Chapter 22 - Aleksandr

Things still weren't settled with the rivals. Not completely. More than a month had passed since our failed diplomatic meeting. After we'd made an example of one of them and dumped the leader in front of his most popular establishment, tied up, humiliated, and furious, things settled down. The last week, in particular, had been quiet.

Almost too quiet. They were certainly plotting their revenge, but I had also been ramping up security at all our places that they might hit next. It seemed like a waste of energy to be on edge when there was no word from any of our spies that anything big was underway. All I could do was wait and try to enjoy the peace.

I was doing just that one afternoon, catching up on some accounting at my club during the off hours. An electrician was fixing some of the lights over the bar, and the work sounds combined with someone using a polisher out on the dance floor had lulled me into a flow state as I signed papers and double-checked the monthly accounts.

My rumbling stomach drew me out of my work daze, and I realized it was almost three. It was well past time to eat something. Remembering that Katie had packed me one of her lunches to take with me that morning, I reached for it in the mini-fridge behind my desk. Smiling as I peeled away her signature sticker, I recalled her mischievous grin as she told me it had something special in it, so I wasn't to give it to anyone else.

As if I would have shared any gift she gave me. Inside, nestled between the bacon and brie sandwich and the couscous salad, was a small, square envelope, sealed with a bright red lipstick kiss.

I glanced up at the security camera in the corner of my office and refrained from pressing my own lips against the mark. I had a reputation to uphold. People needed to be at least somewhat afraid of me. If anyone knew how important Katie was to me, it could quickly become a problem.

With my heart swelling in my chest, I took out her note and read it.

Have a great day. I'm always thinking of you. I'll wear this lipstick tonight and get it all over you. Deal?

There was another red kiss mark underneath her handwriting, and the front of my pants tightened. If I had been even close to finished with the paperwork I'd let pile up, I would have been in the car on the way home already. I was about to let it rot when I recalled what time it was. She had taken full advantage of her freedom and was out most afternoons, either with my sister, taking her cooking class, or volunteering.

Sinking my teeth into the sandwich, I let my thoughts wander to what we might get up to later, and was irritated when my phone rang. Sighing, I answered Lev's call.

"One of your wife's delivery drivers never checked in at the end of his shift," he said, voice tense.

I checked the time. They usually started delivering at around eleven and finished up by two at the latest. It was now almost four. "Have you tried to contact him?"

"We've been trying for the last hour," Lev told me. "His phone's off."

Everything in his tone was trying to tell me not to worry, but the fact he was calling was worry enough. "Give me the rundown," I said, carefully tucking Katie's note into my pocket and wrapping up the lemon butter cookie before throwing away the empty box. Her cookies were transcendent, but my appetite had waned.

"The last location we were able to track was near one of the buildings on La Brea that he regularly delivers to. I sent some guys to look for him, but there's no sign. No one of his descriptions or names turns up at any of the local police stations or hospitals, either."

I nodded, groaning. Lev had covered his bases before reporting to me.

"It could be nothing," he tried to reassure me. "He could have pulled a runner, got sick of the job."

"It could be something, though," I said, panic rising. "Keep me updated."

I ended the call, already halfway to my car, breaking all the speed limits to get home. Katie's phone rang to voicemail, but I tried to tell myself she was in class. Or distracted or left her phone in the kitchen. Anything to keep my heart in my chest where it belonged and not pounding out of my throat. As I got stuck in the inevitable traffic, I called the security head at the house.

"Nothing's amiss, boss," he said. "Want me to do an early sweep and get back to you?"

I told him yes, and hung up, wondering if it would be quicker to get out and run. The traffic eventually eased up, and I put my foot down again. I wouldn't be able to breathe properly until I saw Katie with my own eyes. It would be foolish to underestimate how sneaky our enemies could be, and there was always the chance one of my own was a snake waiting to strike. A minuscule chance, but one I had to always be wary of.

I called Katie again, and once again, it went to voicemail. I hung up before shouting a message that only upset and frightened her. At the house, everything seemed perfectly calm, and the man at the gate told me they were doing a thorough sweep of the property. I left the car out front and ran full out toward the pool, Katie's favorite spot at this time of day. The water was calm, unlike me, because every lounge chair was empty. The kitchen was also bare, and since it was one of Olga's days off, I didn't have her to assure me nothing strange had happened.

Next, I headed toward Katie's favorite sitting room. She said it was the coziest room in the house, and the only one that didn't look like it had been decorated for a magazine cover.

The door was closed, and my breath froze when I heard a man's voice coming from behind it. Loud, clear, and speaking a language I didn't recognize or understand.

Pulling my gun, I kicked open the door, waving the pistol toward the sound of the voice. The only people I could see in the room were Katie and Mila, sitting on the couch. They both shrieked at the sight of a gun trained in their direction, and my little sister dragged Katie to the floor, below the line of the couch.

I swept my aim back and forth, searching for the source of the voice. Mila must have come to her senses and realized it was me brandishing the weapon, so she popped her head above the edge of the sofa.

"What the hell is going on?" we both demanded at the same time.

"It's only my idiot brother," Mila told Katie, pulling her up to see with her own eyes.

Eyes that were overflowing with tears. "We're trying to learn Portuguese," she said.

"Why?" I shouted, still full of adrenaline that had nowhere to go. There was no enemy here. I had completely overreacted, terrifying my wife and pissing off my sister.

"Because we wanted to," Mila said, hurrying to my side and lowering my arm.

I swore under my breath, not even realizing I had still been pointing it toward the source of the voice. Now, I could see it was coming from one of their phones on the coffee table. It still rambled on as Mila kept a firm grip on my arm. Katie shakily reached to turn it off.

"You need to calm the hell down," Mila hissed so Katie couldn't hear. "What's going on that has you so riled up?"

I shook my head. "Now isn't the time."

"It's the perfect time. She's going to think you're crazy at this rate. I already do." With that, Mila stormed out. She probably wouldn't speak to me for weeks, and I supposed I deserved it.

When I sat beside her, Katie was still shaking and recoiled from me when I tried to hug her. I looked down at the gun held loosely in my hand and got up to put it on a side table. When I noticed Katie's eyes watching it as if it was going to get up and fire itself, I slid off my jacket and covered it up.

Returning to her side, she held herself stiffly away from me. "Why did you feel the need to bust in here waving that thing in the first place?" she demanded, swiping at the tears on her face. "Do you—do you always carry a gun?"

Now would have been the time to take Mila's advice and lay it all out on the line. But seeing how rattled Katie was and knowing her stance on anyone who wasn't squeaky clean where the law was concerned, I couldn't force out the words.

I couldn't lose her. As much as I tried to believe it was because she wasn't pregnant yet, and hadn't fulfilled the most important part of our bargain, that wasn't it. Not even close. I just plain couldn't lose her. I'd no longer be whole without her. The feelings assailing me were too much. Fear that she might have been in danger, rage at myself that I was the one who scared her, the fact she still looked at me like someone she couldn't trust. It boiled up inside me and overflowed as anger, wrongly aimed at her.

"I've told you my business can get messy. Espionage is rife, and you refuse to understand how rich I am—we are. I'm the one at the top, the one people will mess with." I reached for her hand, and she pulled them tightly together in her lap, still looking at me with confusion in her shining, emerald eyes. "There was a problem that escalated and I overreacted. I'm sorry." I closed my own hand into a fist, my voice far too gruff.

"Tell me what happened," she said. "Help me understand."

I had gotten much too used to letting my guard down with her and sharing my softer side. As much as I wanted to find a way to calm her down, telling her that her delivery guy might have defected, or might be being tortured at that very moment, was an impossible task. Not without telling her everything. I pressed the heels of my hands into my eyes, furious at my constant stream of rivals, terrified of losing her, or, worse, her getting hurt. Worst of all, I'd scared the daylights out of her, acting on instinct like a wild animal.

That's how I felt, like a cornered beast.

"There's nothing you need to know," I snapped. "You just need to listen to me. And answer your damn phone when I call."

She raised her chin and pulled her phone from the coffee table onto her lap, fiddling with the settings. "I put it on ‘do not disturb' when the video lesson was playing," she said. "Sorry."

Her meek tone and the fact she was still leaning away from me was the last straw. I had to leave before I became a monster she'd never forgive. The monster she could never know about.

I stood up and strode to the side table, sweeping my jacket and the gun under my arm. My self-disgust bubbled out in one last ugly burst. "Good. I'm too busy to be running home in the middle of the day to make sure you're all right."

I stalked out of the room, but not without one last glance at Katie, huddling on the couch with her phone held tightly in her trembling hand. The look in her eyes haunted me for the rest of the day as I got Lev and a crew together to track down what happened to the missing delivery man.

I was the sole reason that look was there, and it was killing me.