Chapter 33
SERGEI
The office was probably my favorite room in the house now, which was fucking ridiculous because two weeks ago, I hadn’t cared if it had anything in it at all beyond a desk, a chair, and enough security to make sure no one could sneak up on me while I worked.
That had seemed reasonable. The kind of setup that made sense for a man who didn’t need his surroundings to comfort him.
Leo had disagreed.
He’d stood in the middle of the empty room and listened while I explained that all I needed was somewhere to sit and somewhere to put my laptop.
Then he’d pointed at the door and told me not to return home for at least four hours.
I’d dropped in at the nightclub to check on inventory and to catch up on anything unusual happening in my absence, since I’d taken the days off to be with Leo.
Nothing was out of the ordinary, so I’d visited our hostage and tried to ply information out of him without harming him.
Sometimes I wished I hadn’t promised Leo I wouldn’t kill him, but I knew the next time he checked on his patient, he would be looking for bruises.
Arkady’s son was the most humanely treated prisoner we’d ever had, and it was all thanks to Leo.
I was almost at the point of tossing him back to his asshole of a father, who hadn’t put out feelers to find his son.
Dmitry seemed to have been telling the truth that Arkady didn’t give a fuck about him.
The little information I’d gleaned about him was that his mother was dead and he’d grown up with her side of the family.
Arkady hadn’t had any hand in his upbringing. No wonder he didn’t care for his son.
Fucking excuse of a dad. Mine had been the same. Maybe because of that or Leo’s persuasive skills, Dmitry’s neck was still attached to his body.
By the time I returned to the house, sweaty from spending the last hour away at the gym, the office was done and looked straight out of a magazine.
The dark wooden desk he’d talked me into getting when we bought the furniture sat near the window now, wide enough to contain my laptops and security equipment.
Shelves—they must have arrived when I was gone—lined one wall, filled with books I hadn’t bought, small decorative pieces I wouldn’t have chosen, and a few framed black-and-white prints.
There was a leather chair behind the desk, deep brown and soft enough that I’d sat in it the first time and immediately understood why Leo had ignored my original plan.
A rug tied the whole thing together. There was even a plant in the corner, which I still wasn’t convinced I could keep alive, though Leo had informed me that if I killed it, he would put a cock cage on me.
I was tempted to, just to know what that would feel like, but I didn’t want to hurt something living that Leo had gotten me, so I’d spent half an hour on the internet learning everything I could about keeping a Dracaena Marginata plant alive.
Now every time I looked around, I felt a stupid pull at the corner of my mouth.
Because the whole room reminded me of him.
Not just because he’d chosen everything, but because he’d cared enough to do it and to put thought into it.
Leo had used up every bit of his days off making my house look like someone lived there.
Like someone might want to come home to it.
He’d argued over rugs, measured walls, ordered things online, called delivery companies, bullied me into approving colors I barely understood, and somehow turned empty spaces into a warm home.
I had spent most of my life making sure other people were safe. Leo had looked at the shell of my house and decided I deserved comfort too.
My phone buzzed against the desk, dragging my attention away from the ridiculous softness threatening to take over my chest. Hazel’s name flashed across the screen, and I leaned back in my chair as I answered.
“Tell me nothing’s on fire.”
“Nothing’s on fire,” she said, her tone brisk. “Yet.”
I closed my eyes. “Hazel.”
“I’m giving you a heads-up before you hear it from someone else. Mr. Morozov booked one of the private suites for tonight.”
My good mood died instantly.
I opened my eyes and stared at the lamp Leo had picked out. “Maxim’s coming in?”
“That’s what the reservation says. Suite three of the Diamond Club. Eleven o’clock. Small party, but you know how that goes.”
Unfortunately, I did.
I rubbed two fingers over the bridge of my nose.
I’d taken a few days away from the club because things had mostly settled after the mess with Arkady’s people, and Hazel was competent enough that it made hovering unnecessary.
She knew the staff, knew the regulars, knew which men needed to be watched and which women could empty a rich idiot’s wallet.
If she called, it wasn’t because she needed me to hold her hand.
It was because she knew I would want to be there if Maxim stepped foot inside my club. God forbid anything should go down while I wasn’t there to take care of it.
I groaned and leaned back farther in the chair.
The last thing I wanted was to leave the house tonight.
Leo was here, and we still hadn’t christened the sex couch.
He had to report to the hospital tomorrow, and with his busy schedule, when would I get this alone time with him again?
He was always so exhausted after work that we didn’t talk.
He ate, we had sex, and he was usually out cold.
But I liked the talking. Liked the way he laid his head on my chest and talked about cars or food or told me hospital horror stories. But if Maxim was going to be at the club, I needed to show my face.
“Thanks for the heads-up, Hazel,” I said on a sigh. “I’ll come in.”
“I figured.”
“Keep suite three sealed until he arrives. No staff inside without your approval, and I want the hallway camera feeds monitored.”
“Already done. His security detail got in touch.”
Fuck, that’s right. I’m no longer working Maxim’s personal security.
“Good. I’ll see you later then.”
I ended the call and sat there for a moment, staring at my phone while irritation crawled through me.
It wasn’t Maxim’s fault exactly. He owned the club, and he had every right to use the suite when he wanted.
But the timing was shit, and there was a selfish part of me that hated anything interrupting the fragile peace I’d been building with Leo.
I was about to call Nik when a soft knock came at the office door.
“Come in.”
Leo poked his head in, his shoulder braced against the frame.
He wore one of my shirts again, his collarbones bare from the too-wide collar, showing off the lovebites on his neck and chest. Last night I’d been ravenous, but it’d been his damn fault for ordering me on the bed with my back arched and my hands above my head.
Since I hadn’t been able to use my hands…
“Dinner’s here,” he said. “You have five minutes before I start without you.”
“Don’t. I just have a call to make.”
“Five minutes, Sergei.”
He disappeared before I could answer, leaving the door halfway open and the room warmer for the fact that he’d been in it at all. I stared after him for a second too long before I started at the realization that the clock was ticking and I didn’t want him to eat without me.
I dialed Nik’s number. He answered on the fourth ring, sounding breathless. “What’s up?”
“I’m going to the club tonight. You should be there too.”
There was a pause, followed by a groan so loudly dramatic that I held the phone away from my ear and hit the speaker button.
“I thought you said you were taking the night off to be loverboy’s toy.”
I rolled my eyes. “That’s your spin on it. Maxim’s dropping in, and I need you there.”
That shut him up for two seconds, then he cursed. “Of course, he’s showing up on the night we didn’t plan to be there. And fucking Darius didn’t say anything. He was just here five minutes ago!”
“Let me guess, you distracted him?”
“Maybe. But that’s beside the point.”
“The point is, you have to be there. Bring Jess, if that makes you feel better.”
“But then I’ll have to watch her dancing while working.”
“For fuck’s sake, Nik, you’re a grown man able to control your urges while your woman dances. Consider it foreplay for later.”
“Hah! The doc taught you what foreplay is. This is epic.”
“Nik,” I growled his name.
“I’ll be there with Jess. Does that mean you’re taking Leo with you?”
The smile left my face. “No.”
Nik hummed. “Why not?”
“It’s a bad idea. I don’t want Leo mixing in our world.”
“That’s a little too late, don’t you think? You already got him involved with Arkady’s son.”
I hated when he was right.
“This is different. I want Leo as far away from Maxim as possible.”
“You can’t keep them apart forever, Sergei. At some point, they’re going to clash. If you ask me—”
“I’m not asking you.”
“I’m going to answer anyway,” Nik said. “You need to put them in the same room and let them hash out their differences, preferably with you nowhere near it, because we both know what happens if you’re forced to choose.
You can love the doctor all you want, Sergei, but your contract with Maxim wasn’t written on paper.
It was written in blood, and the only way out is when one of you dies. ”
I said nothing.
Nik’s voice softened, but only slightly.
“You took an oath to die for him. That doesn’t magically disappear because you’ve got feelings now.
So, for all our sakes, you’d better wrap up this whole brigadier situation quickly and get back where you belong.
Maybe I’m selfish, but I don’t want Darius to become the permanent head of security.
That means he’d have to take the same oath, and the only two people he should ever be willing to die for are me and Jess, and even then, I don’t wish that to happen. ”