I sat in the backroom of one of Bastelli’s clubs. Tonight it was just a meeting between Carl, Bastelli, and me. We were the three most powerful men in this city, and we had the most to lose. For once, there weren’t any women or waitresses getting in the way. Even our guards waited outside as we discussed our strategy.
As much as it went against my gut, I needed to trust these two men.
“Bunko is taking out everyone’s shipments. He hits when they are moving product. He’s bankrupting them.”
Carl leaned forward. “Do you have any shipments moving?”
I shook my head. “We stopped everything. But I’m thinking of running a fake shipment.”
Carl and Bastelli exchanged looks. “You think Bunko’s men are going to show up?”
“I’m counting on it.”
“What’s your plan?”
I had been thinking about it for a while. “I want to run a shipment that the authorities think is legal, while Bunko thinks it isn’t. I want Bunko to try and take the shipment out.”
“You want to get into a fight with him.”
I didn’t want a gunfight. I wanted life to go back to normal. “It’s going to happen eventually. It might as well be on our terms.”
“What’s your plan?”
If we were going to engage with Bunko, I needed this to happen outside the city, where civilians wouldn’t be caught in the middle. “Somewhere private.”
They both spoke at the same time. “Barge.”
“Do either of you want to help with that?”
Besides me, they were the only two who had access to a barge. Carl sat down and opened his book. “I think it’s safe to say we are both in. So, you are thinking that if we send out a fake shipment, at some point Bunko will come?”
“He will wait until we are well away from shore, and then he will attack. Just like he did with the Mulgogi shipment.”
“And you and your men will be waiting? I want to get in on some of that action,” Bastelli said.
“Let’s get to work, gentlemen,” Carl said. “It’s time to talk logistics.”
We were just getting down to business when someone tapped on the door.
“I said no disturbances,” Bastelli yelled.
It was Viktor. He spoke to me in Russian. “Someone by the name of Amelia dropped by the warehouse. Apparently, Vlad is with her and Olivia.”
Holy shit. I turned towards the two men. “Gentleman, please excuse me.”
They both looked up at me in surprise.
“Women trouble,” I grumbled.
They both laughed. “The longer you wait, the worse it gets.”
“I’ll be back within the hour.”
We pulled up to the bay, and one of the guards met me, looking beyond anxious.
“What happened?” I snapped at him.
“This woman showed up in a town car, and Vlad told us to let her in.”
“Where is Vlad?”
He shook his head. “Not sure.”
I looked around the bay. “Where is the car now?”
He shrugged. “It left, but now Olivia is not answering the door.”
“Find Vlad. Now.”
I took the stairs two at a time, wondering exactly what the fuck was going on.
I punched the door key and swung open the door.
On the island, with her legs crossed, sat Amelia. Sparkling emerald eyes lingered as they looked me up and down. She took a sip of her drink before speaking to me in Russian. “Well. Time has been good to you.”
There was no sign of Olivia. “Where is she?”
She gave an artful shrug. “I have no idea.”
I lifted my phone and dialed Viktor. “I want a full perimeter search for Olivia. I want cameras reviewed for the entire place, to find out where the fuck she is.”
I put the phone down and looked at Amelia. The youthful girl had been replaced with a stunning-looking woman. She was dressed like a million bucks, and her rich mahogany hair swung down her back in a satin curtain.
“What are you doing here?”
She carefully set her drink down. “I wanted to speak to you in person.”
“How did you get in here?”
“I called your cell, and your boss, Vlad, answered.”
I often forwarded my cell phone calls to my office when I worked. I inwardly cursed that I had left that on when I went to my meeting. So that meant Vlad had been in my office, probably drinking, when she called.
“Vlad isn’t my boss.”
“I told him we were engaged.”
My eyes widened. “What the fuck, Amelia?”
She gave an unconcerned shrug. “After we talked on the phone, he invited me to come here and wait for you in person.”
“I thought I made it clear the last time we talked that I wasn’t interested.”
She slid off the counter and smoothed down the skirt of her dress. She slowly walked towards me until she was standing practically beneath me. “Don’t be like that, Andrusha.”
My phone rang. “Speak.”
Viktor sounded upset. “We have video footage of Olivia getting into the town car twenty-two minutes ago. The guards at the gate didn’t realize she was in the vehicle, so they didn’t stop it.”
I lowered the phone as I watched Amelia slowly stroll away from me.
I grabbed her arm and spun her around.
She gasped, her eyes instantly glazing with lust.
My voice sounded like shards of glass. “Where the fuck is she?”
“I don’t know what you mean,” she gasped, stepping closer.
“Where did your car take her?”
She rubbed up against me like a cat. “It’s not my car. It’s just a rented town car.”
The thought of Olivia, alone and unprotected, made my insides shrivel. “Call him.”
She batted her eyes at me. “Can’t we have a little bit of alone time first?”
Someone knocked, and then the door swung open. Viktor looked between the two of us, asking me a silent question.
“Amelia is just remembering the number of her driver,” I said stiffly.
Viktor walked into the room. I knew what he was about to do, and I didn’t stop him. He was doing what I didn’t have the stomach to do.
Without emotion or any reaction, he lifted his gun to her head. “Maybe this will help you remember.”
Her eyes went wide, and her breath caught in her throat. “Are you fucking crazy?”
“You have five seconds.”
“Okay,” she cried out. “I have his cell number.”
He lowered the gun, and we watched as she pulled out her phone with shaking hands. She started to cry, and both Viktor and I exchanged a look. Neither of us had enjoyed that, but scaring people tended to get fast results, and we were working against the clock here.
When she dialed the number, I held out my hand for the phone. Her eyes glittered with tears as she handed it over.
The driver answered. “Jim speaking.”
“Where did you drop off your last passenger? She left the docks about twenty minutes ago.”
“For the safety of our guests, we don’t give out that kind of information.”
My dead tone was clipped. “I’m going to come and find you now. When you do tell me where you dropped her, I’m not going to be happy about how much of my time you have wasted.”
“Easy.” He laughed nervously. “She had me drop her off at the Delta motel at Fifth and Carson.”
I tossed Amelia her phone and spoke to Viktor. “Let’s go.”
As we moved across the bay, my men came towards me. They knew they had fucked up.
I motioned with my head towards my loft. “Detain her until I get back, but remove her from my loft.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And find that bastard, Vlad.”
Risking attention, traffic tickets, and potentially a police chase, Viktor drove through the city like a madman.
Neither of us spoke. We didn’t have to. We both knew how vulnerable Olivia was when she was out of our sight.
He pulled into the dimly lit parking lot of a dismal motel that reminded me of the motel that I had saved her from. I strode into the office and slapped five hundred dollars on the counter in front of the sleepy-eyed clerk.
“What room did you give your last guest?”
He put his hand over the money. “Room 122.”
I slapped another five hundred dollars on the counter. “Give me a room key.”
Without any guilt, he tossed over a key before pocketing the money. And that was exactly why she wasn’t safe in this shithole.
Viktor guarded from the shadows as I walked towards the room. I had no idea what to expect, so I took out my weapon.
I knocked.
There was no answer.
I fitted the key into the lock and swung open the door. From behind a partially open bathroom door, I heard the shower running. The rest of the room was clear.
I holstered my weapon and then pushed into the steamy bathroom. Without ceremony, I ripped open the shower curtain.
Olivia gasped, spinning around to face me, her arms crossing over her chest. “What the hell?”
I tossed a towel at her. Now that I knew she was safe, deep anger rose from within me. “Let’s go.”
She wrapped the towel around her body and stepped out after me, sounding scandalized. “What are you doing here! I’m naked.”
It made me happy that I had just pissed her off. “I’m not having this conversation here. Get dressed.”
She reminded me of an angry wet kitten. “I’m not going back there. Not when your fiancée is there.”
That gave me a clue as to why she had left in the first place. “Get dressed.”
Besides the fact that every second counted, I wanted nothing more than to get under her skin for everything she had just put me through. I grabbed the clothes that lay on the bathroom counter, looking around for any kind of evidence that needed cleaning up.
“What are you doing? Those are my clothes.” Her voice sounded panicked.
I shoved them at her. “Then put them on. I’m not asking.”
“You can’t make me.” Her voice trembled with emotion.
I took a step towards her. “Want to bet?”
She gave me an evil eye before she disappeared into the bathroom and emerged, fully dressed, a minute later.
I pointed at the door. “Outside. Now.”
As we drove back to the loft, every variation of danger she had put herself in ran through my mind. What if Bunko had put a tail on the car and followed her to the motel? What if the police had found her? What if I hadn’t?
The more I thought about it, the angrier I got.
When we pulled up into the bay, she grabbed her bag and got out. Then she stood beside the SUV, looking lost.
“Upstairs now,” I demanded.
She looked up the stairs, as a mixture of defiance and fear crossed her face. What the hell had happened here? “Is she still here?”
I could barely restrain my anger at this situation. “Loft. Now.”
Without speaking, she stomped upstairs. I followed her.
She gave me a hostile look over her shoulder, as she marched towards the bathroom. I followed close behind, charging in after her, not even letting her shut the door.
“You know what kind of danger you put yourself in?” I loomed over her.
She scowled at me in the mirror but didn’t answer.
My tone sounded harsh. “Want to tell me what the fuck you were thinking?”
She spun around to face me. “Vlad and Amelia told me everything, Andrusha.”
“Told you what?” I exploded.
“How you and Amelia are getting back together.”
I crossed my arms, “Not true.”
“They said all you talk about is what a mistake it was to involve yourself with me and how you wished you had never helped me.”
I was going to throttle Vlad. The idea of him putting Olivia in danger made my blood boil. “So your feelings got hurt. And that’s why you decided to take off and put yourself at risk?”
Hurt showed in her eyes. “Vlad said you felt obligated.”
“About what?”
She avoided my eyes. “Vlad said you felt obligated to protect me, but in doing so, you were putting yourself at extraordinary risk. He said if I left, you’d be safe from all of this.”
I thought about all the ways I wanted to hurt Vlad. “And you believed all of this?”
Her eyes were stuck on the floor. “People shouldn’t get hurt protecting me.”
And that was exactly why I couldn’t get enough of Olivia.
I stepped forward and lifted her ass on the vanity. I planted both hands on either side and got up in her face. “Why is nothing ever easy with you?”
Big eyes looked up at me. “Like you’re a walk in the park.”
I gave a short laugh. “The timing on this shit couldn’t be worse, you know that?”
Olivia studied my face, openly trying to read me.
I tried again. “There are two people besides me that you can trust. Viktor and Mica. Don’t listen to anyone else, okay?”
She lifted her eyes to me. “Are you in danger?”
“No,” I lied. “I’m not in danger, and all of this would be happening whether you were here or not.”
Her voice was small. “I’m scared.”
I took a deep, calming breath, needing to temporarily put this conversation on hold so I could go put out some other raging fires. “I can’t have you taking off like that again, Olivia.”
Olivia looked chastised. “I won’t.”
Why did it feel like we were leaving too many things unsaid? I grasped her face in my hands and tilted back her head until her eyes met mine. “I don’t feel obligated to help you.”
I could feel her cheeks warm beneath my hands. I bent down and put my lips on hers. “I don’t.”
Her kiss was so damn sweet, it took all my willpower to let go and walk out of that bathroom.
I jogged down the stairs; I would deal with Vlad later. First, I needed to get back to my damn meeting. I looked at Viktor. “Let’s go.”
He looked as fatigued as I felt. “Amelia is in your office.”
Fuck me. “Right.”
I moved up to my office. She was standing at the window, holding a drink. I motioned for the man who stood in the doorway to move off.
When she turned to look at me, real tears were on her face. I shoved my hands in my pockets, waiting for her to speak.
“Who is she?” her voice was soft.
“She is someone I will do anything to protect.” My voice was blunt.
“I didn’t come here to wreck anything. I actually came here to apologize for my behavior towards you.”
I doubted the truth of that statement. “It’s over between us, Amelia. It’s been over for a long time.”
“I know. I came here to make peace with that.”
Peace. It was something all of us were chasing. “What does that even mean?”
She put her hand to her heart. “I want one night to talk over drinks. A night to reminisce and say goodbye.”
“The guy you want to say goodbye to no longer exists.”
She set her drink down carefully on the desk and moved to walk past me. “If you change your mind, I will be at the Sheraton for the next eight days.”
“I don’t want you coming back here. I’ve arranged for a car to take you back to your hotel.”
I followed her down to the bay, where a private driver waited. Known for his discretion, he often chauffeured our clients around for us. With one long look back at me, she got into the back of the car.
Viktor stood there with his arms crossed and watched as the car disappeared. “What do you want us to do?”
Exhaustion washed over me. “Run a check on her and make sure she’s not connected to anything.”
He frowned. “You think her timing isn’t coincidental?”
“Fuck if I know.”
He gave me a grim look. “Fucking night.”
“It’s not over yet. I still have to finish that meeting at Bastelli’s.”
We climbed into the SUV, and his phone beeped. He read from the screen out loud. “Vlad’s in his office.”
I rubbed my forehead. “I want to kill that bastard.”
Viktor looked interested. “I’m in.”
“All of tonight’s shit storm was coordinated by him.”
“Good enough for me.” Viktor had his hand on the door handle.
“But if Vlad is a leak, we can use him to feed bad info to Bunko.”
Viktor looked genuinely disappointed. “So the old fuck lives another day?”
I shrugged. “Just keep an eye on him.”
Hours later, I was dead on my feet when I walked into the loft. Walking past the bed, I stopped to study Olivia. She was passed out cold. I needed a shower and a solid four hours of sleep or I would start making mistakes.
My shower was long and hot. All I wanted to do was lie down. When I walked out of the shower with a towel around my waist, she was sitting on the edge of the bed, waiting for me. This is where I overrode my impulse to push her back on the bed, spread those legs, and make her come until she begged me to stop.
“You’re home late,” she whispered. I loved that she had no idea that everything she did made me hard.
“Did I wake you?”
“I don’t think so.”
I rubbed my hand over my face. “It’s late. I need sleep.”
“You can sleep in the bed.”
“No.” Temptation roared through my body, making me grind my teeth. She looked up at me with those big eyes. “Why do you want me to lie down?”
She flushed. “I sleep better.”
I stared down at her and then moved to set my guns on the nightstand before I crawled in beside her. My fatigued body almost wept with the relief of lying down. She rolled onto her side, staring at me.
I felt my eyes drag shut. God, that felt good too. “You get five minutes and then I’m leaving.”
“Thank-you.”
