Chapter 41
Forty-One
NATASHA
“No.”
I’m fastening an earring—pink diamonds, of course, because my husband is over the top—in our bathroom and glance at Julian, who’s standing in the doorway, leaning with his arms crossed, watching me with hot, dark eyes.
“No, what?” I frown as I reach for the other earring. My hair is twisted up to keep it off my neck, so I don’t get too hot. My makeup looks great, if I do say so myself.
I love a smoky eye.
“You’re not wearing that dress.”
I glance down at the white slip dress—yes, I went for white voluntarily—and then back at him.
“Why not?”
“That’s not a dress, it’s something you wear under a dress.”
“No, it’s a dress, all by itself.” I smile at him, and when I’ve secured the second earring, I hold my hands out at my sides and do a little turn.
“It doesn’t even cover your perfect ass, Angel.”
I glance back in the mirror. “Yes, it does. I mean, I won’t bend over, but—”
“If you bent over, I’d have to set fire to the arena. Natasha, no.”
I sigh and shake my head, frame his face in my hands and lean into him.
“I’m wearing this dress tonight. Because I’m an adult, and you don’t get to tell me what I can and can’t wear.”
“Yes, I do get to do exactly that. You’re my wife.”
“Fine. I don’t want you to wear these shirts anymore. They show off your shoulders, and I don’t want other women looking at them.”
“Done.” He doesn’t even hesitate. “It’ll be rectified by morning.”
I blink up at him, stunned that he’d do that for me. “I was kidding.”
“I’m not, Angel.”
“You bought this in LA.”
“I thought you’d wear it for me. In the bedroom. Not when you go out with the girls to the Sphere for a goddamn concert.”
“Well, that’s where it’s going tonight.” I stomp around my stubborn husband and walk into our closet, where I reach for the gorgeous Dior shirt dress that falls past my knees, so pretty with tigers and blue flowers all over it.
I unfasten the row of buttons that fall down the entire front, then I shrug it on and cinch it with a belt, so you can just see the slip underneath, like a peekaboo.
The neckline is asymmetrical, so it falls over one shoulder, showing off the spaghetti strap of the dress. “I love a layered look.”
I turn and smile at my husband. His eyes have narrowed. His hands are in his pockets.
“Was that always your plan?”
“Yep.” I check myself in the mirror as I slide my feet into strappy Dior heels, then grab the crossbody handbag that matches. “If you remember, I’ve never been one to show a lot of skin, Julian. You never need to worry about that.”
He sighs and then he’s behind me, holding me.
“I love the way you dress, but I won’t ever be okay with other men seeing what’s mine. I can’t change that.”
I turn in his arms and cup his face. “I don’t care if anyone else in the world looks twice at me, Julian. Yours is the only attention I want.”
“I care,” he says as he lowers his forehead to mine.
“But you’re the only one I love.”
He goes very still, and his eyes bounce back and forth between mine.
“Say that again.”
“I love you,” I say softly, and then he’s kissing me like a man starved. I’ll have to reapply my lipstick, but I don’t care.
“I’d like to be a dick and keep you home with me tonight,” he says. “Because I’ve been waiting to hear those words from you for a long fucking time.”
“You’ll hear them again,” I reply with a smile. “And I really want to go to the concert. But I love you, and I’ll see you later.”
He kisses me again, softer this time, and then once I’ve touched up my makeup, I’m in the SUV with my husband and our men.
Danny and Jeremy are up front. They’ll go to the concert with me.
Julian’s men are following us.
“I’ll be with Mateo and Rome, but I’ll be available when you’re ready to go home,” he says and takes my hand in his, linking our fingers. “You’re meeting with the penthouse designer tomorrow.”
Over the past month, I’ve mostly worked with her virtually. There wasn’t anything to be done on-site, but now things are starting to be installed, and I want to see it myself.
“Yes, at noon. I can’t wait to see it all come together. Have you dropped in to have a look?”
“Of course I have.” He smirks and then kisses my hand. “You’re going to love it.”
The SUV pulls up to a VIP entrance at the venue, and as always, Julian gets out first to make sure it’s safe.
“Be safe tonight. I love you,” I tell him after a kiss to his lips, and then Scarlett and Lulu arrive, and with all six of our guards, we walk inside.
We’re shown to a private elevator that takes us up to our premium suite. I shouldn’t be surprised by the opulence around us, and yet, I am.
“Holy shit, this is nice,” Scarlett says, and all I can do is nod.
There’s a buffet spread out fit for a freaking king. Pasta, sliders, flatbread pizzas. We have an attendant, who immediately takes our drink order, and then I survey the rest of the room.
There are couches, windows where we can sit to watch the concert, but there’s also a private balcony with normal seats for us to watch everything unfold.
The stage is right there.
“Who arranged for this?” I ask, looking over at my friends.
“I told Rome what we wanted to do, and he said he’d handle the tickets,” Lulu says, also looking thunderstruck. “I thought that meant he’d buy eleven seats. We’d be in the middle, our guards on either side, and empty seats at the end. I had no idea he’d buy out a box for the night.”
“We need to do this once a month,” I decide and hold my glass up to clink with theirs. “Cheers, friends.”
At some point, I lost my shoes.
I mean, I know where they are. I kicked them off because we’d been dancing around our suite, and the heels were killing me, but now I think I should put them back on. It doesn’t seem like a good idea to walk out of here barefoot.
“That was so fun,” Lulu says with a happy sigh. “And the suite is the way to go. I need to find out who the chef is and ask them for their batter recipe. The chicken fingers were delicious.”
“How are you sober enough for this conversation?” Scarlett asks with a snort.
I manage to wiggle my feet into the heels, and we each use the private restroom in our suite before we head out to our guys, who, according to Danny, are waiting for us downstairs.
“Julian didn’t text me even once,” I say, frowning down at my phone.
So I decide to drunk text him.
Me: Do you hate me?
The bubbles jump on the screen.
Julian: Of course not. Why would you ask that?
Me: Because you didn’t text me at all! Are you mad?
I follow the others into the elevator and lean on the wall as it starts to descend, still looking at my phone.
Julian: You’re with your friends, baby. I’m not interrupting. Did you have fun?
I grin and nibble my lip.
Me: Yes! That suite is INCREDIBLE! We want to do this every month for girl’s night. But I miss you. I’m drunk. Ready to get cozy and curl up with you. Naked. With you inside me and your hand wrapped around my neck. I REALLY like that, Julian.
The elevator doors open, and I follow the others as I wait for a response from my man. Lulu and Scarlett are singing and dancing, and I smile up at them before I turn my attention back to my phone.
Julian: Jesus, get out here so I can take you home and fuck you, Angel.
I grin and am just sliding my phone in my bag when I hear gunshots. I’m slammed to the ground by Danny, who’s covering me with his whole huge body, as people scream and scramble.
Something drips on me, and I realize that it’s blood.
“You’re bleeding,” I yell, but Danny doesn’t answer me. He’s shooting back at someone and yelling out orders, and it’s pandemonium around us.
I try to look for Lulu and Scarlett, but I can’t see anything because Danny’s blocking my vision.
Then a gun is cocked over us, and I stare up into a barrel.
“Give me the girl, fuck face.”
Before Danny can even reply, I watch in horror as the man’s head explodes over us, and then Julian’s standing there, his face mutinous.
“Baby, are you hurt? Shit, you’re bloody.”
“Not mine.” I shake my head wildly as Danny rolls to the side and Julian pulls me into his arms. “He’s hit. Danny’s hit. Where’s Jer—”
I look to my right and see Jeremy lying on his back with lifeless eyes, a huge hole in the middle of his chest.
“No.”
“Let’s go,” Julian snaps to someone, and then he’s carrying me, running, to our SUV. He sets me carefully inside, kisses me hard and fast, and then says, “Stay. I’ll be right back.”
“Here,” Julian says, passing me a glass of whiskey.
We’re in a penthouse that I’m not familiar with. Not in the Rapture building—this is closer to the venue.
It’s Mateo’s home. And it suits him. All dark colors and glass. Spacious. The city lights are an incredible backdrop.
Under any other circumstances, I’d love being here.
“They’re Sergei’s men,” Carson says as he hangs up the phone. “All of the soldiers killed were Russian.”
My eyes shoot up to Carson, and he’s watching me with a steady gaze.
“Oh, fuck that,” I announce and kick off my shoes, then stand to pace. “Absolutely fucking not.”
“Angel, we got positive ID—”
“That’s not what I’m talking about, I’m not in denial,” I reply, spinning to face my husband. “I’m so over that piece of shit that sired me. Kill him, Julian. I want him gone. I want the entire organization wiped out.”
Julian tilts his head, watching me. The room is quiet, and I turn in a circle to take them in.
It’s our usual crew, sitting all over the spacious room.
My girls are sitting with their men. Carson and Mateo are standing.
All four of the guys’ number twos are nearby as well.
And they’re watching me like they’ve never seen me before.
“I’ve had it with that man trying to hurt me and the people I love. My family.” I shake my head and clench my fists. “He’s done. Now, how do we take him out?”
Julian’s eyebrows climb in surprise. “I’ll take care of it, Angel.”
“I want to help.”
“You want to kill your father?” Carson asks, and his lips tip up on the side. “I knew I liked you.”
“Yes, I want him dead, and I think it’s pretty obvious that I need to be the bait that brings him out of his hidey-hole.”
“Fuck no,” Julian growls. “You will never mention yourself and the word bait in the same sentence again, do you understand me?”
“It makes sense,” I insist and reach for my husband, taking his hands in mine. “Look, I’m not a good liar. Like, not at all—”
“You’re not selling yourself well, sweetie,” Scarlett says.
“But I can lie to that man all day long. I’ve done it my whole life. I don’t know what he wants from you, why he keeps fucking with you, but I can help end it.”
Julian watches me for a moment, his eyes full of emotion. He doesn’t want me to do this. Then he turns to his brothers, and I follow his gaze.
“I think you should tell her,” Rome says with a shrug. “It’s her dad.”
Julian sighs and drags his hand down my back, as if he’s soothing himself as well as me.
“Your father wants to dismantle us from the inside out,” he tells me.
“He’s pissed because we wouldn’t bring him into our organization.
We don’t play well with him. The marriage between our families was supposed to be a peace treaty, but Sergei took it too far, and now he’s obviously not upholding the deal. ”
“After the wedding,” Mateo adds, “he came to us and basically demanded we include him in our business dealings, since Julian married you. He’s an entitled ass. No offense.”
I grin at him. “No offense taken. I already knew that about him.”
“I didn’t know that Natasha had this badass side,” Lulu says to Scarlett, “but it’s fucking hot.”
“Agreed,” Scarlett says, making me chuckle.
“I didn’t always feel this . . . confident,” I reply. “But I’m pissed. It’s because of him that Julian kicked me out of my own house and I had nowhere to go.”
Julian swears under his breath.
“My father used to beat the shit out of me. Broke my ribs, stomped my toes. He got off on hurting me, and now he’s still hurting me because damn it, I liked Jeremy.
And Danny’s hurt. And he could have hurt any one of you.
My mom is no better. She used to throw me under the bus with my father all the time to take the focus off of her.
I had nannies that showed me more affection.
If I died, my own parents wouldn’t care.
It wouldn’t even be a blip for them. They’re not my family.
You are. And now, that asshole is threatening my organization.
If I’ve learned anything since marrying Julian, it’s that we don’t stand for that.
I should know. So yeah, it seems I do have a badass side when the people I love are threatened.
And goddamn it, I’m a fucking queen in this city, and they fucked with the wrong girl. ”
“I like her too,” Spider says to Carson, and I admit, that feels good.
I turn back to Julian, who’s staring at me like I hung the moon.
“He made me go to that lunch with him, and he tried to get me to tell him everything I know about you. Let me set up another lunch.”
“No.”
“Just hear me out.”
Julian sighs, clearly on edge, and I keep talking.
“I’ll lie and tell him that I’m pissed at you.
You did . . . something. I’ll make it up.
And I’ll give him some bogus information and lure him somewhere.
I’ll make it sound big. My father’s ego is gigantic.
I can feed into that and make it sound like there’s something going on that he doesn’t want to miss out on. ”
“Look at you, you little manipulator.”
“I would never have had the guts to do this before.” I shake my head and take a breath. “But if he’s not stopped, he’ll keep doing this, over and over again. He could hurt you, and I won’t have it, Julian.”
“He’s not going to hurt me, Angel.” Julian pulls me into his arms and kisses the top of my head. “You’re so fucking brave.”
“I’m not brave, I’m pissed.”
“Still brave,” he whispers.
“It makes sense,” Rome says from across the room. “We’ll have eyes on her at all times. We’ll make sure she’s never in danger.”
Julian’s grip on me is so tight, as if he’s afraid of losing me.
He pulls back and frames my face in his warm hands.
“Are you sure, sweetheart?”
“Absolutely. I’ll go in with a wire. You’ll hear everything.”
“I’ll snipe from above,” Rome adds. “If he so much as sneezes at her wrong, I’ll shoot him between the eyes.”
Julian sighs and then reluctantly nods.
“Let’s get the plan together.”