My phone vibrates on my desk, and I look down at the screen as Erin’s name appears on it.
“Hi,” I answer. “Did you find out anything on the Ivanovs for me?”
“Oh, hi. And I’m fine, thank-you,” she snaps.
I suck in a breath. She is so fucking difficult, but I have to remind myself that she is a talented lawyer, and she knows far too many of my family’s secrets. “Sorry. But did you?”
“No, nothing. Sorry.”
“Nothing at all?”
“Nope,” she replies breezily, and I know that she’s lying. She is an accomplished liar, what lawyer isn’t, and she no doubt hates that this information would help Jessie. Since we visited her office a couple of weeks back, Erin has barely contacted me.
“Oh, and next time you visit my place of work, please don’t take your girlfriend into my restroom for a quick fuck,” she hisses, and I have to bite the inside of my cheek to stop myself from laughing. “I had to have the whole place sanitized. I didn’t realize you were so crass, Shay!”
I seem to remember her dragging me into a restroom stall more than once, but I don’t remind her of that fact. Because I’m a gentleman, after all. “Well, what can I say, Erin. I just can’t keep my hands off her. Thanks for the call,” I say and then I press the end call button and throw my phone onto the desk.
A few seconds later, I look up as Conor walks into my office.
“Did you want me earlier?” he asks.
“Yeah. Close the door.”
He frowns at me, but he closes it behind him. “What’s going on?”
“You remember that guy from Balthazar’s place? The one whose throat Liam cut?”
Conor nods. “The one who was about to attack Jessie?”
I run a hand over my jaw. “That’s the guy. My sources tell me he’s still alive.”
“What? Fuck! I mean, I didn’t see what happened, but Liam said he sliced the guy’s throat from ear to ear.”
“I have no doubt he thinks he did. But, maybe be missed an artery or something?” I shrug. “Maybe the guy is a fucking superhero? Whatever happened, he’s still breathing.”
“You’re worried he’ll identify us?” Conor asks as he leans back in his chair.
“No, it’s not that. Besides, he only saw Jessie, didn’t he?”
“Yeah. So? Why are you looking so concerned and why have I closed the door?”
I sigh. I should have told him about this when it cropped up, but it didn’t seem that important. “When that guy walked into the room, Jessie said he seemed to believe he recognized her from somewhere.”
That makes Conor sit up in his seat. “What? Where?”
“That’s just it. She doesn’t have a clue. But, the guy called her Nataliya.”
“Nataliya?”
“Yeah. But Jessie says she doesn’t know anyone by that name. I thought the guy was dead and there could be any number of possible explanations, and so I dismissed it. But now that I know he’s still alive,” I lean back in my chair and sigh. “I don’t know. It’s bothering me.”
“You think maybe she looks like this Nataliya? A sister she doesn’t know about?”
I shake my head. “She’s adamant that couldn’t be possible. But,” I shrug again.
“What are you thinking?” Conor narrows his eyes at me.
“Maybe her mom?”
“Wasn’t her mom’s name Veronica?”
“When she was in the states, yes. But what if she changed it? What if the hit on the Romanov family was really about her and not Jessie’s father?”
Conor sucks in a breath and sits back as though he’s deep in thought. “It’s a possibility. Have you told Jessie about the guy from the bar still being alive?”
I shake my head. “Not yet. I want to find out a bit more about him first. And if he can even speak before I worry her.”
Conor arches an eyebrow at me.
“What?”
“She won’t thank you for lying to her,” he says with a shake of his head.
“I’m not lying. I’m delaying telling her the truth because I don’t want to freak her out.”
“You don’t what her to run?” he smirks.
“Just do some digging around on this guy. Okay? And then we can tell her if and when we find our something. There could be nothing at all to it. A simple case of mistaken identity.”
“Okay. Are you telling the twins?”
I shake my head. “Not yet. I don’t want Liam to know. He’ll only beat himself up about it and it’s not fair to ask Mikey to keep it from him.”
Conor nods his agreement, and I’m glad he’s on the same page. I’m not in the habit of keeping things from my brothers. But I can’t shake the feeling that there was much more to the murder of Jessie’s family than meets the eye. And if she’s in any danger, then I’ll do everything I can to protect her.
I’m sitting on the sofa with Jessie, my arm draped around her shoulder and she is snuggled against my chest. It’s not often that I spend any time with her like this. But the twins are out working, and Conor is in the club. I walked past the den and she was sitting there alone watching TV and I couldn’t resist joining her.
We’ve been here for a while when Conor walks into the room and sits beside us.
“Hey, you,” Jessie says with a yawn. “Where have you been all day?”
“Hey, Angel,” he replies, rubbing his hand over her ass and onto her thigh. “Just some business to deal with.”
She turns her head, and he leans forward and kisses her. I watch his tongue sliding into her mouth and I listen to her soft groans and it’s such a fucking turn on. I never thought I’d be willing to share a woman with my brothers, but this feels so natural. It doesn’t even feel like sharing. She belongs to each of us in different ways.
Once he’s given her a good tonguing, Conor pulls away and Jessie leans back into my chest with a soft sigh. He looks over her head at me and shoots me a look that tells me he has something to tell me.
I take Jessie’s chin in my hand and tilt her face to mine. “You tired, Hacker?”
“A little,” she says, stifling another yawn.
“Why don’t you go to bed and I’ll join you shortly,” I say before pressing my lips against hers. She pulls me to her, turning my fairly chaste goodnight kiss into something much more.
I pull back from her, even though it hurts me to do it because she tastes as sweet as honey as and as wicked as sin. “Bed!” I growl.
She rolls her eyes, but then she stands up and I take the opportunity to smack her perfect ass. She blows us each a kiss and then she walks out of the room. “My bed, Hacker,” I shout after her. “And don’t fall asleep.”
“I wouldn’t dare,” she snaps back and then she laughs, and I watch her sexy body disappear out of view.
“Did you find out something?” I say to Conor as soon as Jessie is out of earshot.
“Yes, and it’s good news. The guy from Balthazar’s did make it, well for a few days at least. But he’s dead now.”
“How?”
“Heart attack while he was in hospital recovering from having his throat cut.”
“Wow! That’s some bad luck!” I can’t help but smile though because it means that if he did recognize Jessie as a Romanov then she’s in less danger if he’s dead.
“He couldn’t speak, but he did communicate with the nurses. He wrote a few words on a notepad when he needed a drink or something, but mostly he was in and out of consciousness.”
“Did he have any visitors?”
“Yeah. Just one. A guy. But he didn’t leave a name.”
“But he could have mentioned he saw Jessie – or Nataliya?”
“In theory. So, do we tell her?”
“What is there to tell? The guy’s dead. She didn’t recognize him. She doesn’t know who Nataliya is. It may have been nothing at all.” I stand up. “If there’s nothing else, I’m going to bed.”
Conor glances at his watch. “You’re stopping work before ten pm?” He says as he stands too.
“When there’s a horny redhead waiting for me in my bed, I am, yeah!”
“I never thought I’d see the day,” Conor laughs.
“I’ve been thinking about what you said, too. I’m going to ask Jessie if she wants to get more involved in the business. I could use some help with the tech side of things.”
Conor places a hand on the back of my neck. “So, she’s really one of us now, then?”
I stare at him as he looks at me hopefully. “I suppose so,” I nod.
“About fucking time, bro,” he smiles at me.
I smile back. I suppose it is about time. Time to make Jessie Romanov a Ryan.
