11. Drake

“Put your clothes on.” I order as I readjust myself in my suit.

Flipping her silky hair over her shoulder, she asks, “What? You don’t like this?”

She playfully runs her hand down her neck, gently gliding her hand over the lacy fabric between her breasts, her delicate fingers toying with the cross.

Striding over to her, I catch her wrist with my hand and pull her into me. “No one but me is going to see you in that ever again. Understood?”

She grazes her soft lips against the side of my stubbled jaw. “So bossy,” she whispers.

I let go of her hand as she saunters away, taking care to sway her ass in my direction as she does.

A feeling of warm satisfaction courses through me when I see my red handprints on her skin.

Maybe I should let her walk around like that. Then there would be no question of who she belongs to.

***

When we return to the main bar area, Shado and Miranda are waiting by the designated area where servers pick up their drinks.

“So much for flying under the radar, huh?” Shado scoffs. “Dimitri hauled ass out of here after you went all caveman on her,” he says, pointing at CiCi.

“He hasn’t seen me in thirteen years,” I say in a low voice. “He stays in Boston, away from Edinburgh.”

“I think I know why he’s back.” CiCi’s voice breaks our conversation. Shado and I both turn to stare at her, both of us full of our own questions, but stay quiet and let her speak.

“I didn’t hear all of it, but something is going on regarding the docks. There’s apparently a bidding war for ownership of two-thirds of the docks.”

Miranda looks at me, challenging me, “What, Mr. Almighty, you don’t own those too?” She smirks.

“I had no need for them any longer. The docks are not what I use to conduct my business. Demassi owns one-third. Dimitri is trying to get his hands on a share.” I pause, frustrated. “I should never have relinquished ownership last year.”

CiCi runs her hand down my arm. “This isn’t on you.” She pauses. “They mentioned something about a new group. Something about ghosts. But Dimitri seemed threatened, almost scared. I didn’t hear much more because you came barreling toward me.”

She playfully nudges my side with her elbow.

Shado shifts and looks around the bar nervously. “We really shouldn’t be talking about this here.”

Nodding in agreement, I motion toward the door, “We need to get back to Vanguard.”

***

Drake: I have another favor, old friend.

D:You really need to learn what friend means.

Drake:The cancer has returned.

D: What do you need from me?

Sitting at my computer desk in the bunker, my eyes begin to cross as I comb through the database to see if I can find anything about the auction that CiCi mentioned.

But there is nothing.

Frustrated, I slam my hands on the sleek wooden desk. “They’ve taken this off the wires. There’s no mention of any meet-up or auction.”

“Then we do things the old-fashioned way. We go hunting. We already know it’s going to be at the docks,” Shado says, as he twirls around in the chair.

I swear, for as intimidating as the man looks, he acts like a five-year-old.

“There’s a poker game tomorrow night. We could go there.”

Turning around, I see Miranda and CiCi standing there with food bags from Railcar Junction, one of Edinburgh’s best burger joints.

“How did you get in here?” The surprise in my voice is evident.

“The lobby elevator button marked ‘B’ isn’t very secretive, and the door leading to the basement was unlocked.” CiCi grins as she approaches me. “You sure are off your game tonight, Sir.”

The way she emphasizes the word ‘sir’ sends shocks straight to my dick. Shaking my head, I rip the brown paper food bag out of her hands.

Leaning against the desk, Miranda chuckles as she pops a fry into her mouth, “Don’t worry, we locked it behind us.”

“Ah! Doesn’t do much good. Draco was never one to have good security in his secret lair.”

I hear a thick Russian accent, chuckling, coming from the shadows by the entryway steps, accompanied by heavy footsteps approaching us.

Shado instinctively grabs his gun but before he can cock it, I hold my hand up. Facing the direction of the voice, Daniil and three of his men come into view.

“That was quick, Daniil. Even for you.” I walk toward him, holding my hand out.

Surprising me, he pulls me into an embrace, slapping me on the back, “Ha! Old friend. How is The Dragon?”

Before I can answer, Shado snaps, “What the fuck is Parshikov’s son doing here?”

Daniil looks at him with an evil sneer on his face, “Well. The same reason you’re here, is it not?”

He approaches Shado slowly, like a snake. “Adrien Demassi, if I’m not mistaken?”

Daniil holds his hand out, to which Shado brushes aggressively past as he storms toward the door.

It makes sense now why I couldn’t find his last name in any of the files. The spy kid wiped them clean. His father was a part of the Fourth Circle.

“Where are you going?” I call after him.

“The Bratva? You expect me to work with actual criminals?”

“And what the fuck do you think it is we do, Shado? Just because we kill the bad guys doesn’t make us entirely innocent. We still have blood on our hands.”

“It’s different and you know it,” he grits out. The muscles in his jaw clench as he squeezes his hands into fists.

“My father is back, fueled by nothing but hatred and greed. The Bratva has a code of honor…”

Shado scoffs, “The Bratva has honor? That’s a sentence I never thought I’d hear.”

“Shado!” I snap. “He is here to help us stop Demassi and Parshikov. Either accept that and shut up, or leave.”

“A man is nothing without his honor, Draco. I said that the Bratva was in your debt thirteen years ago. Bringing my father down will make us even.”

Frustrated at Shado’s outburst and growing more agitated that Parhsikov has something planned, I look to Daniil, prying, “Why is your father back? He stepped down years ago.”

“The answer is simple. Greed.” Daniil smirks. “He is also an impatient man. He is not yet Pakhan. So, he is here to gain power any way he can. Your pathetic city is easy to take over, or so he thought.”

CiCi’s voice interrupts us. “This pissing contest, as entertaining as it may be, we have something much more important to discuss.”

She steps between me and Daniil, pointing at the computer. “While you three hashed out whatever the fuck is going on, I did some digging.”

Turning to look at the computer screen, my eyes rake over the shipping manifest glaring in front of me. Chills run down my spine when I see what is in the contents of the crates.

“How did you find this?”

“I enjoy hacking as a hobby, remember?” She grins.

“It’s not just a bidding war.” I say, “They’re here to start a war.”

Reading off the screen, I can hear Shado behind me, “1.5 million dollars’ worth of military grade medium machine guns. That amount of M240s in Edinburgh is enough to lay out hundreds, if not thousands, of people.”

“My father is here to finish the job from thirteen years ago and take over the docks. Demassi and Enzo are going to help, but this time they want all of Edinburgh, and no one is stopping them.”

“We are,” Shado declares. “I will not have the blood of innocent people on my hands.” He glares at Daniil. “Regardless of who I have to work with to stop them.”

Miranda pipes up, “Sooo about this poker game?”

CiCi stands by her side, arms folded. “Yeah, when are we going?”

“There is no way in hell I would let you anywhere near Dimitri again.” I can feel my teeth grinding as the words escape my mouth, the muscles in my jaw tense. When I saw her in his proximity earlier in the night, I actually felt something I hadn”t felt in years.

Fear.

“Let me?” She scoffs. She walks up to me, squaring her shoulders. “Hmph. Based on the little I know, none of you three could get anywhere inside that joint without tipping someone off. Miranda and I are your best bet.”

“I’m not dangling you two as bait in front of a bunch of mobsters.” I turn around to storm off. “End of discussion,” I snap.

I can hear Miranda mumble to CiCi, “Is he always this pissy? Maybe you should go suck his...”

“Miranda!” CiCi snaps, attempting to stifle a laugh.

Turning around, I can see the smirks playing on Shado”s and Daniil’s faces.

“I’m glad you two are enjoying this.”

Shado shrugs, “The girls aren’t wrong. You and I can’t go in there, and it doesn’t sound like Daniil and his father are on the best terms, either.”

Miranda steps up proudly, “Lucky for you, my parents taught me how to play, and how to cheat.” She winks.

“And lucky for you, I have something that will come in handy to get the information you’re looking for.” CiCi smiles at me, reaches into her pocket, and pulls out a small USB device. “It’s a packet sniffer. I just need to get close enough to Dimitri’s laptop, and it will pull any information off of it.”

Frustration boils inside me at the thought of the girls inside Dimitri’s casino. Shaking my head, I say firmly, “Absolutely not. They’ll get killed.”

“Draco, we will wire them. They will be safe. We will use your caravan of armored vehicles for extra protection,” Daniil pauses. “But we need to know when the shipment is coming in and if they will have reinforcements. We can not go into this blind like last time.”

CiCi looks at me. “What does he mean, like last time?”

“It’s nothing,” I snap.

Looking back at Daniil, I sigh, “Meet here tomorrow night at 7pm. We will get the girls ready here and go through the back alley to access the casino room.”

Daniil nods and motions for his men to exit with him.

“I’ll walk the girls out and head home for the night.” Shado rises from the chair, walking toward the door.

CiCi walks up to me. “Everything is going to be fine. If I can handle you, I can handle a big scary mobster, okay?”

She rises on her toes and gently kisses my cheek. “Goodnight, my scary Dragon.”

Dread overtakes me as I watch them walk out of the bunker. Running my hands through my hair, I scold myself.

I am sending her straight into the lion’s den, and she doesn’t even know the full truth about why.