25. Ivan

25

IVAN

T wo days later, after I’d thought I’d reached an important step of explaining to Becca that she was holding me hostage by capturing my heart, I sighed heavily and slumped in the chair at the table at the family’s mansion.

She’d gotten so damn mad, and it had taken me a full night of restless sleep to think back and understand why.

Becca was always on my mind, deep in my heart, and it had hurt when she’d blown up at me after I’d fucked her on that table. I’d taken her the way I had to show her with my desire how badly I coveted her, and she’d taken it the wrong way in the end.

After we came, and when I’d asked her again if Dom had ever been in that studio, I’d inquired because I was jealous. I wanted to think that I was the only man to really ever see Becca, to be invited into her special place and share intimacy there.

Knowing she wanted me in that place felt like a reward, and I wanted to get used to the idea of being the only man to ever go there.

But I saw how she likely assumed I was just after information for the sake of wars and vendettas, for the purpose of being a step ahead of my enemies.

Asking about Dom so soon after we’d had that deep conversation, after we’d told each other what we saw for ourselves in the future, she would’ve wondered about my intentions.

Because we started our relationship unconventionally, with her as my hostage in the matter of business, we would always have that past to overcome, that lingering lack of trust in the beginning.

I couldn’t blame her for being so on edge and suspicious. Especially after the lifelong treatment Murphy gave her—asking her to do favors, then Dom manipulating her where her heart lay.

She would need time to get used to the fact that my feelings for her were sincere, that I wanted her for a selfish reason unlike what her father and her rapist had in mind.

I wanted Becca because she completed me. Because with her, knowing I might have her love in return, I was a better and stronger man.

No time for it now.

Right now, I had to push back the headache of making up with her and expressing myself clearer. I was here for a discussion about business, and it wasn’t looking good.

I’d been busy with more issues at the clubs, and now I had to take a meeting with Alek about the increase of drugging incidents.

I was the last to arrive, coming straight from LeVant’s and checking with Kenneth that he would be extra cautious tonight. Even though it seemed like they’d been waiting for me, I stayed quiet while the rest of the brothers greeted me.

“We’ve got to stay on top of this,” Alek began.

I nodded. That was what I was doing yesterday and today, dealing with the news of a few more people being drugged at clubs, including one of ours. Two men had died so far, and one woman might not make it. “I’m trying.”

Once this got to the news, we’d be facing lots of trouble. From law enforcement. The Feds. Even our clientele. The news of bad drugs at our clubs would scare off our guests from being members and visiting. Money made the world go round, and we had to be wise about how to deflect this rising potential of bad press.

Alek was furious, drumming his fingers on the table.

I was livid too. This was personal now, my avenue of the Bratva organization under fire. This was no longer a simple hiccup we could overcome.

Dmitri summed it up perfectly. “Someone’s setting up the Bratva to take the fall for this.”

“And it’s got to stop.” Alek leaned forward in his seat, eyeing me for a long moment. “ Now .”

Goddammit. I know that.

“Drugs had never been an issue,” Nik said. “But this hardcore shit sounds like it’s going to be a problem that we can’t wait out to finish on its own.”

Obviously. We wouldn’t stop the drug trade completely, but we had to figure out who was dropping this nasty shit near or at our clubs. The Bratva was in this to make money, like any other corporation, but we only planned to do so with the typical drugs that were already available elsewhere. Not this experimental crap that seemed to be a lab product.

It was killing customers. And Alek was right. It had to stop now. Not tomorrow. Not after we found Murphy and I killed him. We had to end this before further damage brought us down.

“What if someone goes undercover at a club?” Maxim suggested. He glanced at me, facing me directly. “Maybe it’s doing more harm than good for you to show up. So many people on the club scene know you and recognize you. These drugs might not pass hands when you’re around for that reason.”

I nodded, sighing. “I was thinking that too.” I was viewed as the Bratva’s representative at all the clubs.

“Undercover?” Nik winced, rubbing his jaw. “I don’t think I can. Not right now.”

He was our stealthy man. Wearing disguises was his specialty.

He shook his head, glancing at Alek. “Amy’s struggling again with the pregnancy, and the doctor thinks it’s best if I stay by her and keep her blood pressure as low as possible this close to her due date.”

“I wouldn’t ask you,” Alek said quickly. He understood the tension of caring for a pregnant wife. Mila was going to deliver any day now.

I raised my hand, waving at them to remind them that I was right here. “No. I’ve got it.” The sex clubs had always been my responsibility. I hated to think these drugs were getting in because I was distracted by Becca. Falling in love was a new experience for me, but I had to do better with compartmentalizing. I wouldn’t fail my family now.

“But that’s what we’re saying,” Nik said. “It can’t be you.”

I smirked at him. “I know that. I can’t be identified. But I can use a disguise too.”

They nodded in agreement.

“Or instead of stopping in at one of our regular clubs,” I added, “I could try to go to that place we just sold. The club we sold uptown. Veronica told me she thinks she was drugged there. No one would expect to see me there, and people might not be on guard as much.”

Alek seemed to like that idea. “When you first mentioned a drugging happening there, I wondered if someone was trying to frame us even then. Because that club had been ours until very recently.”

I’d wondered that too. “If you consider the facts, it’s somewhere these fuckers already peddled the drugs. So I want to assume the odds are high that they might try again since they successfully did it once,” I explained.

“You sure you want to handle it?” Dmitri asked.

I furrowed my brow. “Why wouldn’t I?”

He shrugged. “Just with Becca and all. And her kid.”

“That kid has a name. Emily. And so, what about them?”

Alek cleared his throat. “In case you wanted to stay near them. Instead of being in the frontlines. We’ve got many men who can step up and help.”

I shook my head. “No. I said I’ll fucking handle it.”

“Want backup?” Dmitri asked.

I did. And I knew just who I’d ask.

When I drove to the villa, I debated how I’d ask Becca to come with me. I owed her an explanation about the other night. It seemed like it was her fault, jumping to assumptions and accusing me of sleeping with her to get intel. I thought I wasn’t in the wrong, but how would she know that? I realized she couldn’t have read my mind and known that I asked about Dom ever being in her studio because I had a jealous reaction to the thought of any man in her private space. A discussion was overdue. As headstrong as she could be, I figured she’d give me that silence again.

Tying her up at a club while I scoped out the scene would be a quick way to ensure I had her full attention to hear me out. I saw now that having a steady woman in my life was a new adventure. Because of that, I counted on needing to be able to communicate in some way to avoid these kinds of disagreements.

I walked in and found her on the phone. Her expression told me enough who she was likely speaking with.

She scowled at her phone, bitter and unhappy. Pacing around the table where her phone rested, she looked cagey and impatient. Peeved.

As I walked into the great room, she glanced up at me, acknowledging me before smirking again at the phone she had on speaker.

She’d figured out how to record on her own device. Margie’s phone was no longer needed to record the calls. But one glance at the device attached to her phone showed me that Murphy’s call was unreachable.

How does he always know to call when I’m not here?

I realized that all of the calls Murphy made to Becca were when I wasn’t here, and I didn’t like that correlation one bit.

Was he watching to know when I was gone? I would have noticed a tail. And none of the men guarding here would be a mole and tell Murphy where I was.

Was it luck, a coincidence of timing? I’d never believed in those. Everything happened for a reason.

Did he want to get Becca on the phone alone because he would be able to reach her and manipulate her better if I wasn’t here?

Wait. I narrowed my eyes as the man shouted.

“Where the fuck are you?” he demanded.

If he’s asking where she is, then he can’t be watching this place to know when I’m gone.

Something wasn’t adding up.

So, why did he call when I was gone?

I didn’t enjoy the possibility that Murphy could try to get between us.

Nothing could. I wouldn’t allow it.

Becca was the one woman for me, and we damn well would be a team against the rest of the fucking world.