Chapter 17
Mikhail
Three perfect, uninterrupted days of just me and Shanice in our hotel room was the perfect surprise mini honeymoon. We'd barely left the bed. Food was delivered to the door. The world existed somewhere outside those windows, but we didn't care.
I learned every inch of her body. Every sound she made.
So many ways to make her come undone. And she’d been learning me as well.
Learned how to touch me, how to push my buttons, how to make me lose the control I'd spent years cementing in place. In days, she’d managed to get closer to me than any other woman had.
It wasn’t just the sex. It was the way she challenged me, the way she lazily laid across my body, claiming me as hers without saying a single word.
Our time together was perfect. Which meant, of course, that it couldn't last.
My phone rang at seven in the morning on day four.
Olek's name flashed on the screen. Shanice was curled against my chest, still sleeping, her hair spread across my arm.
I didn't want to move. Didn't want to shatter this peace.
Because I knew that the moment that I did, this paradise was going to disappear in a blink of an eye.
But I answered anyway.
"Yeah."
"Come to the house. Now. We need to talk." Olek's voice was tight, urgent.
"What's wrong?" My brows narrowed inward, concentrating on whatever he said next.
"Not over the phone. How soon can you get here?"
I looked down at Shanice, still peaceful in sleep. Fuck. I didn’t want to leave her. "An hour."
"Make it thirty minutes." He hung up.
I carefully extracted myself from Shanice, sliding out of bed without waking her.
I grabbed my jeans and moved to the bathroom, splashing cold water on my face.
I looked up into the mirror and appreciated my relaxed demeanor.
The next time that I’d be able to be this free would feel like a lifetime away.
I savored the moment and then… I stretched my neck and clicked my mental armor in place. It was time for me to get to work.
When I came out, my wife was awake, sitting up in bed with the sheet pulled around her. There was nothing in the world more beautiful than she was in this moment. I took a picture of her to save the memory and etch it into time.
Her heritage tried to shine through the once bone strait hair.
Her hair had waves in it from the workout I’d put her through the past three days.
Whisps of curls that were full and thick scattered across her head.
Her full lips, the swell of her breasts, the contrast of her golden sunkissed skin against the white sheets.
I shook my head stunned by how the ‘recently fucked’ look took her appeal up a million notches. And she was all mine. The diamond ring gleaming on her finger was proof of that. Mrs. Mikhail Borisov. I was rock hard and I didn’t have time to do anything about it.
She’s so fucking sexy.
"Everything okay?" she asked.
"I need to go see Olek. Something came up." I licked my lips, reminiscing about how good she tastes.
Her expression fell slightly, but she nodded. "Work stuff?"
"Yeah. I'll be back as soon as I can." I moved to the bed, cupping her face and kissing her deeply. "Stay here. Order room service, relax, enjoy the view. I’ll send someone to keep guard and I’ll let you know how long I’ll be after I get there. Promise."
"Okay." She sighed, unhappy about the news of me having to leave her.
Trust, I felt the same damn way.
"I promise. I’ll let you know if it's more than a few hours." I kissed her again. "I love you."
"I love you too."
Then I was out the door.
I made it to the mansion in twenty-five minutes. Olek was in his office, Dmitri sitting across from him. Dmitri looked as cold and calculating as ever, his eyes assessing me the moment I walked in. I didn’t trust his ass either, so the feeling was mutual.
"Mikhail," Olek said. "Sit."
I remained standing. "What's going on?"
"We have a problem." Olek leaned forward. "There are two other witnesses who saw what happened to Marcus. Not just Shanice.”
My blood went cold. "How do you know? Where were they?"
"Our cop on the inside." Dmitri's voice was smooth, accented.
"Someone came to the station yesterday to report a murder.
Said he witnessed it, had details. Apparently, they were inside the cooler area hiding when everything went down.
Our officer sent him home, told him they'd contact him for a statement. Bought us some time, but not much."
"Who is he?" I asked.
Olek slid a file across the desk. "Eddie Carlson. Small time criminal, used to run with Marcus's crew. This is his address, his known associates, everything our cop could pull."
I opened the file, memorizing the details.
"And the second witness?" I asked.
"Carlson mentioned him but didn't give a name. Said there were two of them who saw everything, but the other guy didn't want to come forward." Olek's jaw tightened. "You'll need to get that information from Carlson."
"And then?"
Dmitri stood, buttoning his suit jacket.
"Then you handle it. Both of them. Before they go on record with names and descriptions.
" He looked at me directly. "Your marriage to Shanice satisfies my concerns about her. We’ll need to get our attorney to draw up paperwork that predates the marriage, but for now this is enough.
But these other two are loose ends. And I won't leave loose ends. "
I met his gaze. "I'll take care of it."
"Today," Dmitri said. "This gets handled today."
He left without another word.
I looked at Olek. "Anything else I need to know?"
"Just be careful. And call me when it's done."
I nodded and left. I sent Shanice a quick text to let her know that I’d probably be there in the morning, but Olek needed me for the rest of the day. I sent a bag of her things over to the hotel by one of my guys and made him stay to keep tabs on her.
“If something happens to her, consider it an invitation for you to join her.” I told him before he left. Hopefully, he understood the assignment. Her life was more important than his and needed to do whatever it took to keep her safe.
Period.
I found Eddie Carlson at a run down apartment complex on the south side. I'd studied the file on the drive over. Knew his schedule, his habits, and his vulnerabilities. He was alone when I got there. That made things easier.
I picked the lock on his door and let myself in. He was in the kitchen, making coffee, completely unaware. Stupid for somebody who was supposed to be a professional criminal. I moved behind him silently, pressing my gun to the back of his head.
"Don't move or scream. Just answer my questions and maybe you can walk away from this."
He froze, his hands going up. "Jesus Christ, man, I didn't do nothing."
"You went to the police. Told them you witnessed a murder. That’s definitely something."
"I… I didn't… I mean…"
I pressed the gun harder. "Don't lie to me. You saw what happened to Marcus. You and your friend. Who was he?"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
I grabbed him by the back of his neck and slammed his face into the counter. Not hard enough to break anything, but hard enough to make my point and knock some sense into his dumb ass.
"Try again." Fucker was wasting my time.
"Okay, okay!" Blood dripped from his nose. "Yeah, I saw it. Me and Tony Brennan. We were there that night, and saw the whole thing go down."
"And you decided to be a hero? Go to the cops?"
"Marcus was my boy, man. He deserved justice." Eddie was almost bragging now, his voice gaining confidence despite the gun at his head. "We all knew who did it. The Russians. And I wasn't going to let that slide."
The arrogance in his voice, the pride, pissed me off more than the threat itself.
"Marcus was a piece of shit who kidnapped and abused women. He deserved exactly what he got."
Eddie twisted to look at me, and something shifted in his expression. Recognition, maybe. Or understanding. More than likely both.
"You were there," he said. "I remember you."
"And you're the idiot who thought he could report a hit and live." I pulled him away from the counter and shoved him toward the living room. "Tell me about Tony Brennan."
"He was there too. Saw everything I saw.
" Eddie was babbling now, desperate. Funny how seeing my face struck his memory.
"But Tony’s too much of a pussy to do anything about it.
Said he had too much to lose. Wife, kids, all that domestic shit.
I told him we had to do the right thing, but he wouldn't. So I went alone. "
"Where does he live?"
"Over on Maple Street. Blue house with a white fence.
Can't miss it. But listen, man—" Eddie turned to face me fully now.
"Tony won't talk. He's too scared. So there's no need to go after him, right?
Just let me walk and I'll disappear. You'll never hear from me again. I’ll forget anything ever happened. "
I studied him. Looked at this pathetic man who'd thought loyalty to Marcus was more important than his own survival.
"You should've stayed quiet," I said.
Then I pulled the trigger. The shot was muffled by the suppressor. Eddie dropped, and I stood there for a moment, making sure he was dead. I watched as the blood pooled beneath him and life drained from his eyes.
“I guess you won’t be talking after all.”
Then I searched the apartment, found his phone, and deleted any evidence of his police visit or anything else that he might have had in it.
Our cop would handle the rest, make it look like a robbery gone wrong.
I dropped his phone into the coffee pot on my way out, never to think about the sorry son of a bitch ever again.
Now to go see Tony.