Chapter 22
Twenty-Two
L uka
The warehouse was damp. One of the only places near the docks that didn’t still smell like a fishing cannery. Maksim met me at the door and closed it behind me.
It was unusual to call two brigadiers together, but for this mission to be successful I needed Maksim and Nikoli. I needed two teams, both lethal. I trusted them not to make a mistake.
Nikoli shook my hand when I crossed over the puddles near a pile of empty crates. The prisoner who had been held for weeks was gone. Maksims men took care of him. I didn’t want to know where the body was dropped.
“Nik.” I nodded. “Thank you for joining us.”
“Of course.”
I lit a cigarette. I had given up on my attempt to stop smoking. The smoke circled between us .
“Lorenzo Amato is the target,” I stated. “Only, Lorenzo,” I emphasized.
“Then why two teams?” Nikoli asked.
My chest tightened. “His daughter needs to be removed, unharmed. One team will handle her extraction. The other takes out Lorenzo.”
Nikoli and Maksim nodded in unison. I thought I heard a car pull up outside the garage doors, but we waited a beat and when we were sure there was no one interrupting the meeting, I continued. I handed them each a folder. Maksim was given the information about Lorenzo while I trusted Nikoli with removing Amara from the compound.
They read the notes and studied the photographs as well as the layout of the mansion.
Nikoli’s eyes raised to mine. “What do we do with her? This says a week.”
“Yes. Return her after a week. Not a scratch. Do you hear me?” I growled. “No one is to touch her.”
Maksim shrugged. “This seems simple.”
“But you will have to coordinate and run surveillance. Lorenzo is not well. But he has been seen a few times in town. I need you to wait until he’s having one of his medical episodes, cooped up for days. No one will miss him.”
“Why not a bullet to the back of his neck?” Maksim asked.
I rubbed the side of my jaw, watching water run toward the drains in the concrete floor.
“Because this is how I fucking want it done,” I seethed. “It must be strategic. Make it look tied to his failing health. Can you do that Maks?”
“I’m trained in all styles of killing.”
I nodded. “That is why I chose you.”
Nikoli looked at me. “Can we get back to the daughter? Why does she need to be removed?”
“If something goes wrong when Maksim’s team is in the house, I don’t want her killed. The less she sees, the better. She’s innocent. Got that? Get her out of the house, then kill Lorenzo.”
“Got it, Luka. Anything you ask.” They nodded, clutching the files.
“Good. Report to me as soon as the operation begins and I want every detail, every second along the way.”
“Will you be at your apartment?” Nik asked.
I shook my head. “No. Europe.”
They knew better than to question my reasons or my personal decisions. They had their orders and their instructions. My driver waited outside the warehouse to take me to the airport. My suitcases were already packed and loaded. I would not return to New Orleans for a long time.
I had volunteered to oversee the new Bratva training. It would be hard, vicious work that would punish my body and exhaust every part of my soul. I craved the punishment. I didn’t know any other way to atone for what had to be done. My father would take care of acquiring the Vieux Carre once Amato was dead and Amara was back in Philadelphia. Until then, I would stay away .
Nikoli, Maksim, and I walked outside together. A barge floated past us on the river.
“Begin your surveillance tonight,” I commanded. “I want a report in the morning.”
I ducked into the back of the car. The cool leather was a relief. I stared straight ahead.
“We’ll be at the airport in thirty minutes, sir” Anthony announced.
“Fine.” I looked down when my phone buzzed.
It was a text from Amara. Fuck. What was she doing? I read it quickly. I closed my eyes, fighting off my instincts. Fighting off duty. I groaned.
“Anthony, I need you to stop somewhere on the way to the airport,” I announced. The blood pounded between my ears. This was a fucking mistake. I knew it the instant I saw her name.
“We’re running tight on time, sir.”
I balled my fists in my lap. “I don’t care. We’re going to make a stop. I’ll send the address to the car’s GPS right now.”
“Okay, sir. Are you sure?” he questioned.
“Absolutely.”
I linked the address to the car, and I saw it pop up on his screen. I reached into my carry-on. I had made one stop between the bank and my father’s office this morning. The jeweler had called and said my order was ready for pickup. I tucked the velvet box in my pocket.
I didn’t know what Amara had to say to me, but it better be worth betraying the vow I had made.
T he car stopped, and I climbed out. My legs stretched long. I heard the piano before I walked inside. Marguerite smiled. Her red shawl was pinned with a red rose tonight.
“Your lady friend is already waiting for you.” She grinned knowingly. “I remembered her.”
“You remember everyone, Marguerite.” I stooped to kiss her on each cheek.
“I don’t have that many customers,” she replied.
“That’s the charm of the place.” I moved past her into the candlelit bar. My eyes landed on Amara, sitting at the same table we had shared nearly a month ago.
Her hair cascaded around her shoulders. It was blonder and more sun-kissed now than when we had met. She was wearing a black jumpsuit. She somehow made jersey material look sexy as hell. She was breathtaking in every way, and I had fucked up any chance at a life with her.
“Hi.” I stood at the edge of the table.
“Hi.” She looked up. Her eyes shimmered. The flame on the candle sputtered as the wax dripped. “I didn’t know if you would show up.”
I pulled the chair away from the table. “I shouldn’t have,” I replied. I looked around. “Where’s Ciro?”
“At home. I wanted to see you alone.”
I sat. I wished I could tell her how sorry I was we had traveled so far from where we started. I took responsibility for destroying the first glimmer of light in my life. For humiliating her. For pushing her away. For breaking her trust. I would never be able to tell her the truth.
“Thank you. For meeting me. I know it’s strange after what happened today.”
“What? This awkward? How you annihilated me at the bank?” I tried to smile, but there was tension in my chest, keeping my lungs from taking a full breath. It was hard to believe these were my last minutes in New Orleans.
I had set a plan in motion that could not be undone. Nikoli and Maksim had their orders.
“It wasn’t supposed to be personal. It was business. Isn’t that what you told me?” she asked plainly.
I shook my head. “Fuck, Amara. We became part of the game. And neither one of us won today. I’m sorry it’s ending this way.” It was the closest I would get to confessing to her.
“What do you mean ending?” Her eyes darted back and forth. It was hard to imagine I wasn’t going to see them again. The green flames I dreamed about.
“I’m taking the red-eye to Paris tonight.”
Her face paled. “Why? For how long? When are you coming back?”
“I’m not.”
“But that can’t be?—”
“It doesn’t matter why. I’m leaving tonight and I’m not coming back to New Orleans. I’m taking over all the Novikov operations in Europe. We have an extensive vineyard operation in the champagne business. It’s where I will work. ”
“But you said you were your father’s right-hand, didn’t you? How can you leave him? That doesn’t make any sense.”
I didn’t want her to try to put pieces of a puzzle together. I had to get the fuck out of here.
“I can ask Marguerite to bring you a ’98?—”
“I don’t care about champagne right now.” Her voice tinged with rage. “You didn’t mention Paris before.”
“I didn’t tell you everything,” I admitted.
“But you’re supposed to stay here in New Orleans.”
I tilted my head. “I’m taking over the European arm. It needs to be done.” I pressed my lips together. “But the text you sent. I thought I should stop by and say goodbye. Tell you for the last time.” The words came out mangled. If she had sent it thirty minutes later, I would have already been at the airport. We wouldn’t be having this conversation.
“I hope you enjoy New Orleans, Amara.” I rose to my feet. Anthony was waiting for me outside.
“But you can’t go. Not after what I found out,” she whispered.
My heart clenched. Did she know about Uncle Ivan? I straightened my spine. “And what did you find out?”
She exhaled. The candle wavered. “My father told me tonight about the merger offer. I know what he proposed.” She scanned my face. “The offer to...” She couldn’t say the words.
“Broker our engagement?” I did the hard part for her.
“Yes. That. It’s why you freaked out, isn’t it? Still shitty, but what he did…what my father tried to do…” Her hands scrambled to m ine, rubbing over the top of my knuckles, urging me sit back down next to her.
She was making this harder than it had to be. I couldn’t stop myself from tangling my fingers against hers. I leaned toward her over the table.
“Is that why? Tell me the truth. You threw me out of your apartment after we… because he tried to force you to marry me?”
I hung my head. “Shit.”
“If you’re leaving, can’t you at least be honest? It was his fault wasn’t it?”
Was this the coward’s way out? I could shift all the blame on her father. Maybe she would grieve less when Maksim killed him.
She had me. What did I have to lose? “Yes. I freaked out. For both our sakes. I knew it wasn’t what you wanted or what I wanted. Not right now, at least. And to trade you for the hotel. I was pissed. I lashed out. I did what I was trained to do. There was no other option. Marriage to you is out of the question.”
I saw the pain shoot across her face. Fuck. Why did I have to keep hurting her this way?
“Can’t you stay a little longer?” she whispered. “We haven’t figured this out.”
“Figured what out?” I pressed my forehead to hers. I could smell her shampoo. The watermelon lipgloss on her lips. I was fucking slipping. Toward her.
“What do we do now?” she whimpered. “You can’t leave. ”
“I get on the plane to Paris. You keep knocking ‘em dead here, killer.”
“That’s it?” Her voice was too low for anyone else to hear.
“I’m sorry. You deserve better. I owe you that.” I felt her nails dig into my skin. She could tell I was trying to break away. I had to go. I had to get away from her before I did something reckless.
“But I know why you did it now. I know why you lied to me. That changes things. I don’t believe you’re the dangerous man they tell me you are.”
“You should.”
She had no idea what the truth was. She still didn’t know her father murdered Ivan. Things had spun so far out of her comprehension, that it would devastate her to know.
“Only part of that afternoon was a lie.” I smoothed her hair from her face. Our lips almost touching. “What I said at the end was the lie. What came before that…” My chest tightened. I’d dreamed about her body ever since I’d tasted it. “That was real.” I hated myself for the next words out of my lips. “Ty moya.”
She gasped. Her eyes met mine.
“Then stay.”
“I can’t.” Anthony would honk the horn any second. My lips burned for the softness of her mouth. Maybe it wasn’t fair that I kissed her roughly. She was a magnetic pull that I hadn’t been able to contest since the night we met at the pool house.
Her fingers feathered through my hair. She moaned. Our tongues tangled. I wanted to drown in her. I thought about dragging her into Marguerite’s office, but even I had limits to my cruelty. She was safer the farther I was away from her.
“Before I go.” I reached into my pocket. “I had this made for you.”
I handed her the velvet box. She cracked the lid and stared at the necklace. Her expression was both confused and excited. She held it close to the candle to read the inscription on the back of the pendant.
“It says dusha moya ”
I pressed my lips together. It was like someone slipped a knife blade between my ribs. “To remember.” She fastened the pearl, encrusted with diamonds around her neck.
“And this is for the oysters?” she asked. Her voice cracked.
“Yes, so you don’t forget the first.”
“Luka… I know this means you didn’t mean…”
I kissed her cheek. “Shh.”
And then I stood up and walked out of the bar. I heard her call my name again, but I kept moving. Anthony was waiting outside for me.
“Sir, we’re going to be cutting it close. You could miss your flight.” He was leaning against the hood of the car.
“Just fucking drive,” I ordered.