodyguard
her
boyfriend
assigned to me.” She didn’t sound very pleased.

Chance
stepped forward. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Alyssa. Nice seeing you again,
Kristine.” He reached for Jase’s hand. “It’s good to see you again, man. Have
you had an opportunity to inspect the office?”

“Just
the lobby,” Jase replied. “We need to do something about that door and install
a silent alarm under the receptionist’s desk.”

I
reached for Jase’s arm. “Alright. That’s enough. You’re scaring Alyssa. I’ll
take you guys back to meet Paul so you can figure out how best to resolve your
security concerns.”

“I’m
going to hang out here,” Chance interjected. “One of us should be monitoring
the lobby at all times.” He glanced at Alyssa. “Is this the only entrance into
your office suite?”

Alyssa
sank into the chair behind the desk. “Yes.”

Shae
huffed out a breath. “Please, make him stay in the lobby, Jase. He’s driving me
insane!”

“I
think she likes me,” Chance surmised with a wink.

Shae
stalked toward her office. “Do not.”

“Do
too,” he argued. Chance was cute. He was muscular but lean with sandy blond
hair and light blue eyes. I suspected he was right, although I wasn’t sure how
well that was going to work out for him with Konstantin still in the picture.

“You,”
Shae pointed at me. “Your boyfriend said he was going to assign someone to
watch over me for a couple of days. That was over two months ago. When is this
going to stop?”

I
tried not to smile. I was secretly thrilled that Shae’s feisty attitude was
back. “Let me take Jase back to meet Paul. Then we’ll talk.”

Sammi
burst out of the break room. “It is you!” She pulled Shae and me in for a group
hug. “I was so worried about you,” she blurted through her tears.

Cory
wrapped his arms around the three of us. “Welcome back.”

Paul
walked out of his office. He smiled when he saw the five of us standing in the
hallway. “I didn’t want to get anyone’s hopes up, so I didn’t tell the staff
you two were returning today,” Paul explained. He gave Shae and me a hug.

“This
is Paul Scott, our executive director,” I informed Jase. I glanced at Paul.
“This is Jase Adkins, the bodyguard I was telling you about.”

The
two men shook hands. “Why don’t we grab a cup of coffee and head back to my
office?” Paul suggested. “I’d like to hear your thoughts on how we can improve
office and staff security.”

Jase
smiled. “I was hoping you’d say that.”

“We’re
having a team meeting in the conference room in one hour,” Paul advised the
rest of us. “We’re going to debrief on Ukraine. I want to discuss Kri’s recent
proposal to incorporate a security detail into our conflict resolution
trainings, and then we’re going out to lunch to celebrate their return.”

“Sounds
good,” Cory responded.

Sammi
linked her arm in mine. “Let’s grab some coffee,” she said, nudging me toward
the break room.

“I
still need to talk to you about Chance,” Shae reminded me. “Drop by my office
once you’ve secured your fix.” She turned toward her office. “Coffee junkies,”
she muttered under her breath.

I
was sitting in her office within a matter of minutes. “What’s your beef with
Chance?” I asked after sampling my steaming cup of freshly ground, freshly
brewed French roast coffee.

Shae
looked thoroughly annoyed. “He’s
always
there.”

I
bit my bottom lip so I wouldn’t smile. “So he’s doing his job?”

She
frowned. “When I say ‘always,’ I mean
always
, as in night and day.”

It
was my turn to frown. “I thought Rafael assigned Brogan to watch your place in
the evenings. How can Chance work twenty-four seven? The guy’s gotta sleep
sometime.”

“Chance
thought Brogan was more interested in sleeping with me than he was in
protecting me. He had him reassigned,” Shae replied.

Interesting.
I took another sip of coffee. “But the guy’s still got to sleep. Who’s watching
your place when he sleeps?”

“He
thinks he is,” she replied in a snarky tone.

I
set my coffee cup on the corner of her desk. “Explain, because I’m not getting
this.”

Shae
huffed out a breath. “Chance got rid of the other guy. Then he started pulling
all-nighters, camping out in the hallway just outside my door.”

“Ouch,”
I replied. Shae lived in a historic building in Old Town Alexandria, a house
where each floor had been converted into its own apartment. She lived on the
third floor. There was no elevator and no central air-conditioning. The stairs
and flooring were constructed of hard wood, and the hallway was cramped.

Shae
folded her arms across her chest. “I felt sorry for him, so I dragged a chair
out into the hallway so he would at least have something to sit on.”

I
bit my lip again. I could picture Shae dragging a chair out into the hallway
while still pretending not to be nice. “That was thoughtful,” I murmured, still
trying not to laugh.

She
scowled. “I still felt sorry for him, sitting in that chair all night, then
following me around all day, so I told him he could sleep on my couch. Now,
he’s sleeping on the couch
and snoring,
I might add. He’s using my
shower, stocking my refrigerator full of groceries, and keeping a duffel bag
full of clothes at my house. He put his toothbrush in my toothbrush holder!”
she exclaimed.

I
started giggling. I tried to rein it in, but it only made it worse. I finally
burst out laughing. I had to wipe tears from my eyes by the time the laughter
subsided. “Does he have any redeeming qualities?”

“He
likes to play Scrabble,” she admitted, “but he wins… a lot.”

I
started laughing all over again. “Does he cook?” I finally managed to ask.

“Yes.
The guy cooks, and he does the dishes, but he gives me this disapproving look
every time Konstantin calls, and he’s happy like ninety-nine percent of the
time. He whistles a lot, and he sings in the shower.”

I
tugged my poker face back into place. “Wow. That’s… awful,” I replied. “I… I
don’t know how you can live like that. Do you want me to talk to Rafael? I can
try to get him fired.”

Shae
suddenly looked alarmed. “No! I don’t want him to lose his job.”

I
bolted upright. “Ah-ha! You do like him. You like Chance!”

“No.
I like Konstantin. I tolerate Chance,” she protested, thoroughly shaking her
head.

“Konstantin
lives nearly five thousand miles away. You should give Chance a chance,” I persisted.
Like a buffoon, I started giggling at my own joke.

“Get
out!” Shae yelled. She yanked a number of tissues out of her tissue box and threw
them at me.

I
pulled a soggy tissue out of my coffee cup, set it on her desk, and walked to
the door. “You know, tissues don’t really hurt. With everything we’ve been
through, I would have thought you could have come up with something better than
that.”

I
was still smiling when I walked into my office. I’d made the right decision,
returning to work. I could feel all the bits and pieces of my shattered life sliding
back into place… and that felt really,
really
good.

*
* * * *

I
gazed out over the river, unrolled my yoga mat, and smoothed it over the grass.
I had made it through the first week of fall semester and my return to work relatively
unscathed, but Rafael was right. I needed to establish a routine that would
help me relax and cope with my anxieties. Yoga seemed like the perfect place to
start on this crisp Saturday morning, and while I was stretching out just a few
yards away from Rafael’s house, I was savoring the fact that he had encouraged
me to do this sans bodyguard.
Baby steps
, I thought. I kicked my flip
flops off and stepped onto the mat. I curled my toes into the soft rubber, took
a deep cleansing breath, closed my eyes, and swung my arms open as I lifted
them toward the sky.

Mountain
pose, chair pose, warrior one and two… each pose welcomed me like an old
friend. I stretched my limbs, moved slowly, held every pose, and forced myself
to breathe.
Had I forgotten how to breathe?
I transitioned into downward
facing dog before moving into my first plank. I held the position until my arms
began to tremble. I slid into the cobra pose as I finished my first vinyasa.

I
took another deep breath before moving back into downward facing dog. I pressed
my heels toward the earth and stretched my hips toward the sky as I stretched
my spine. My eyes widened when I noticed a very nice pair of men’s dress shoes
and black slacks behind me.

“
Khorosho,
Kotyonok
.”

My
elbows and knees buckled. A well-muscled arm hooked around my waist and pulled
me upright. My back was plastered against an incredibly broad chest. “Maxim?” I
breathed.

Dobroye
utro
,”
he murmured while nuzzling my ear.

I
turned to face him. “What… what… what are you doing here?”

He
inhaled deeply as he pressed his forehead to mine. “I had to see you.”

I
glanced nervously toward the house. “Does Rafael know you’re here?”

“Yes.
I called him in advance of coming,” Maxim replied. Storm clouds rolled through
his eyes. “I wasn’t seeking permission. It was… a courtesy.”

I
smoothed my hands over his chest as I attempted to back away. His arms flexed
as he held me in place. “You cut your hair,” I noted awkwardly.

“I
thought it would help,” he replied in a voice steeped with concern.

My
eyebrows knit with confusion. “Help what?”

“I
thought it would make it easier for you to look at me,” he clarified.

“Oh,”
I responded numbly.

His
fingers skimmed the top of my ear as he brushed the hair from my face. “I
didn’t want you to see Michael when you looked into my eyes.”

Tears
pooled in my eyes. I wrapped my arms around his back and squeezed tight. “Thank
you,” I replied.

He
propped his chin on top of my head as he relaxed into my embrace. “I’ve missed
this… and you.”

“I’ve
been worried about you,” I confessed, “and Konstantin, Lev, Igor, and Oni.” I
reached for his hand and tugged him toward the bench.

“Lev
and Igor are fine. Igor works for me now,” he explained, sinking onto the
bench. “Konstantin is here. He’s visiting Shae.”

Maxim
wrapped his arm around me as I slid next to him on the bench. “How long will
you be here?” I asked.

He
shrugged. “I’m not sure. I’m looking into some business opportunities.”

I
glanced at him in surprise. “Are you leaving the mafia?”

Maxim’s
eyes captured and held mine. “Do you want me to leave the mafia?” he inquired
softly.

My
heart stalled. His eyes were asking a far more difficult question...
Would
you marry me if I did?
I couldn’t possibly respond.

“I’m
keeping my options open,” he finally replied. “Konstantin is thinking of
transferring to the United States.”

“Transferring?”
I asked distractedly. I was still pondering the previous question.

“Konstantin
is considering a position with the organization that oversees this area so he
can live closer to Shae,” Maxim explained.

“Oh,”
I responded dumbly. “I didn’t realize the Russian mafia was still operating in
the United States.”

Maxim
gazed out over the river. “The Russian mafia operates anywhere there is money
to be made. Arms trafficking, drug trafficking, and cyber espionage generate a
lot of money in the United States.”

I
blew out a breath. “I don’t suppose all that money is being used to fight
corrupt governments and fund humanitarian objectives...”

“Every
organization has its own objectives,” he noted. “Not all of the
pakhan
value the same things I do.”

“How
are things in Ukraine?” I asked.

Maxim
shook his head. “Not good. The Russian government has planted people in nearly
every political office. The few honest politicians that are left are too scared
to implement policies that are contrary to the demands of the Russian
government. The SVR is growing in numbers and strength. More and more
Ukrainians are being tortured, disappearing, suffering mysterious deaths, or
being imprisoned in mental institutions for speaking out against Mother
Russia.” He spit out the last two words as if they had left a terrible taste in
his mouth.

I
reached for his hand. “I’m so sorry.”

His
eyes softened. “I know I am fighting a losing battle, but I’m finding it
difficult to walk away from a war I’ve been fighting my entire life.”