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sensed that there was some friction between husband and wife over this issue. Gently and with more patience than I ever could have mustered, she explained, "You'll soon learn that I'm the boss in this house. Right now, I want to be alone with my friend. You might like the media room?"
    Ten still didn't move. In a rough and rasping voice, he meanly replied, "I don't take my orders from women."
    My lips parted in shock at the outrageous way he spoke to her. Is he insane? I shivered to think what Nikolai would do when he found out this man had spoken to his wife in that tone.
    Coolly and calmly, Vivian rose from her chair and crossed the library. Ten's jaw twitched as she drew near. His eyes were so dark they seemed nearly black and fathomless. She didn't show an ounce of fear as she grasped one of the belt loops on his jeans and tugged him toward the door. He fought her at first, but she pulled harder and he finally relented. When he was out in the hall, she pivoted on her heel, stepped back inside the library and shut the door in his face. As if to prove her point, she flipped the lock.
    She took her seat and picked up her pen. Pointing at the Russian greeting, she said, "Let's try again. You've only got a few days until you meet Sergei's mother."
    "Vivi! Forget about the lesson." I hooked my thumb toward the door. "That guy was a jerk!"
    She reached for her cup of lukewarm peach-flavored tea and sipped at it. "This isn't easy for him. I never knew him before he went inside, but I've heard the stories. He was part of the inner circle and hugely respected. He's the sort of street soldier every other soldier wanted to be. He sacrificed himself to save the family—and now he's been rewarded with a babysitting job." She swirled her spoon in the cup. "I'm sure he feels slighted by the downgrade in his status."
    "How in the world is protecting the one thing in the world Nikolai considers most precious a downgrade?"
    "I'm sure Ten doesn't see it that way." She glanced at the door. "He's only been out of prison for two days. He needs some time to adjust to living on the outside again." She sighed wistfully. "He's no Sergei or Danny but he'll keep me safe. I enjoyed having someone to talk to but I don't need that sort of friendship from my bodyguard."
    I doubted that very much. In fact, I suspected she very much needed the friendship Sergei and Danny had provided. "Why isn't Danny with you anymore?"
    "He got a promotion." She wasn't going to give any further details, and I didn't push. I had gotten a glimpse into the shadowy world her husband inhabited and that was quite enough for me.
    "So Ten, huh? What sort of nickname is that?"
    "It's actually a bastardization of this word." She reached for the pen and neatly printed four Cyrillic letters—ТеНЬ. "It's pronounced tyen. It sounds like ten, and there's this rumor that he once iced ten men with his bare hands and a piece of pipe. Whether that's true or not...?" She shrugged her delicate shoulders. "It makes for a good story, I guess."
    Somehow I didn't doubt that vicious looking man had done far worse than what was rumored. I tapped the word she had written. "What does it mean?"
    "Shadow."
    "Oh."
    "Yeah." She sat back and smiled. "It's funny because I used to joke with Sergei that he was my shadow. Now I have the Shadow following me around everywhere."
    She said it like a joke, but I could hear the underlying frustration in her voice. "I'm sorry, Vivi."
    She traced the letters neatly printed on the notebook page between us. "I knew what I was signing up for when I fell in love with Kolya. I definitely knew the score when we got married. Lena warned me I had to take him as he was, and I did."
    "But?"
    "But sometimes it's hard," she admitted quietly. "Not the loving him part," she clarified, "but the rest of it? That part isn't easy."
    Certain she wasn't finished venting, I held my tongue and waited for her to speak again.
    "Lena has been running interference as my PR rep for the