Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Maksim

It feels good to wake up with Abby still lying next to me. We moved back to her bedroom late last night so we could be near the babies, but that doesn’t stop me from waking her up with a long, slow kiss at the base of her neck where I can see her pulse fluttering.

She half whimpers, half moans, and her eyes flutter open as I kiss her again, a little lower this time.

“Good morning, beautiful,” I murmur, kissing lower still, until my mouth is just above the taut peak of her nipple. “How did you sleep?”

Before she can answer, I wrap my lips around her nipple, suckling and teasing her as she moans and arches her back, pressing her body against me. Fuck, how is she this hot so early in the morning? I love it.

“I slept better than I have in weeks,” she whispers, her breath catching as my tongue flicks over her nipple. “What are you doing?”

“Tasting you,” I reply, my hand cupping her breast and kneading the flesh. “Touching you.”

“But what about the babies?” She moans again, her body responding to my touch.

“They can’t see us,” I tease, my lips moving lower until I’m kissing the soft curve of her belly. “We’ll stay underneath the covers.”

“We should be careful,” she warns, her breath hitching as my tongue dips into her navel. “If they wake up—”

“They won’t wake up,” I assure her, pulling the sheet up over our naked bodies as I scoot lower in the bed and trail kisses down the smooth skin of her inner thigh.

“I don’t—oh God,” she gasps, her body tensing as my lips brush the wet heat of her pussy.

“Shhh,” I remind her, my tongue sliding between her folds. She’s already so fucking wet, and her arousal tastes amazing. “Just relax.”

“Relax?” she echoes incredulously, her voice a whisper. “How am I supposed to relax when you’re doing that?”

I can’t help but chuckle as I lick and suck her swollen clit. She’s right. It’s hard to stay quiet when her body is already on fire. I take her clit between my lips, flicking it gently with the tip of my tongue. Her body trembles and she clutches the bedsheets, her knuckles white with tension.

“You taste so good,” I murmur, slipping a finger inside her.

“God, Maks,” she gasps, her hips bucking against my hand. “You’re gonna make me scream.”

“No screaming,” I remind her, adding a second finger and thrusting deeper.

“Oh God,” she moans, her muscles clenching around my fingers. “Please, Maks. Please, please…”

“Come for me, baby,” I urge her, licking and sucking her clit while my fingers work their magic inside her.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” she chants, her body shuddering.

“Let go,” I command, curling my fingers and hitting the spot I know will drive her wild.

“Maks!” she gasps, her body jerking as her orgasm crashes over her.

“That’s it,” I murmur, licking and stroking her through the waves of pleasure.

When she finally relaxes, I move up her body, kissing her deeply.

“Good lord,” she murmurs, her eyes still closed. “That was…wow. What a way to wake up.”

“You’re welcome.” I grin, kissing her one more time before rolling onto my back.

“Now what?” she asks, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips.

“Now, we wait for the kids to wake up.” I reach over and stroke her cheek, smiling at her.

She nods, and we both lie there quietly for a few minutes, lost in our own thoughts. “Do you have to work today?” she asks after a while.

“Every day, beautiful. Why? Do you need something?”

“No, it’s just you’re always working. How can you be sure no one will come here and attack the house or something?”

“The security is the best in the country, Abby,” I tell her, trying not to let her worries get the best of me. “Nothing is going to happen.”

“Are you sure?” Her voice is small and vulnerable.

“Positive.” I pull her closer, kissing the top of her head. “No one can get to you or the kids here, okay? You don’t have to worry about anything.”

“Okay,” she whispers, snuggling against me.

“Do you have any plans today?” I ask, rubbing her back.

“Besides taking care of four babies, not really,” she laughs. “It’s kind of my full-time job these days. I think I have a video conference with Maggie and some of our donors later this afternoon, but I’ll have to double-check.”

“Sounds like a busy day.” I smile at her. “Don’t work too hard.”

“Ha-ha.” She sticks her tongue out at me. “Very funny. You’re not the one getting up every three hours to feed babies.”

“I know,” I say, leaning in and kissing her. “But you’re doing a great job, and I’m proud of you.”

“Thanks.” She smiles shyly, her cheeks turning pink. “I just wish I knew what was going on.”

“I’m working on it, Abby,” I promise her. “I’m going to find out who’s behind this, and then your life can get back to normal.”

She nods and exhales, long and slow. “Sounds almost too good to be true.”

“It’ll happen,” I promise, even though I’m not sure how long it’ll take. Or if there’ll be any real peace afterwards.

I can’t help but think about the situation with the scamming ring, and the escalation there. Or, almost more worryingly, the lull in activity from the Irish, occurring suspiciously at the same time. Other than their appearance on the sidelines the other day, they’ve suddenly stopped picking and prodding at our people and property, almost out of nowhere, and I can’t help but worry that the two events might in fact be connected.

Even though I don’t see what that connection might be, other than the timing and the odd clenching of my gut. Why would the Irish have anything to do with this bullshit surrounding Abby’s charity? Alyosha hasn’t found any links so far.

It’s the only reason I haven’t reported it back to my father. He knows about the scamming ring, but only vaguely, since it’s not directly related to the Bratva so much as my need to protect Abby and my dislike of the situation in general.

What would I tell him? That the Irish have pulled back, and there are some scammers hanging around that probably won’t affect our profits in any way?

He’d smack me upside the head and tell me to leave him in peace.

But I still can’t quite shake the brewing worry in my gut.

I push those doubts aside, though, because right now Abby needs my confidence more than ever.

“You ready to get up?” I ask, kissing her forehead.

“Ugh, I suppose.” She wrinkles her nose. “Even though this is so much nicer.”

“It is,” I agree, giving her a squeeze. “But duty calls.”

“Yes, it does.” She laughs, shaking her head. “Come on, let’s get this day started.”

***

I’m sitting in the passenger seat of the armored SUV while Lev drives us to who-the-fuck-knows where. Dimitri, Alyosha’s right-hand man, is in the backseat, pecking away at his laptop.

“Should be coming up on the place soon. It’s a big warehouse, so we won’t be able to miss it.” He points toward the upcoming intersection. “Take the next left at the light and slow down a little. We don’t want to go in guns blazing.”

I smirk and Lev snorts, glancing back over his shoulder as we come up on the light. “Haven’t you ever been anywhere with the boss? That’s exactly what we’re going to do.”

“Guns blazing is how I like to do business,” I agree, clenching my jaw as we turn the corner and the warehouse he’s been directing us to comes into sight. “This the place?”

Dimitri nods. “All the files I was able to decrypt from Booker’s computer originated from this location. All the scams he was a part of lead back to this place. This warehouse.”

“Let’s take a look.” I nod to Lev, who pulls the SUV over to the curb and kills the engine.

The three of us climb out, and Dimitri leads the way toward the main entrance. The door is locked, but Dimitri makes quick work of it.

“Remember,” Dimitri whispers as Lev and I pull our guns, “most of the people in here are going to be unarmed. They might not even speak English.” He looks at our weapons and grimaces. “If you have to shoot, just try not to fuck up any of the equipment. There will be tons of shit we can use.”

“No promises.” Lev smirks. “I don’t like people who scam others out of their life savings.”

“Same,” I add, stepping forward and kicking the door open.

As soon as the door swings wide, we’re greeted by nothing. No people, no noise, no sign of activity.

I frown. “The fuck is going on in here? Where is everyone?”

“Hello?” Dimitri calls out, his voice echoing through the cavernous space.

“Anyone home?” Lev shouts, following him.

We spread out, checking out the rows and rows of desks and computer equipment.

“There’s no one here,” Dimitri mutters, frowning. “This is weird. The whole place should be humming with people making calls, hacking systems, posting videos—the whole nine yards.”

“Let’s check the rest of the building.” I nod toward the back of the warehouse. “Maybe they’re all out getting lunch or something.”

There’s a door towards the back, and Lev notices it, too. I nod, motioning with my free hand. “I’ll go in first.”

“Be careful, boss.” He steps back, letting me take the lead.

I kick open the door and frown, trying to make sense of what I’m seeing. It looks like some kind of operating room, with a hospital bed and all sorts of monitors and equipment lying around. But there are also cameras and lights and boom mics, as if the whole thing is part of a movie set.

“What the hell?” Lev mutters, walking in behind me and looking around. “What is all this shit?”

“Wow.” Dimitri steps into the room before either of us can say anything else. “This is where Booker made his fundraising videos that I found on his hard drive. He always made it look like he was practically dying, like he was in a hospital bed fighting for his life.” He walks to the middle of the room and shakes his head. “The whole time, he was right here, scamming people left and right.”

“Motherfucker,” I mutter, holstering my gun.

“There’s got to be a record of where the money went,” Lev says, his eyes scanning the room. “Maybe in those filing cabinets.”

Dimitri moves to the filing cabinets and starts going through them. After a moment, he looks over his shoulder at me and shakes his head. “There’s nothing here. I can’t find anything. No files, no paperwork, no nothing.”

“That doesn’t make any sense.” Lev frowns. “Why would there be a room full of fake equipment and nothing to go with it?”

A loud noise echoes through the warehouse, startling all three of us and making me draw my gun again as I whip around to see what the hell is going on.

“What was that?” Lev hisses.

“Sounded like a door slamming,” Dimitri says, already hurrying back the way we just came. “There! Look! Someone was here.”

He starts running toward a side door that’s still half open, with Lev right on his heels. I don’t bother trying to catch up. Instead, I walk around the main part of the warehouse, looking at the empty desks and chairs.

Some of the equipment around here is dusty, like it’s been sitting for weeks, maybe months. And some of it looks like someone just stepped away. In fact, a lot of it looks as if it was in use as recently as this morning.

Whoever was here left in a hurry. Almost as if they knew we were on our way.

I hope Lev and Dimitri catch the motherfucker who ran off. Whoever it is will have a lot of explaining to do.